Oklahoma City Thunder: Derek Fisher talks some sense - NewsOK.com (blog)

on June 15, 2012M at 10:33 pm

Derek Fisher helped the Thunder quite a bit in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Not so much in Game 2. For the series, Fisher has 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting,

But Fisher’s value might come in the two off days before Game 3. Fisher answered questions after Game 2 and really provided some of the good sense and wisdom that a young team needs. A sampling:

* On the difference between the 2-3-2 format (with three road games in the middle) as opposed to the 2-2-1-1-1 format of previous rounds: “I don’t think there’s a difference, because wherever you play, it’s still basketball. When you get to this point in this season and you’re trying to win a championship, I don’t think where you play should determine finding a way to be successful in winning a championship. Obviously, Miami took the first opportunity to prove that tonight, and now we have to figure out a way to prove it in Miami.”

* On the non-call with nine seconds left, when LeBron James appeared to foul Kevin Durant on a shot with the Thunder down 98-96: “Officials aren’t going to be perfect. As players, we aren’t perfect. Whether they make or miss a call, you can’t worry about those things and you can’t use that as an excuse for not doing the things you’re capable of doing as a team. Referees don’t shoot free throws for you. They don’t box out for you. They don’t talk on defense for you. They don’t make the extra pass for you. Sometimes they miss calls, and that’s just part of the game. It’s irrelevant. They didn’t make us play the way we played, so whether they missed the call in that situation or not, had we done some things better, we wouldn’t have been in position to even have that play take place the way it did.”

* On the slow starts in both games: “I don’t know if it’s a conscious thing, that we’re thinking as the game is unfolding. I don’t think our team is believing that we’re OK falling behind to start games the way we have. But we have to figure it out and not rely on continuing to fight back and play hard. We’re never going to quit, regardless of the score is in the beginning, but now moving out into Miami and being on the road, that’s for sure not a formula for success is getting behind early, so we have to figure out a way to start the games better.”

* On how many wins the Thunder needs in Miami: “I just worry about Sunday for now. Trying to bundle the three games together doesn’t do anything for you. You can’t win Games 4 and 5 on Sunday. So we just focus on the next game in front of us and give ourselves an opportunity to go in there and play a solid game, put a good, quality 48-minute game together and give ourselves a chance.”

* On making up ground from a 17-point deficit: “I don’t know if it’s about how much the deficit was. I just think you make it tough for yourself as a team when you start the game behind. In particular, when it was 18-2 or whatever the score was. To play uphill and to play from behind the entire game, it just takes a lot of energy. Just couldn’t get over the hump tonight, but you have to give them credit in terms of the plays that they made to continue to keep the separation.”

* On how much Miami had to do with the Thunder’s play: “I think you always have to give credit to your opponent when they come out and play a game and they figure out a way to win, but there were a lot of things that happened out there that we can definitely control and do better amongst ourselves. That will be the focus the next couple days is to really make sure we’re staying locked in on who we are and the things we can’t control. We missed some free throws again tonight. That’s just not representative of who we are. Those are little things that we can do better than have nothing to do with the other team.”

That’s some solid advice, not just for the NBA Finals, but for any basketball team. Heck, that’s solid advice for life. Don’t blame others. Control what you can control. Don’t slack off, believing that you can make it up later. If Fisher is as solid in the locker room as these comments appear to be, then he’s earning his scholarship.

-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.