Fisher Knew He Was Ready From First Shot

When did Derek Fisher know that, in the biggest game of the Laker season so far, he would have by far his most explosive offensive performance?

“The first shot,” Fisher said. “I could just tell by the way I let it go, and it was in the flow of the game. Mentally, I wanted to have a good game and I just had to go out there physically and put it together.”

Fisher made his first shot, a straight-up jumper after subbing in for starter Derek Harper. Then he made his second, a driving layup, late in the first quarter.

And his third--after a tumbling steal of a John Stockton fastbreak pass, he surged ahead of the Utah defense, was fouled, and made the lay-up and subsequent foul shot.

His fourth was a jumper. His fifth, a three-pointer in Stockton’s face. And his sixth, another three-pointer.

He also made all five of his free throws in the first half.

At halftime, Fisher had a stunning 19 points, on six-of-six shooting.

He ended up with a season-high 20 (one short of his career high), on six-of-eight shooting.

“What made it feel good was it was in the flow,” Fisher said. “It wasn’t like I felt like I was forcing it. . . . My thing has always been doing what’s best for the team and trying to get everybody involved and sometimes I forget about offense, you know?

“It felt good, because I could feel everybody else on our team feeling good for me. We’ve talked a lot about becoming more of a team the last couple of weeks, and that’s an example of being a team.”

*

Fisher wasn’t the only bench player to play a key role--Elden Campbell played 26 minutes at center and power forward, smashed up against Karl Malone for almost all of his time in the game, and finished with 16 points (eight-for-nine from the free-throw line) and six rebounds.

Even when Dennis Rodman was in the game with him, Coach Kurt Rambis kept Campbell on Malone to take advantage of his defensive momentum, and help the Laker defense stay away from dangerous double-teams.

“He’s big, he’s long, he was doing a good job at it, so why not leave him on him, you know?” Rambis said.

“It’s not like he was completely shutting him down. But he was able to do an effective job on him and we were able to stay home defensively on everybody else, which as you know is a key factor with him because as soon as you start tracking and doubling they just start picking you apart.”