This has been facilitated by Fisher splitting his minutes with Blake and Brown. It doesn’t help matters for the Lakers as both have been experiencing their own share of shooting slumps. With Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum elevating their respective games over the long road trip, the spotlight and criticism now fall on the Lakers guards not named Kobe Bryant.
Brown and Blake each started the year hot, but the shots that were falling for Brown, a result of his “playing smarter basketball,” now fall every-so-often, and just not enough to produce the output the Lakers desperately need from the bench.
Blake’s problem is completely different. We’ve seen Fisher in the past overcome shooting slumps by simply continuing to take shots, in hopes they’ll eventually start falling, but lately Blake hasn’t even been attempting shots. The injury to Matt Barnes has left the Lakers bench accountable for another 8 or so average of points, but you can’t get points if you don’t shoot the basketball.
Plug in either Brown or Blake for Fisher in the starting unit, but neither will likely improve upon what Fisher brings to the starting unit, instead it would likely break-up the chemistry of the second unit. Even if Jackson wanted to move Fisher to the second unit, which he doesn’t, who’s to say any of his counterparts would do any better.
Los Angeles Lakers(96) - Minnesota Timberwolves(103)
