Derek Fisher Quotations

Fatherhood will put a man through a lot, but it's a tremendous job, the best in the world - even better than playing basketball.

I've discovered new parts of my manhood, places I couldn't get to without loving someone else unconditionally and putting others before myself.

I am and always will be a leader.

I don't know how many people feel strongly about what I do.

The source of my power and strength is God, and I know it, without a shadow of a doubt.

Nothing means more to me than helping my team win.

I feel like I'm capable of doing so many things to help people around the country and the world.

I am not a passenger in anything I do.

My character has always been important to me. That was the one thing that I knew, no matter what, I had to hold that strong.

My parents didn't have the opportunities that my wife and I have now, from a quality of life standpoint.

I would venture to guess that if I was a construction worker... who requested a transfer to another department for the betterment of his family, I would be commended for it. But because it's sports, there's just so much passion added to it.

I don't feel like basketball is the only way to make a living.

With my responsibilities comes having to manage my time more efficiently.

You know, I have a responsibility to my team that if I'm going to be on the floor, then I have to make a difference.

Life for me outweighs the game of basketball.

I really have to make sure that I'm staying true to who I am, and that I know my responsibilities to current N.B.A. players, to future N.B.A. players, to our past and retired N.B.A. Players.

Nothing prepares a family for having multiple children at once.

I'm not chasing money, so I'm not looking at just trying to stretch out a deal artificially just to have a certain number.

Teams are often pretty clear about what they can do or are willing to do.

I have people that I'm close to that give me things to read throughout the season, and in particular in the playoffs and the postseason.

We remember how we lost that last game. That's why you have to play every second. This has historically been a tough trip, having to come to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio or whatever combination.

We're still learning as a team how to finish a game. We had an opportunity but didn't get it done. We have to keep learning from these setbacks.

Basketball used to be my top priority.

You have to work hard at things.

I'm more focused on the positives of why I'm here. I'll be able to address those things in due time. Right now it's about the Thunder and Oklahoma City.

You're at your best, when you're focused and you're serious and passionate about what you do, but at the same time you can relax and have fun and be confident.

We're having to work so hard to stay in games. If we didn't have to fight back from 10 down, 12 down ... it takes a lot of energy.

When the opportunities are there, I'll probably have to be a little more aggressive offensively, instead of just waiting for a shot in the corner.

More scoring. That's what the league wants. Calling those fouls up front leads to more penetration, maybe more free throws. It's one way to get more points on the scoreboard.

I don't know and I guess I've been around too long to say we deserved it when we didn't win. The team that wins oftentimes deserves to win, so you can't take credit away from them for continuing to make plays down the stretch. I'm very proud of the effort of our basketball team that we put out there tonight. It's frustrating because we've been in this position so many times this season.

I feel like it's my job to step up my game to whatever level is needed for the team to be successful while guys are out. I don't know if I'm better; just different.

For most guys, those are difficult shots. But he has the ability to make those kind of plays. The best you can do is make it difficult for him.

For most fans of the league, they'll find it admirable. He didn't go in to start anything. He didn't go in to make any trouble. He went in to make sure his wife was OK.

We may have gotten a little bit tired. They played great defense, and I think when you're playing a team like T.C., your margin for error is very small.

I allowed my teammates to do what they do. The key to our success tonight was balance and the fact that everyone was able to get comfortable on offense.

I think we're finding this team can win basketball games, even when we don't score 100 points.

I think it's that we got a chance to practice a few days, give ourselves a chance to focus on how we want to get our shots and where we want them to come from. I think we're doing a better job of slowing down offensively when we don't have anything initially in transition and calling our sets and getting to the spots we want to get to. At least for the most part we're not forcing Baron or Jason or somebody to make a play against the shot clock every time.

I was just trying to do whatever I needed to help us win. That was the objective. Today we needed extra offense and at times, I provided that. Just not enough to get a win.

That's the type of personality he has. But he does it in a way that's respectful of his teammates. He's never trying to show someone up.

