Derek Fisher has always wanted the basketball in crunch time. It doesn't happen so often, because then you've got Kobe Bryant on the same team. But hey, two options are better than one any day.
Fisher had not been shooting the ball well at all. He'd missed his last five three-pointers that game, and he'd been struggling the entire playoffs. Aaron Brooks killed him. Deron Williams killed him. Rafer Alston killed him. But still, Phil Jackson and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers kept trusting. All season long they kept trusting.
Fisher was supposed to be washed up. He was supposed to be there as a locker room presence, a calming presence over these Lakers, and most especially Kobe Bryant. He was supposed to dive for loose balls, give up his body for charges. Certainly he wasn't expected to defend anybody, much less hit a three-pointer to send the game in overtime, and then another one to claim the lead for good.
But that's just what he did.
Now, the Orlando Magic, foiled by Dwight Howard's own free throw troubles face an almost impossible task of coming back to win the series.
And Kobe Bryant, for the first time in these playoffs, is smiling. That's on Fish, too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment