Fisher Embraces the Extra Time

Playing big minutes is tough, just not as tough as barely playing at all, so Derek Fisher does a little more than grin and bear it.

He loves it, playing the entire 48 minutes Sunday against the Detroit Pistons, while also getting his first career double-double with 13 points and 11 assists. After playing 42 minutes the game before. And 41 minutes the game before that.

“Not yet,” Fisher said when asked if the increased work load has hit him yet. “But a couple more 48s, it might make the process go a little faster.”

He’d like nothing more than the opportunity to find out for sure. This chance had only been about a season and a half in coming, after all, accepting the role of the backup behind an all-star point guard and then finding a windfall when Nick Van Exel underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Feb. 26.

While starting the last 11 games, some of which came before Van Exel was officially out, Fisher has averaged 39.7 minutes. There have been weeks during his first two seasons as a pro where he didn’t play 39 minutes.

“It’s definitely different,” he said. “What’s really strange is that my body is responding more positively than when I’d play 15, 16 minutes.

“Going hard for six or seven minutes and sitting down, going hard six or seven minutes and sitting down. I used to feel more stiff, like I can’t move, than I am now because my body is more in the flow.”

But he knew to be thankful for the extra recovery time after Sunday’s 48 minutes.

“Fortunately,” Fisher said, “it’s an afternoon game.”