Basketball Betting

Fisher is unlikely barometer for Lakers

Basketball Betting Lines

06/10/2010 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Lakers are a perfect fit for Hollywood.

The franchise sports a ton of star power. Kobe Bryant is one of the best to ever play the game, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are two of the most skilled big men in today's NBA, and Phil Jackson is the most successful coach in the history of professional sports.

But, if you were looking for the barometer of the Lakers' success, it resides in the backcourt -- next to Bryant.

On paper veteran Derek Fisher is the weak link of the Lakers. It seems like every playoff series that LA is in, the talking heads pontificate about the advantage the opposition has at the point guard position.

It's was no different coming into the NBA Finals. Despite lacking a top-tier, consistent jumper, the ultra-quick Rajon Rondo has turned into the star on a team featuring three future Hall of Famers. Meanwhile, the book on the 35- year-old Fisher says he is just a standstill shooter these days with slow feet that gets beat off the dribble at will by the NBA's quicker guards.

It was almost a "pick your poison" type of decision for Jackson when drawing up the Lakers' defensive strategy. Bryant may be the best on-ball defender in basketball and can move back-and-forth to stifle either Rondo or sharp- shooting two-guard Ray Allen.

Jackson was clearly more concerned with Rondo's ability to get to the rim, and made his decision to place Bryant on Rondo the majority of the time. The mind set worked in Game 1 but blew up badly in the sequel when Allen set an NBA Finals record by sinking eight three-point shots in a 103-94 Game 2 win over the Lakers.

Fisher wasn't responsible for all of Allen's success in that one but he was on the floor when the ball tipped off and was the one responsible for letting Allen explode early.

Fish took Allen's performance personally and responded big in Game 3, scoring 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Lakers to a road win and help them recapture home-court advantage in the set.

Fisher, like Bryant, going after his fifth championship ring, made 5-of-7 shots from the field in the final quarter after making just 6-of-21 field goals in the first 132 minutes of the series.

"We saw some things we could accomplish by playing a little two-man game between Kobe and myself," Fisher said. "When Kobe sets a screen, his man is going to be very reluctant to help off of him, so it allows somebody else to get into the interior of their defense, and a couple times I made a pass or two, and a few other times I was able to knock down shots."

As impressive as Fisher's offensive game was in the fourth quarter, it was his defense that really stood out. Allen followed his finals record performance by nearly setting another one for futility.

Allen misfired on all 13 of his shot attempts from the field in Game 3 and had just two points, falling one miss shy Dennis Johnson for worst percentage without a field goal in a finals game. Johnson went 0-for-14 for Seattle against Washington in Game 7 of the 1978 Finals

"You have to understand spots on the floor, where [Allen's] trying to get to get his shots off," Fisher said after his Game 3 performance. "We wanted to pick our spots to get a little bit more pressure, get Kobe a little bit closer to Rajon [Rondo] to take away some of the sharp passing angles where he can get the ball to Ray really fast right in his shooting pocket. And from there it's just trusting that if you keep making him work, he won't necessarily hit 8-of-11 threes every night."

It's easy to poke holes in Fisher's game but scouting reports rarely delve into intangibles. First and foremost, Bryant respects him, going so far to say that Fisher is the only player he will listen to.

"I probably am the only maybe guy he listens to," Fisher said at practice on Wednesday about his relationship with Bryant. "He's married, so I know he listens to somebody else. We've developed a relationship and a level of trust, I think professionally as well as personally, that we respect each other in a way that nothing else comes between that respect."

On the floor, he may be slow but Fisher understands where to be and has built his body up to the point where he can muscle his opposition. On the offensive end, Fisher has ice running through his veins and turns from a detriment to a big-time positive as the clock ticks down. Few players are willing to take more big shots down the stretch of a close game.

That said, the clock is clearly ticking on Fisher's career and he was especially emotional after his Game 3 performance, even breaking down on Boston's WEEI.

"Just being a part of such a big night and being so instrumental in helping our team win. That's really where the emotion came from," Fisher said. "Even though I talk a lot in terms of answering questions and sharing my thoughts about things, I hold in a lot, as well, and so it just all kind of came up. My thoughts about how meaningful it is to be in this position again in my career."