Derek Fisher inspires Lakers to victory

Reporting from New York — 

The third quarter had just ended and the Lakers were trailing by one point.

They were not playing their best basketball or up to their capabilities against the New York Knicks on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Derek Fisher sensed this. He sensed where things were headed for the Lakers. He sensed something he did not like.

So Fisher cut it off, gathering his teammates together in a semicircle before the fourth quarter started, all of them with their arms wrapped around a teammate.

Fisher could be seen imploring his teammates. His looked emphatic in trying to make his point.

Whatever Fisher said, it seemed to inspire his teammates to pull out a 115-105 victory over the Knicks.

“We need that,” said Pau Gasol, who probably needed it more than any other Laker after his poor effort Thursday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which left him in a dour mood.

“We needed him to bring everybody together. ‘Now we’ve got to go and play.’ Derek is good about that. He knows when to step up and send a message to the players and he did.”

Fisher wasn’t around after the game to give his account of what he said.

But it was clear he felt something had to be said.

The Lakers had lost the first game of this eight-game, 13-day trip to Cleveland on Thursday night because they didn’t execute down the stretch. Now the Lakers were losing to the Knicks.

The Lakers had played poorly in the third quarter against the Knicks, shooting 38.9% from the field, scoring only 21 points.

But the Lakers jumped on the Knicks in the fourth, opening a 12-point lead.

“This is an important road trip for us,” said Gasol, who had 10 of his 20 points in the fourth and five of his eight rebounds in the final quarter.

“We can’t fall asleep in any game. We let one go yesterday, and that’s it. That’s all we want to do. The message was this is an important road trip for us and we need to step up and we need to step up right now.”

The Lakers shot 50% from the field, 52.2% from three-point range for the game.

Fisher himself was four for eight from the field in scoring 10 points.

He had five assists and four rebounds.

The Lakers shot 47.7% from the field in the fourth quarter after Fisher’s speech.

They made 92.3% (12 for 13) of their free throws in the fourth.

Gasol, who missed two key free throws late during the Cleveland game that could have tied the score, was four for five from the free-throw line in the fourth against the Knicks.

Luke Walton said that what Fisher told the team “was definitely inspirational.”

broderick.turner@latimes.com

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