Lost in the Crowd, Fisher Burns Spur Defense

Derek Fisher would have you keep the statistics, all but one.

The Lakers are 26-5 since the point guard returned from injury on March 13.

By rule, he does not score with Shaquille O’Neal, he does not shoot with Rick Fox, and he does not go to the basket with Kobe Bryant.

But, on Sunday afternoon, on the day the Lakers would bump the San Antonio Spurs from the postseason, Fisher did all of that.

He scored 28 points and so stands with Horace Grant (Dec. 15) as the only players other than O’Neal and Bryant to lead the team in scoring this season, 93 games worth. He made six three-point shots, and went to the rim, and fought for the basketball and did his usual defensive number. In the series he made 15 threes, most in a four-game series.

“Fisher’s been playing excellent basketball for us,” Bryant said. “Tonight he was making them pay with jump shots and getting to the rim. He had a fabulous game.”

Fisher made six of seven three-point shots, seemingly one for every time the Spurs gathered themselves for a run. Reasonably pleased with their defensive job on O’Neal and Bryant, the Spurs lost Fisher, and the ball kept coming his way.

“You can tell when the guys on your team want you to shoot the basketball,” he said.

Bryant assisted on Fisher’s last four three-pointers.

In 11 postseason games, Fisher has made 60 of 120 field-goal attempts and committed six turnovers in 418 minutes. Against the Spurs, he had two turnovers in 157 minutes and averaged 17.5 points on 61.4% shooting.

O’Neal promised big opinions and revelations when the series ended, presumably concerning the tactics of Spurs’ big men David Robinson and Tim Duncan, and instead held his tongue.

“There’s no need to kick two great players when they’re down,” O’Neal said.

Tim Brown

There were no tears or angry players in the Spurs’ locker room. Instead, they talked about what could have been for the NBA’s best team in the regular season.

They couldn’t help but think about Game 2 when they blew a second-half lead at home.

“That took the wind out of us because we led most of that game and then they took over,” Sean Elliott said.

San Antonio is expected to make some changes. Derek Anderson is a free agent and wants to return. David Robinson is a free agent who also could be back. But for Elliott, this was likely his final one as a Spur and maybe his last as an NBA player.

“I would probably say that it’s a safe bet,” said Elliott, who completed his 12th season in the league, all with the Spurs. “Looking at the makeup of the team, I guess they would want to go in a different direction. . . . I don’t know if [I will retire] but playing [for a team other than the Spurs] is not something I want to do. I’ll take some time off and if I choose that I want to still play, anything is possible.”