Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Pride of Arkansas-Little Rock



Fisher is killing the Jazz, just killing them. Last night he shot 70% from the field, 80%(!) on 3s, and added three steals. Not to mention zero turnovers to go along with his 22 points. And his threes in the 4th quarter? Daggers, all of them.

Coming into the series, the Jazz had the obvious advantage at point guard; up-and-coming superstar versus decrepid veteran. But Fisher has outplayed Deron thus far. And that's not to take away from Deron's game last night. Deron shot the ball well (5-5 from deep) and kept us in the game. It is obvious, painfully obvious, that he's our best player when he's on the court.

But Fisher has been the difference in both games. In game 1 he did it off of his dribble penetration and finding Gasol for easy dunks. And he was everywhere on defense, collecting 6 steals (all at Boozer's expense, it seemed). In game 2 he did it from outside, letting Kobe kick to him in the corner for that nasty, behind-the-head launch of his.

After game 1, I felt, even though we might not be as talented, that we could rattle the Lakers: Kobe gets flustered when things don't go well, Odom is a total dope fiend, and Gasol is an absolute ninny. At the end of the first game the Lakers were spending more time worrying about Harpring's clever jersey clutches than Okur firing open 3s. That was a good thing.

But Fisher is a tougher nut than the rest. He's the glue that keeps together the collection of dandys and fancy boys known as the Lakers. If the Jazz have any hope in this series, they have to find a way to keep Derek Fisher from beating them. I can't believe that I just wrote that.

5 comments:

Tucker McCann said...

Fishers wife is Fugly!

Pasty Gangsta said...

I honestly wonder what would have happened had Fisher stayed with us and not gone to them. He is dynamite down the stretch and having him on the Jazz plus not having him on the Lakers really could have been a game changer in this series.

Orlando said...

I was glad when Fisher quit the Jazz because:

1. He had a crazy-bad contract.
2. He can't shoot.

But I knew that we would miss his toughness and clutchness:

1. When Deron sits.
2. In the playoffs.

Pasty Gangsta said...

Agree about the contract, but he is shooting better than anyone on our team right now. Including Mr. Sharp Shooter Korver who is gunning a few too many threes off the back of the rim for my liking.

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