Fisher keeping his foot in the door

It was another injury report in a slew of them this season.

Derek Fisher, partially torn tendon, right foot, March 28.

The veteran guard had noticed a painful tightness in his arch and was told he needed six to eight weeks of rest for the tendon to heal.

He nodded when he heard the news. He hasn’t stopped playing yet.

He was a catalyst for the Lakers in their 106-85 victory Sunday over San Antonio, scoring 10 points in the third quarter and showing no effects of the continually sore foot.

The third quarter was simply a Fisher highlight reel.

He went flying into the crowd while chasing a loose ball, sharing time briefly with those who can afford to splurge on tickets at Staples Center.

He hit a three-pointer, then thought about another one but rifled a pass under the basket to Pau Gasol for a dunk.

Then he hit another three-pointer. And a baseline 18-footer. And he found Vladimir Radmanovic for a dunk after Kobe Bryant blocked Ime Udoka’s layup with 5:22 left in the quarter.

Tony Parker got the best of Fisher with a flammable first half -- 18 points, five rebounds, five assists -- but Parker had only two points and two rebounds the rest of the way thanks to Fisher and Jordan Farmar.

Fisher, in his 12th NBA season, looked as healthy as ever, finishing with 14 points and four assists in 24 minutes.

“It definitely hasn’t gotten worse, and it might have even improved a bit,” he said of his foot. “We’ve been really aggressively strengthening inside and around it in my training.”

Fisher had only three points in 21 minutes in the Lakers’ loss last Tuesday to Portland, but he began to feel better after that game, telling Coach Phil Jackson to increase his minutes.

“That was important,” Jackson said.

Fisher, 33, had seven points and four assists in 26 minutes against the Clippers. He followed it up with 15 points and six assists in 29 minutes against New Orleans.

He has no plans to stop playing: “I’m just going to lay it out there,” he said.

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The Lakers are at the top of the Western Conference, though all the high-seeded teams could face difficult first-round playoff series.

“I just can’t think of a matchup that’s a great opportunity for us in any setting,” Jackson said. “[Allen] Iverson got 51 points against us . . . Carmelo [Anthony] has been a handful for us every time we play [Denver].

“Dallas, we’ve had to scrape out wins against them. There’s just nothing that is an easy pick as you go down and look at matchups.”

Either way, the West playoff race will be the tightest since the NBA moved to a 16-team playoff format in 1983-84. Ninth-place Golden State currently trails the Lakers by 7 1/2 games.

The next closest playoff race in an 82-game season was ninth-place Milwaukee finishing 11 games behind first-place New Jersey in 2001-02.

Also, there have never been eight teams from the same conference to finish with 50 or more victories, but Denver (49-32) and Golden State (48-32) could both reach that plateau. Currently, the top seven teams in the West all have won more than 50 games.

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The NBA Finals don’t start until June, but Jackson had a one-liner when asked if a Lakers-Boston championship would generate any excitement.

“Well, maybe some people would roll over in their grave and re-appear,” he said, referring to Celtics legend Red Auerbach.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com