There was a classic Derek Fisher sequence in the 3rd quarter that I loved. Fish was fouled on his way to the basket, but swung his elbow into the defender’s face and got called for a technical. It was kind of cute because he knew he did it; he didn’t argue with the official and stood there placidly with his hands behind his back. The Lakers got the ball because of the other foul called and Fisher buried a three. As the announcer said, “That’s Derek Fisher!”
Wouldn’t you know it: Pau finally came alive last night!! It took a little while, longer than I would have liked, but the 
second half belonged to the Black Swan. Gasol made a momentum-changing corner 3 in the beginning of the fourth quarter, which seemed to get him going. It was his second 3 of the year and only the 21st of his career, serving to finally energize his game.
After the big shot, he dished to Steve Blake who hit is own three, then collected two rebounds on his own misses for second chance point opportunities and hit a soft jumper off an excellent pass from LO. Pau had 13 of his 17 points in the second half and had 10 boards as well as 4 assists to complete his resurgence last night.
I loved watching him operate; he was aggressive and working in the paint, and even had a Kobe-like snarl and chest pound for himself after one particular play. It was great to see and is an excellent sign for the Lakers moving forward. They won by 14 points last night and stole back home court advantage to take a 2-1 series lead over the Hornets.
It was great to see them come out so focused and ready to play for their first road game of the playoffs. Game 3 was a fun win with contributions from multiple sources and in multiple ways. I have a feeling the switch is in the “ON” position from now until we get that 16th win!
[phpbay]Los Angeles Lakers, 3, “”, “”[/phpbay]
