Booing Stops, Fisher Comes On Strong

At least the spectators in Utah aren't booing him any more.
Beyond that, though, Derek Fisher can't seem to buy a break.
The ex-Jazz guard now back running the point for the Los Angeles Lakers has battled foul trouble early in the last two games of the Western Conference semifinal series between the two teams, and even when he warmed up late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's Game 4 it still wasn't enough.
"It's bothered us both games,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of Fisher's quick fouls, which on Sunday resulted in him logging just four first-half minutes.
Fisher can only hope it doesn't happen again when the series -- tied 2-2 after Utah's 123-115 overtime win in Game 4 -- resumes Wednesday in Los Angeles.
"You can't change in terms of playing aggressive and being physical out on the floor,'' he said. "But I definitely don't want to continue to put myself in the position where I'm impacting the team early in the game by having to go to the bench with nine-plus minutes to go in the first quarter."
Late in Sunday's fourth quarter, however, Fisher practically owned the floor.
With MVP Kobe Bryant slowed by a bad back that he twisted on his second shot of the game, Fisher -- booed derisively in his first return to Utah this season by many Jazz fans who questioned the circumstances of his departure from the franchise and his relatively quick re-signing with the much-despised Lakers -- took over.
With Utah up by 12 and fewer than four minutes to go, he knocked down a 3-pointer from the right corner. Next possession, a 3-pointer from the left corner. And after hitting a free throw stemming from a technical foul on Mehmet Okur, it was back to the right for yet another trey.
By the time the fourth quarter was done, Fisher was up to 15 points and OT was on.
"One of them I just helped a little bit too much. I recovered, but once he's in his rhythm, it is going up,'' Jazz point guard Deron Williams said after a 29-point, 14-assist day boosted in part by Fisher's foul issues. "Another one he got a backscreen, I didn't see it coming.
"He just got hot at the end of the game,'' added Williams, who also had a potential game-winning shot blocked by Fisher late in regulation, "and did a great job making shots for them and forcing overtime.''
Ultimately, though, the Jazz would prevail.
That left Fisher -- who asked out of his contract in Utah last summer to be close to requisite medical care for his young daughter Tatum, who underwent surgery last May for her rare childhood eye cancer -- bemoaning what easily could have been a 3-1 Lakers series lead.
"It was a good effort and we gave ourselves a chance to win the game,'' said Fisher, who won three NBA title rings during his first stay in L.A. "On the road, sometimes that's all you can ask for."
That, and perhaps some of the respect he finally seems to be getting from fans who not long ago cheered him as one of their own