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NBA FINALS: MAGIC v LAKERS

June 5, 2009

Derek Fisher

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day

Q. Derek, with Kobe's facial expressions getting a lot of attention, Michael Jordan had the tongue sticking out, Magic known for the smile. How does Kobe's scowl compare to all those well-known facial expressions?
DEREK FISHER: I don't know. I think this is the first year it's been prominent, extremely noticeable where it stands out. I don't know if I can rank it just yet. Those guys were year after year after year in The Finals and then really important games in NBA history. It's starting to get up there, though, with performances like last night. It's starting to get up there. But I don't know about comparing it to those two guys.

Q. What about Jack's maniac look in "The Shining" movie?
DEREK FISHER: (Laughing) That's all-time No. 1. I don't know if anything can compare to that one. Even for me as a kid that was pretty scary moment, seeing him in that film.

Q. When you play as well as you did last night, does it make you want to hurry up and get back on the floor for Game 2?
DEREK FISHER: No, I think the two days in between for us will be good. You know, after having five or six days to prepare for the game and strategizing a lot, you finally get out there on the floor and a lot of things are happening really fast, and it's difficult a lot of times to take it in until you play against a team. So similar to last night's game, as the game went on, we seemed to get more comfortable with how in particular we wanted to defend against the Magic.
So I think after having a game under our belt against them, we can utilize these next two days to tighten some things up and try to be better than we were last night, because I don't think they'll shoot the ball as poorly as they did last night. We'll have to be even better defensively.

Q. It's five years ago this summer when Kobe also could have left. He says he thought about leaving as a free agent. I know it's hypothetical, but if he had left, would you be here right now? Would we be here right now? Could the Lakers have overcome that do you think?
DEREK FISHER: It's hard to say. I think this business is really interesting in that regard, where I think sometimes there is so much focus on if a guy stays or leaves and what that possibly would do to a franchise or a team. Guys like a Kobe or LeBron or other guys that often come up in that conversation, if they did leave, then financially as well as other spaces, that makes room for then potentially someone else to come in. You just never know how the future of an organization would unfold.
You know, at this point, I don't know. In particular, me being here is not tied to the personnel of the team. But obviously what Kobe has done over the last five years, in particular the first couple years after we all left and had to carry so much of the load, this is a much different experience today.
You know, it's hard to say. I don't like to say that -- even though it would look different, not seeing him in a Laker uniform, to say that the Lakers would have been in the dumps forever is a tough one for me to say.

Q. You didn't come back here for basketball reasons, but in some sense do you feel that a championship would validate or endorse that decision even more?
DEREK FISHER: I guess personally, or emotionally in a sense, it would. I think it would just be another step along the way of a life lived with purpose, so to speak, and so coming back for reasons outside of basketball, everything that happened with that redefined what the purpose of my life was and is, and where basketball has its place in my life. As important as it is to me, it's not everything. It doesn't make me a whole person per se. But to win a championship I think is still a part of that process. I've been playing this game for 13 years, and it's a job that allows me to provide for my family and be in a position to make sure my kids can get the best health care and do the things that we do as a family to put my kids in that position.
It would mean a lot, but I'm not thinking of it in terms of what people on the outside would think in terms of if it were validated for them. But definitely for me emotionally it would mean a lot if we can figure out a way to win three more games. I just think it gives a meaning to what happened in an even deeper way. It's already a deep enough situation. But it'll definitely be emotional if we can do it.

Q. Did you expect Nelson to play as many minutes as he did in Game 1? And do you have to change your defensive approach when he's in the game versus Rafer Alston?
DEREK FISHER: I wasn't sure about his minutes. It seemed like as the game approached, and even in the tone of the interviews on Wednesday, it just sounded more and more like the Magic were definitely going to look at playing him. So I definitely thought about it even before it was officially announced.
So I wasn't surprised necessarily at the minutes. If you're going to put him out there, to play him five minutes doesn't make any sense. There's a reason that they believe he can spark some things maybe in a different way than Alston or Johnson.
You know, he was an All-Star this year, and his shooting abilities can change some of the things that defensively we can and can't do. But overall there's not a night and day difference, because the things that we're trying to do defensively against this particular team don't change a lot just based on personnel, because of the way they spread the floor and with the big guy in the middle, there isn't really anybody out there that you can just act like he doesn't exist.
Even last night, Rafer missed some shots that he's capable of making, and I don't see that happening again tomorrow. It's not a night and day difference for us.

Q. Now that you guys are in such a different place, if you look back at the Houston series, Games 4 and 6, assuming that was low ebb, and especially when effort was a, quote, issue, first of all, what was your level of concern at that point? And three weeks later are you surprised at all to find you guys have made such a 180, such a complete transformation?
DEREK FISHER: I think more frustration than concern at that time. I don't think I was ever concerned about our ability to get to where we are now. More so frustrated that we couldn't do it at that time.
Not to say that I expected us to waltz through the playoffs or beat teams 4-0 or 4-1 or anything, but definitely frustrated with our inability to play consistently, to be locked in and really concentrated offensively and defensively with what we're trying to do.
So it's interesting that you asked me that because as I was driving in this morning I was thinking about -- I think everything we've been through up until this point and even everything we will go through the next three, four, five, six games, I think this postseason has been about us learning about ourselves and not really so much about who we're playing against. I mean, Houston pushed us to the brink, the Denver series was really physical and back and forth. But I don't know if it's ever been about the opponent, and I think that's what we found out in the Houston series and in the Denver series when it really finally clicked for us, that as much time as we spend watching film and talking and preparing and strategies about how to do this and stop this and that, if we just do the things that we practice every day and talk about for ourselves, then we could care less who the opponent is because if you're operating at your best, the way our team is constructed, the opponent is irrelevant.
In a team sport, that's rare. In golf, tennis, they talk more about the game, it's you against everybody else. But in team sports it's rare that you can be in a space where if you do the things you're capable of doing, it doesn't matter who you're playing, and that's what we've been focused on is the accountability of ourselves.

Q. The guys were having a good time today during practice but you and Kobe were on the bench talking. Can you give us a glimpse into what you guys were talking about?
DEREK FISHER: Only a couple of things I'll share with you. We talked about staying focused and not allowing our team to become complacent in any way. But at the same time we talked about how today we did feel like it was important to have that space where our guys that are 20 can be 20. We have a game under our belt, those initial Game 1 Finals emotions and jitters are kind of behind you. And today was an opportunity to exhale a little bit and give guys that space emotionally, mentally, physically, a chance to step back some.
But we agreed and made our pact that as captains and as leaders of the team that when we see everybody at 10:00 o'clock in the morning, that space will be closed off and we'll be back to work preparing to win Game 2.

End of FastScripts

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