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NBA FINALS: CELTIC v LAKERSJune 9, 2010Derek FisherBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: Practice Day Q. Why was last night such an emotional experience for you? And once again, some of your teammates tell us that you came up sometime in the fourth quarter with one of those Derek Fisher moments with one of your inspirational speeches. DEREK FISHER: Just, you know, the emotion was -- just from being a part of such a big night and being so instrumental in helping our team win this game. That's really where the emotion came from. You know, even though I talk a lot in terms of answering questions and talking to you guys and sharing my thoughts about things, you know, I hold in a lot, as well, and so it just all kind of came up, and my thoughts about how meaningful it is to be in this position again in my career. So that's where the emotion came from. You know, talking to the guys at the start of the fourth quarter, I just wanted to ask the guys if before this game started when we walked in the locker room, they said, all right, for time purposes, let's not go play the first three quarters, let's just clear that out because we don't want to be here until 1:00. We're just going to start the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter and you guys are going to be up 67-61, would we take that or would we say, no, no, let's start from the beginning. I think we'd take a six-point lead to start the fourth quarter in Boston. I just didn't want to make sure we didn't feel like we had somehow failed because the lead had got cut to six points. I mean, you're in The Finals. To think that you're just going to get a lead and coast home with it is not realistic. Q. Can you talk about the circumstances about you coming back to LA briefly and how it's all worked out. DEREK FISHER: You know, I mean, the circumstances are very well documented and a real part of our lives. You know, it just -- my daughter is doing great. She and her twin brother Drew will be four in a few weeks, and I'm hoping that I can bring them a big, gold trophy as a gift for their birthday. So you know, coming back to LA was just, I think, a part of decisions that we have to make in life sometimes as families and parents, and playing for the Lakers was a secondary part of moving back to Los Angeles. You know, we really -- based on all of the things that were important to us, Los Angeles at that time needed to be our base city. And so we're moving back to LA regardless of which team I play for. You know, the timing of the Lakers needing the services that I provided and having some of the cap space and money that they had to make it good enough for both sides to agree to a deal, you know, that was something else higher than me that was in control of all that. You know, to be a part of the success that I've been a part of the three years I've been here, I couldn't have imagined. Of course anytime I'm on a team, I expect to win, but you know, getting Pau Gasol a few months later and the development of all of our great young players, it's hard to imagine that it was planned out. But, you know, I'm a believer in a higher power, and it's quite an interesting plan that He had. Q. The play you made, the drive for the three-point play, does that surpass the 0.4 play in the most meaningful clutch shots in your career? DEREK FISHER: I mean, yeah. It was more painful, that's for sure. (Laughter). You know, I'd always said about that shot in 2004 that because we did not win the championship that year, as exciting as it was and is to talk about sometimes, it didn't hold the special meaning to me that it could have. And so, you know, making the shot at the end last night in The Finals I think means more than that shot. But here we are again with an opportunity to win a championship. So only winning it will cement that and solidify that as one of those type of plays that -- for me at least is never forgotten. I mean, '04 I don't really think about a lot until other people ask me about it because it's connected to losing a championship. So I kind of put that one away. Q. Kobe is like five or six inches taller than Rondo and 40 pounds heavier than him, and Rondo being as cat quick as he is, how does Kobe guard him? DEREK FISHER: Intelligence, you know, being smart about how to use his length and his size to bother him. You know, and I think it changes his passing angles, which I think was another little subtlety in some of Ray Allen's struggles shooting last night. A lot of it was just that he missed some shots that he's going to make, so I don't necessarily think our defense gets that much credit. But you know, when Kobe is guarding the ball handler, Rondo, Westbrook, whoever, his length changes their ability to make tighter, crisper passes, which a lot of times for shooters are necessary to have their rhythm. I think he did a really good job of mixing up, changing his angles on Rondo last night. Even though he was still effective, it was mostly in transition, and a lot of that comes from us