You win or you lose, it’s that simple. Staying focused on the other hand is the battle all NBA Players involved with the NBA Playoffs have to fight. After a long 82 game season you must suck up all the bumps and bruises if you want to be remembered as a “Champion.”
“You don’t look ahead in the playoffs; you concentrate on the game that is in front of you.” Derek Fisher said.
That is the battle of staying focused for 48 minutes, it is hard, but the team that gets past that mental block is the team that usually comes out victorious. “It’s tough to sustain the effort and intensity that you need to play in a high intensity playoff game. So we had some ups and downs but we weathered the storm, got the win and now we will prepare ourselves for Wednesday night,” Fisher added.
With a few days before game 2 the Lakers are resting up and focusing on what they need to do in order to beat Utah to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
“We didn’t have our best game, but at the same time we are satisfied by the win, and encouraged about the fact we can play so much better,” said Pau Gasol.
A good sign for Lakers Fans is that this team is focused and ready to make a deep run in the playoffs.
With six steals in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals the Utah Jazz got a quick reminder of how Derek Fisher helped catapult them to the 2007 Western Conference Finals. And also why Lakers fans couldn’t be happier to have him back donning the Purple and Gold.
As a member of last years Jazz team Fisher has invaluable knowledge of Jerry Sloan’s system as well as members of the Jazz.
“He knows the next pass, their sequence, and the habits of their players,” said Coach Phil Jackson after Monday’s practice.
One thing Fisher and the Lakers understand is; when it comes time for Tip-Off on Wednesday the Jazz will be ready, not willing to lie down for the One Seed Lakers.
“Being a former teammate of just about every guy on their team, there are not any quitters in that locker room,” said Fisher. “We will have our work cut out for us on Wednesday night and we will have to come ready to play.”
The Lakers face the Jazz in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semi’s Wednesday night at STAPLES Center.
When asked by a reporter if he thought that the Lakers would be able to withstand the type of “smash mouth” basketball that the Jazz are going to bring upon the Lakers during the rest of their series, Kobe Bryant replied in a simple manner with his usual quite confidence, “It doesn’t matter to us.”
In case you haven’t been able to tell at all this season; Kobe Bryant has complete confidence in this team.
“We aint no punks,” Bryant added. “You want to play ugly, we’ll play ugly. You want to play finesse, we’ll play finesse. It doesn’t matter.”
It’s easy to see why Kobe has so much faith in this squad. Examples such as finishing with the best record in the Western Conference, sweeping Denver in Round 1, and a victory over the Utah Jazz kick off this series show the Lakers are ready for anything.
“We have to continue to practice, continue to tweak things,” Bryant added.
As the elder statesman of the team, Derek Fisher would like to see his young Lakers team remain focused on taking care of business in the playoffs. “We’ve done a good job so far in the postseason of taking it one game at a time.”
“We want to focus on every game like it is a game 7,” Lakers star Kobe Bryant stated at Mondays practice regarding Game 2 against the Jazz on Wednesday night.
The entire Lakers roster knows the importance of protecting their home court against the Jazz.
“It’s a big game; both teams will approach it that way. As you saw yesterday there will not be any quit in the Jazz or any of their players. It’s not what coach (Jerry Sloan) teaches or what he believes in,” explained Lakers guard Derek Fisher. Fisher should know, he spent all of last season helping Utah advance to the Western Conference Finals where they fell to the eventual champions, San Antonio Spurs.
“It will be a big game, like every game in the playoffs,” Fisher reiterated.
Pau Gasol, who joined the Lakers mid-season, is starting to learn the ins and outs of the playoffs. “They’re pretty conscious also about going down 2-0 it is hard to come back, and we know the importance of going up 2-0.”
