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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SUNS v LAKERS

May 27, 2010

Derek Fisher

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game Five

Lakers Â– 103
Suns - 101

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Derek Fisher.

Q. You've had your shots. What was it like for you just observing and then participating in that dog pile after Ron's shot?
DEREK FISHER: It was a great moment. Obviously, with us being on the winning end, it was a great moment. But just in general, you know, I mean how much more fun of a basketball game can you be in and watch and the fans.
It was just a great atmosphere overall. And we're very happy for Ron, you know, because Ron's been asked to sacrifice a lot of his game to really try and fit in to the way we do things.
And sometimes it makes it hard for him to have the rhythm and the fluidity to his game that he's capable of having. But he sacrificed a lot to help us get to where we're trying to go. That's why we were so happy for him.

Q. Derek, did you sense pretty early that the tone of this game was just totally different in, I mean it seemed so physical right from the get-go and what kind of adjustment resulted from that?
DEREK FISHER: Yeah, I mean, I think you could definitely sense the assertiveness and the aggressiveness of the Suns and that they really felt like the momentum was on their side, and they were playing sharp and crisp and physical around the rim.
There were some times, even on rebounds, where they were just crashing through guys and getting the ball back. So I think they understood how important that this game was. And they came out and played that way in the beginning.
And we forced them to play from behind for a long time. And when you're home court, it's good to have that cushion, because you can see at the end sometimes you barely get by. But that's what happens when you make a team play from behind.

Q. There were a lot of plays, not just the last play of the game, but little things that happened over the course of the game that bounced your way. As a team, are these sort of the little things that have to happen, maybe a little bit of luck that happens here and there on the way to something bigger?
DEREK FISHER: Yeah, I think there's always some things that happen that you can't or don't plan for when you are out there playing a game. Sometimes the ball bounces funny. A guy shoots an air ball, and that changes your ability to get a rebound.
Something happens, a guy's dribble, the ball kicks off his foot somebody picks it up and lays it in. There's a lot of things that happen in the game that you can't necessarily plan for. But the key is to keep playing and keep fighting and not really worrying about what's happening or how it looks. But just trying to make sure that the end result is what you want it to be.

Q. Some people were doubting you this year, and you've been able to rise to the occasion. Can you just comment on that, please?
DEREK FISHER: I don't know. I mean, I'm pretty used to it. I think for most of my basketball career, even as a kid, I was never necessarily the best guy on the team or even the best two or three guys. It was always kind of a team guy, the guy that kept everything together and just ran the team.
So I've never looked at criticism as a personal thing. I've been on great teams. And when you have Phil Jackson as a coach and Shaquille O'Neill and Kobe Bryant and the guys I've played with, you're not going to get much press or attention.
So I just try to keep doing what I do. And you know there's a song out right now called "All I Do is Win" and that's pretty much what I focus on, and I allow that to do the speaking.

Q. Ron kind of had the Hollywood clutch moment today, the buzzer beater and everything. But you had a lot of clutch moments throughout the fourth quarter, couple of big shots from the left side, could you talk about that stretch you had, just critical point?
DEREK FISHER: You know, being reinserted back into the game at that point, you know, sometimes when I come back into a game in the second or fourth quarter, you know I don't always get the shot opportunities that I may get in the first quarter.
There are a lot of nights where I might have three or four shots in the first quarter and none in the second quarter. So I really just tried to reestablish some aggressiveness so that it's not just up to Kobe or Pau to try and create something. And we were doing a good job of moving the ball side to side on the zone defense and Ron was attacking gaps and Lamar was attacking gaps, and we were able to get some good looks down the stretch.

End of FastScripts

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