Fisher Forgets Charge Card in This Series

Derek Fisher played in 371 professional basketball games before Sunday night--regular season and playoffs--and fouled out in two.

He could remember neither Tuesday afternoon, in part because his third disqualification was so fresh, coming as it did two nights before, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The Lakers seem to be getting the hang of guarding Allen Iverson, as much as anyone can. He’s leading the Finals in scoring, at 35.3 points a game, but is shooting 40% from the field, including 29.2% from the arc.

Fisher has been hesitant to take his signature charges, because he believes officials are less likely to call offensive fouls against Iverson than they would against another player.

“You have to try your best to stay solid against Allen,” he said. “A lot of times when I get into position to take a charge, if the referee doesn’t make the call then I’m out of defensive position. When you’re playing against a guy with Allen’s speed, if you take that chance you’re putting your defense in jeopardy.”

Iverson recently told Eric Snow that he--Iverson--had to be better at drawing fouls away from the ball, when Fisher is denying passes to him, because he believes that’s when Fisher has been his roughest.

Fisher said he is wary of Iverson’s methods.

“I don’t know if Allen is necessarily a flopper, but he’s definitely good at bringing it to the attention of the officials,” he said. “A lot of times matching up against me, he’s going to get the benefit of the call. He is the most valuable player in the league this season and I think I have to understand that. Guys made similar complaints playing against Reggie Miller and even when Michael [Jordan] was playing people felt like he used to get all the calls. Unfortunately, that’s a part of this league. The stars will be stars and the rest of us have to understand that.”

Shaquille O’Neal appears more comfortable at the free-throw line again, due in part to a session with Eddie Palubinskas, his personal coach who flew to Philadelphia on Saturday.

Palubinskas tweaked a few things in O’Neal’s mechanics since Game 2, after O’Neal missed 18 of his first 32 free throws in the series. Most obviously, Palubinskas had O’Neal dribble the ball with excessive wrist action before his attempts, a reminder to flip his wrist in the actual shot.

O’Neal was eight for nine from the line in Game 3.

To the charge the Lakers are not winning by the expected margin, O’Neal smirked.

“I’m a realistic man,” he said. “Whether you win by 20 or win by one, you win. For example, if you had a Mercedes-Benz with the rims or without the rims, guess what? You still have a Benz.”