Fisher Finally Finds Range

In the midst of the shooting slump that caused losses to Sacramento and Seattle, and didn’t break even in last week’s wins against the Clippers and Golden State, the Lakers took a step toward perimeter efficiency on Thursday night.

Derek Fisher made a career-best seven three-pointers, four after halftime, to lead the Lakers, who made 12 of 20 three-pointers in their 107-101 victory against the Houston Rockets.

“That was so good,” Kobe Bryant said of Fisher, who had missed nine of his last 11 and 27 of his last 37 three-pointers. “His shots were right there. It was a matter of knocking them down. Tonight he found his rhythm.”

Fisher attributed his success to triangle execution. More likely, the Lakers were pressed into jump shots because Shaquille O’Neal was off his game. They stopped going to O’Neal and lined up their shots, despite being 25th in the league in three-point percentage.

“On the road,” Fisher said, “you have to be really sound, even if you have to resist the temptation to do things that are really risky.”

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Before making nine of 26 shots against the Rockets, Bryant said he would like to shoot 50%.

“That’s one of my goals,” he said. “That’s taking smart shots, taking shots when you have good defensive balance. Plus, I can get other people involved. And I can be a threat myself, same way I was last year as far as my offensive thrust.

“If I shoot 50%, it makes teams respect my offensive potential, but with less shots. So with those other shots [I pass up], I can get my other teammates involved.”

Bryant is shooting 49%.

TONIGHT

at Memphis, 5 PST, Channel 9

Site--The Pyramid.

Radio--KLAC (570)

Records--Lakers 19-3, Grizzlies 6-19.

Record vs. Grizzlies--1-0.

Update--A change of scenery hasn’t done much for the Grizzlies, who are about as bad as they were in Vancouver. They had lost five in a row before beating the Knicks on Thursday in New York. In that five-game streak, the Grizzlies were outrebounded by nearly 12 a game.