Fisher Stays Put in Starting Lineup

Coach Del Harris, swayed by the team’s continued success, said Thursday that the Lakers would keep Derek Fisher as the starting point guard for the playoffs and bring all-star Nick Van Exel off the bench.

Harris made the announcement after talking to both players at practice, and it was a move both endorsed.

Van Exel had pushed for it, saying he likes the chance to supply a spark in the role he has held since returning March 15 after his knee injury.

“We’re locked in now,” Harris said. “This is fine. There’s no reason to change it for any reason, not because fans want it or I want it or management wants it or some gambler wants it. We’ve won 17 out of 19 [and] the guys like it, so it just doesn’t make any sense, therefore, to make a change.

“Fish and Nick and I talked today. I said if we’re going to change, we ought to change now. . . . It just seemed like a normal break point. We’ve got six games left, and four games in five nights and you don’t want to change during that time. Then we’ve got two games left, and I don’t want to change then. I just wanted to make sure Nick was still committed to it.”

He was.

“It’d be tough just to throw me into the starting lineup,” Van Exel said of such a late-season change.

The Lakers are 21-6 since Fisher took over after Van Exel’s absence because of a knee injury. They have their second six-game winning streak since early March. Harris had planned to return the lineup to its original form after Van Exel played a few games--”The natural order of things is for starters to be starters and guys who fill in for them to come off the bench,” the coach said three weeks ago--but then saw no reason to make a switch. Besides, Van Exel is getting nine more minutes a game.

“There were times when he said, ‘We’re probably going to start you,’ ” Van Exel said, “but we kept winning.”

Tonight vs. Phoenix

* 7:30

* Fox Sports

West

Site--Great Western Forum.

Radio--KLAC (570), KWKW (1330).

Records--Lakers 56-20, Suns 51-25.

Record vs. Suns--2-1.

Update--The Lakers can improve their win total for the fourth season in a row with a victory tonight, but they need to finish 4-2 to reach the 60-win plateau for the first time since 1989-90. The six games come against five teams that began play Thursday with a combined winning percentage of .513. The Suns have a six-game winning streak and are trying to overtake San Antonio for home-court advantage in their first-round series, the only playoff matchup in West that is set.