executing poorly at times. Q. Did you see enough of them in the first three rounds? It seemed that Rondo was living in the lane, and his teammates were getting relatively easy shots without having to do a lot for them, and now it seems that by keeping him out of the lane that they're having to do more to get shots. DEREK FISHER: Yeah, well, I think that's the goal of every defense is to try and limit penetration. You know, we have a certain way of playing defense, I guess, that causes a lot of teams problems. You know, the biggest part of it is having the size and the length that we have around the basket that makes it tough even if a guy breaks through. You still have to go and see two or three guys that are seven feet tall to finish the play. And then Kobe's flying all over the place. I mean, he had some blocked shots last night that were amazing. And so, you know, even though we don't have the reputation that some of the other teams have of being, you know, just a down and dirty, gritty, defensive team, we have some guys that can make some things happen out there and shrink the floor. We have to continue to do that in order to win this thing. Q. You've been very effective it seems throughout this postseason of drawing fouls on screeners. When you see a screen coming, do you have a strategy as far as how you're going to play each one? DEREK FISHER: Well, when I see it coming, I'm trying to avoid it. Other than that, there are times when I don't see them that sometimes aren't very comfortable. No, I think whether I'm guarding a point guard or in this case a guy like Ray Allen, you know, guys that I play against every night are involved in 30, sometimes 40 different actions, screen rolls, screens, back picks. So if three times out of the 40 there's an offensive foul called, it's not that I've done anything spectacular necessarily to draw the foul. I just think that because I'm in that situation so many times in a game, you know, there are just times when the referee sees it and makes the call, and then there are other times where it's still an illegal screen, they just didn't see it or didn't call it, and that's just a part of the game. For me it's not getting discouraged and being willing when a guy is 6'11", 270, coming over to set a screen, I'm not afraid to brace myself and bust through it or run into him or do whatever it takes to try to slow down the play. Q. Jeff Van Gundy was saying the other day that sometimes he thinks you like to blow up a screen to send a message. Is that fair to say? DEREK FISHER: Yeah, that's fair to say. (Laughter). Q. Kobe said you're the only guy that he'll listen to. Can you tell us why, and can you talk about the relationship between you two. DEREK FISHER: Um, wow. Yeah, I probably am the only maybe guy he listens to. He's married, so I know he listens to somebody else. No, I just -- like any of us, man, when we've known somebody for a long time and 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. And I think we've observed each other's kind of growth from the ground up, so to speak, in terms of being together as rookies and learning about the NBA and learning about how to be successful in this game and the disappointing losses and being swept out of the playoffs two or three years there in our first few years. You know, we shared a lot of good and bad things in our lives, and so I think it just gives us some commonalities and similarities that otherwise wouldn't be there, you know. I mean, it's not because our games are similar, it's not because of talent similarities or any of that. It's just that we've experienced a lot of good and bad things together. Because we've been through those fires, you know, we're just comfortable relying on each other, and I think he knows and I know that if anything in the world happened, if there was one person that would stand up and say, I'm here for you, you know, it would go both ways. Q. Can you talk about that balance, I guess, that you guys provide. Is it true that Kobe is very demanding on his teammates, so he'll blast his teammates, and you're kind of the positive guy that will kind of clean up the carnage? DEREK FISHER: Yeah, but I think there's a balance to it, and sometimes -- he jokingly refers to it as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King in terms of how we go about balancing it. (Laughter). And, you know, I don't think it's necessarily him tearing guys up in a way that's demeaning or belittling to our guys on our team, but just a different style of communicating it. And so, you know, I'm a guy that I like to observe and kind of lay back and see how things are going, and then, you know, fill in the gaps as I see fit. And so with our teams over the years having strong personalities like Shaq and Kobe and Phil, I've always filled in between those guys on how to keep this thing going, because my only concern is for us to win. I love everybody, but if we don't win, I don't love you as much. So that's kind of where it comes from. End of FastScripts |
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