Fisher finds his shot in timely fashion to aid Jazz

Lost amid the outstanding play of Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer and the terrific contribution off the bench in Utah's come-from-behind blowout victory Saturday night was the solid play of Derek Fisher.

After scoring just nine points on 12.5 percent shooting in the first two games of the San Antonio series, Fisher hit some key baskets during Utah's second-half surge, including a big 3-pointer midway through the third quarter that gave the Jazz a lead it would never relinquish.

"I finally figured out a way to close my eyes and make some baskets," Fisher joked in the Jazz locker room afterward.

It was Fisher's 3-pointer from the right wing with 6:01 left that put the Jazz up for good at 62-60 and sent the sellout crowd at EnergySolutions Arena into a frenzy that continued through the rest of the night as the lead just kept growing and growing.

"We've been behind the entire series, so it really felt good emotionally and psychologically to take a lead in the third quarter and push it from there," Fisher said. "The crowd really got behind us after that."

Fisher also sank a shot from the top of the key to put the Jazz up 79-69 early in the fourth quarter and added a three-point play on a drive to the basket that stretched the lead to 86-72 to finish with 11 points.

Perhaps the biggest basket for the Jazz veteran, however, was a running hook shot he made at the end of the first half to pull the Jazz within four at halftime. Until that point he was 0-for-2 and looked to be as cold as he was in the first two games of the series when he went an abysmal 2-for-16 from the field.

"It was good to see the ball go in the hole," Fisher said of his first-half basket.

Before the series began, Fisher was the talk of the town, not only because of his contributions in the Golden State series, but because of the way he handled himself under the duress of his young daughter undergoing eye surgery.

Even though he struggled in the two games in San Antonio, Fisher found a way to put it behind him and contribute to the Jazz victory Saturday.

"Sometimes as a player you know you're capable of doing things and it's just not happening for you," he said. "You just have to continue to play and believe in yourself."

As a veteran of 117 playoff games coming into this season, Fisher knows better than anyone that Saturday's big victory doesn't mean much if the Jazz don't follow it up.

"Monday will be an entirely different game," he said. "We're going to look at it the same way and not carry too much over from the last game. We have to play the game like it is the game to win the title."

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