Derek Fisher is tired of blowing leads

The steadying influence in the Lakers' locker room felt the need to approach the whiteboard after another close call Friday against Washington and write a simple phrase -- "Boston Finals" -- followed by the number 24, a reference to a more painful time in recent team history.

The Lakers have frittered away large second-half leads in many games this season, reminding Fisher of the 24-point advantage they lost in Game 4 of last season's NBA Finals.

"That was a window of opportunity to be champions, to take that series to 2-2 with the fifth game on our home court," Fisher said. "We did the same thing that we're starting to do now -- allow teams to get back into a game by executing poorly on offense, turning the ball over, taking poor shots and becoming porous on defense. I just wanted to kind of remind us that if we want to get back to that point, we have to correct this now."

There could have been a lot of writing on the wall Friday night.

The Lakers (16-2) led the hapless Wizards (3-14) by 16 in the first quarter, but it was shaved to two a few minutes before halftime. More telling, the Lakers had pushed the lead back to 19 with 7:27 to play but then had to hold their breath as Caron Butler missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer, allowing them to escape, 106-104.

Fisher was asked if he felt alarmed by what he saw.

"Tired more so than alarmed," he said. "How many times do you want to bump your head against the same brick wall? The wall's not going to give. Why expend the mental and physical energy that it takes to have to rebuild momentum like that over the course of a 100-plus-game season?

"Nobody says you have to beat anybody by 20. However, if you do put yourself in a position where you're up 16 or you're up 20, we're talented enough and we're good enough that we should be able to extend that lead or hold it.

"We're not doing it. I don't know if we're getting bored or just losing that immediate focus that we start the game with. We definitely need to improve quickly."

Fisher isn't alone in his thinking.

Kobe Bryant said Friday's victory didn't "sit right" with him because the Lakers were "not moving in the right direction."

Coach Phil Jackson also picked up a marker Friday night and wrote on the whiteboard the names of the teams that had cut into large Lakers leads this season: Dallas, New Orleans, Phoenix, Indiana, Philadelphia and Washington.