FISHER ESSENTIAL IN RUN TO PLAYOFFS.

Byline: JIM CLEAMONS 

With so much focus placed on scoring these days, a player like Derek Fisher gets overlooked by fans.

But not by his coaches or the players who play with him or against him. They know exactly what he means to a club and that's why he's such a respected player. And for the Lakers, he may be the exact thing we need as we prepare for the final stretch of the season and, I hope, defending our championship.

Fish brings so much to a team that goes undetected by the casual fan, intangibles like intensity on both ends of the floor, a willingness to give himself up and take charges and be a leader on and off the court.

He's a guy who's got winner written all over him. Everything he does, he does with one thing in mind: winning.

More importantly, he isn't someone who comes in with any hidden agenda. When he says something, it comes straight from the heart and with meaning. When he does something on the court, nobody has to worry that he's out for himself or trying to further his own plan. He does things for the team; that's the most important thing as far as he's concerned.

On the floor, he takes so much pressure off a guy like Kobe Bryant. Without Fish, Kobe is the guy with the ball in his hands the majority of the time as we go through our offense. He's trying to get the offense flowing but also do the things he does best - creating, driving to the basket, shooting jumpers.

When Fish is on the floor, he knows how to get people involved and how to get our offense moving in the right direction. That frees up Kobe to do other things.

Plus, he won't get in a tizzy if he doesn't get as many touches as he hopes. Fish understands his role on this team and, with option one and two being Shaquille and Kobe, he isn't going to be one of the top scorers. And that's fine with him. He's content performing within the flow and helping this team in other ways.

When I played we had a saying for guys like that, and it was: ``He's not out there ego tripping.''

That's Fish. All he's concerned about is quarterbacking this team, getting the ball moving and doing whatever it takes to help us win.

Off the floor Fish is the type of guy who can say what needs to be said to an individual or the team, and he's savvy enough to do it in a way that's not confrontational. He's doesn't get in anyone's face, he just gives an honest opinion in a way other players respect.

And the thing is, he doesn't say or ask anything of anyone that he's not willing to do himself. When he steps up to someone, he knows it's coming from a guy who's more than willing to do the very same thing.

When it comes from someone like that, the players have no choice but to respect it.

We're entering the most important stretch of the season, and for us this is the time we need to make a stand. One way or the other we have to decide if we're willing to do what needs to be done to defend our championship.

We've done some nice things lately. But from this point on, we have to roll up our sleaves and flat out get after it every time we step on the floor. We've had our ups and downs in that regard, but if you look at the standings we're right there in terms of the best teams in the Western Conference.

We have games coming up against teams we are battling for playoff positioning, so our fate is in our hands. The question is, what do we intend to do with it?

CAPTION(S):

box

Box: LEADERS