LAKER NOTES

Derek Fisher began the season as the Lakers’ No. 1 point guard, lost the position to Derek Harper midway, but now has become one of the team’s offensive weapons.

Fisher could not have picked a better time to get his shot working. In helping the Lakers take a 2-0 lead in their first-round matchup against Houston, Fisher has made half of an eye-opening 24 shots from the field in the two games. And, by making eight of 12 three-point attempts, he has ripped apart the Rockets’ game plan of leaving him open on the perimeter.

“Things are going well [for me] because things are going well for our team right now,” said Fisher, who has only two turnovers in the series. “The team has struggled up and down all year, and I think that is why some of us individually struggled at times. . . . Right now, we are going well and that makes it easier to just go out there and play.”

Fisher credits the Lakers’ improved team defense.

“Because we are so confident in our defense, offensively we have no hesitation,” he said. “We are not holding back because we’re confident on the other end that we’d stop people from scoring. . . . Our defense is turning into offense. With blocked shots and turnovers, we are turning those into fastbreak points, and that is really helping us out.”

Shaquille O’Neal, criticized late in the season for playing poor defense, has been dominating inside with nine blocked shots against the Rockets.

“I’m just doing on defense what a big man should do, and that’s to help out my teammates,” O’Neal said.

“I’m not even worried about foul trouble.”

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The Lakers spent nearly an hour watching tape Wednesday at the Great Western Forum before leaving for Houston.

The Lakers want to end the series tonight because they know how easily a five-game series can swing in a different direction.

“If we go in there and [don’t] show any respect to [the Rockets], they could easily turn the whole series around, and that’s something we don’t want to have happen,” said Glen Rice, who has made 18 of 29 shots from the field in two games, including four of seven three-point attempts. “That’s why we have to put on our best performance [tonight]. We have to remain together and keep doing the things that have got us in the position we are in now.”

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If the Lakers go on and win the NBA championship, they would be the worst free-throw shooting team to do so since Philadelphia in 1966-67. Behind the woeful shooting of center Wilt Chamberlain, who made 44.1%, the 76ers made 68% of their free throws during the regular season. This season, the Lakers made 68.3% of their free throws. O’Neal made only 54%.