That's the key for us. Being able to really tap into this team's scoring potential, figuring out the sets that we have and the offense that we run, how to be more efficient. Against good defensive teams, you can't game in and game out take difficult shots with guys flying at you and having to get into the lane and create your own shots every time.

We know that we aren't playing our best basketball, but we've done enough to win games. What would feel real good is to get the game in Chicago. I think that would really show a lot of growth on our part if we can stay focused and disciplined enough to get that game.

Three in a row, you know what I mean? I ain't feeling that.

We haven't given up. It's our responsibility to finish the season as if we have the best record in the Western Conference. The ability is there and the talent is there. We have to continue to work hard and figure out ways to put wins together.

We had an opportunity to win. That's what you want to do in this league. You can't plan on how you're going to get to the end of the game - whether you're going to be up five, down five, up 15 or down 15.

We did that because we don't want kids in foul trouble. We try to match up on their better shooters and we came in trying to tilt our zone. We were fortunate they missed a lot of shots.

We still have a job to do, and it's a job we expect ourselves to complete.

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This was a team win tonight. We needed it. I was just trying to get to the rim and I did.

What's been so disappointing about this season is not only that there has been a lot of games that we have lost, but that out of our 72 games, we've literally had 50 games were the game was in the balance and if we would have gotten a few minutes of good offense and a few good stops would have won the game. There has been a lot of games that we lost just like we lost today's game.

What is needed changes from night to night. It depends on who is healthy or how different guys are playing. If you put guys in a position where they know they will get their opportunities, then guys get the job done.

We got off to a good start, but we couldn't sustain it. We've experienced that several times this year and we've experienced it against this team before. We haven't been able to put together a good complete game in quite sometime. It's frustrating.

Everybody just looks at his scoring, but as he's developed into that player he is now, a lot of it is just his presence. That helps our team. It gives us energy and gives us aggressiveness, gives us the ability to do certain things out on the floor.

There's still a possibility, and that's what we're playing for. This game felt really good. This was some of the best balance we've had in a long time. It's nice to win one of these games without Jason having to score 99 points.

I've played some good games in this building, and when I play here I always push it.

People feel like we've brought it to the point where a position has to be made: OK, what are we going to do? Are we going to win and make the playoffs? Are we going to make a trade? Who's going to be coach?

Coach Popovich is a very intelligent coach. He must have felt that his team needed to get some emotion while playing the game.

As a veteran player, you hate to be out there in that situation, but tonight was about the other 29 games.

That's what this league is about - you have to counterpunch. And we got punched. But we punched back.

The missed free throws gave the first half a funky kind of tone.

You see arguably our best player going out there to do everything he can possibly do to win a game even though his ankle is probably still a little bit sore. I hope that it does make the rest of us feel like we have to do something to help.

It's just in terms of our team -- the talent that's been put together, the contracts that have been put out -- whether or not the timing is going to allow for him and us to continue to mesh. That's the only pressure.

It's a belief in progress. Wins like (Tuesday's) help build that belief and that confidence that you can win against good teams in their building. Road wins always give you that extra belief.

That's our roadblock. So even though we could be down a couple bodies, I think it's definitely a good way for us to really get a feel for where we are.

It not just going to fall into our lap. We're going to have to go out and earn it.

It takes some feel-good with you to the All-Star break.

It tells you something about this team that we were able to start the season off correctly after that first half,

In the first half, we didn't give them a lot to get excited about other than the explosions in the introductions.

In the past it's come up maybe in the middle of the year, after we'd lost some games, or been frustrated. The fact that we haven't played a regular-season game yet makes it different.

I definitely believed that we could get that stop down the stretch. It wasn't that they didn't have enough time to get the shot off, but I felt like we kept fighting and we were going to be able to get that last stop and take it to overtime and pull it out.

He's in a position now where he gets to make those plays every night and every time. He's just showing the ability he's always had. He's just doing it on a nightly basis.