Derek Fisher

The Thunder sped past the Lakers, and they couldn't keep up. The Lakers' championship experience surpassed the Thunder, and Oklahoma City couldn't provide a rebuttal. Two years after battling each other in a six-game first-round playoff series, both teams have acquired chess pieces that could set up an epic Western Conference finals contest. In a deal with Cleveland, the Lakers acquired guard Ramon Sessions, whose speed, play-making and youth allow him to move like a knight across the board.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Andrew Bynum was right. Close-out games can be easy. The Oklahoma City Thunder stepped all over the Lakers in the fourth quarter of their 106-90 Game 5 victory Monday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena, ending the Lakers' season yet again in the Western Conference semifinals. It wasn't as bad as last season's 36-point blowout loss in Dallas, and there won't be any carry-over suspensions for next season, but the two-championship run the Lakers put together couldn't have seemed any further in the past.

In what marked his first return to Los Angeles since the Lakers traded him, Thunder guard Derek Fisher noticed how much time has flown by. "It's only been a couple of weeks," Fisher said, "but it seemed so much longer. " It sure has. After acquiring Ramon Sessions in a separate trade from Cleveland, the Lakers traded  Fisher and a first-round pick to the Houston Rockets for Jordan Hill. Fisher and Houston then negotiated a buyout, before he signed with the Oklahoma City for the rest of the season.

Guard Derek Fisher, grand old man of the Oklahoma City Thunder, is the emotional rock of an otherwise young team. "He's the best I've played with or seen in terms of being able to address a team, talk to a team, communicate with guys in a way that's really effective," forward Nick Collison said of Fisher, 37. "It's like having another coach, but he still has the respect of the players. It doesn't feel like he's preaching at you, he just makes a lot of sense. " In that way, the Lakers can only hope that passing the rock doesn't come back to haunt them.

In 24 hours, Derek Fisher will begin finding out two things: Which NBA teams will find his championship experience and locker room leadership valuable enough to pursue, and which ones consider him a washed-up 37-year-old veteran with no ability to defend young guards or consistently hit shots. After long searching for an upgrade at point guard, the Lakers last week acquired Ramon Sessions from Cleveland for Luke Walton, Jason Kapono, a 2012 first-round pick and less than $1 million in cash.

The Lakers are left wondering how they'll fill the leadership gap that Derek Fisher provided in previous seasons. Meanwhile, Fisher is left wondering if an NBA team will pick him up. After the Lakers traded Fisher for Jordan Hill to the Houston Rockets, a Lakers spokesman said "our understanding is he took a buyout. " ESPN Los Angeles' Ramona Shelburne first reported that Fisher took the buyout, is expected to be waived Monady and hopes to sign with a contender. The report mentions Fisher could sign with any team except the Lakers if he clears waivers by Wednesday.

Within a one-month span, Derek Fisher found out that both the Lakers' front office and the executive board of the National Basketball Players Assn. don't want him around. The Lakers traded Fisher last month to the Houston Rockets for Jordan Hill, partly to pave the way for Ramon Sessions' arrival as the team's starting point guard as well as to free up the payroll from Fisher's $3.4 million salary next season. This week, the executive board for the NBPA voted 8-0 that it had lost confidence in Fisher's ability to lead and asked for his resignation as the union president.

The Lakers lost their composure. Andrew Bynum showed frustration with the officiating. Lakers Coach Mike Brown showed frustration with the team's defense. All the players showed frustration with yet another poor road performance where they squandered a double-digit lead. Derek Fisher wouldn't have solved the Lakers' on-court execution in their 107-104 loss Tuesday to the Houston Rockets. But he would've been there in the locker room to calm everyone down. He wasn't there, though.

-- ESPN Los Angeles' Arash Markazi reports the Lakers and Rockets mutually agreed to extend the deadline for Derek Fisher to report to Houston and get his physical to 72 hours. Fisher wasn't with the team during the Rockets-Clippers game on Saturday.  -- The Times' Ben Bolch highlights Ramon Sessions' first practice with the Lakers. -- The Morning Journal's Bob Finnan mentions the Cavaliers waived former Laker Jason Kapono and talks to Luke Walton, who indicates he and Lakers Coach Mike Brown "weren't on the same page.

1. Speedy and playmaking point guard. Here's a recipe. Add Derek Fisher's declining speed, sprinkle in inconsistent shooting from both Fisher and Steve Blake and mix in the backcourt's inconsistent playmaking. What comes out hardly looks pretty. The Lakers, according to Hoopstats.com , feature the league's least efficient point-guard tandem. Break it down further: The Lakers' backcourt ranks last in points per game (12.1), 27th in assists (6.1) and 23rd in shooting percentage (40%)

So, the Thunder want to force Kobe Bryant out of his game.Oklahoma City will double and triple team him to limit his dominance. The Thunder hopes the strategy will force him into a role as facilitator. The brash and aggressive combination of James Harden and Thabo Sefolosha try to goad the Lakers' star into needlessly throwing up shots.Oh, it works sometimes.

If a few glorious slivers of their playoff history are to be repeated, the Lakers' joy ride could just be getting started. Only twice in franchise history has the team rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to win a postseason series, something the Lakers put themselves in much better position to do again with a 99-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3. Game 4 in their Western Conference semifinal series on Saturday night...

When Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher were teammates, Bryant used to joke about the lopsided results of their one-on-one games at the Lakers practice facility. On Friday evening, he proved that he wasn't just bragging. Fisher guarded Bryant on two possessions in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the Lakers Western Conference Semifinal series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The mismatch resulted in consecutive baskets for Bryant. In the first sequence, Bryant shot a 14-foot turnaround fade away jumper over Fisher to tie the game at 76-76 with 8:17 remaining.

OK, so I recognize that guy. Of course, absolutely, that's him. Still clutch, still fearless, still talented enough to throw his aging body in front of a defeat and almost single-handedly stop it, spin it on its axis, and turn it into a victory. Yeah, Kobe Bryant is still the one. Two days after giving away a second-round playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Bryant grabbed one back for the Lakers on Friday night, controlling the momentum and creating the magic that gave the Lakers a 99-96 home victory in Game 3. With memories of Bryant's fourth-quarter collapse Wednesday still fresh, Bryant scored 14 points in this fourth quarter to give the Lakers new life, if only for 24 hours.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Kobe Bryant walked over to Derek Fisher , wrapped an arm around his former teammate's waist and patted him on the rear. For one moment during a break in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinal series between the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder, the veteran guards who teamed for five NBA titles could safely resume their friendship. "I asked him if he was good, he asked me if I was good, and that was it," Fisher said Tuesday of his first-quarter exchange with Bryant on Monday during the Thunder's 119-90 victory.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Beyond all the speed, juvenescence and everything rolled into what Kobe Bryant called the "youthful exuberance" of the Oklahoma City Thunder, there's one statistic that should get the Lakers' attention. Bryant's teams are automatic when they go up 2-0 in a series, winning 21 of 21. But it's a different drama when the Lakers are down 2-0 — they're 1-7 with Bryant, their lone series victory in 2004 against San Antonio in the Western Conference semifinals. (Derek Fisher … 0.4 seconds … you know the rest.)

In hopes that he won't feel constricted with the extra clothing, Lakers guard Ramon Sessions plans to play Sunday against Oklahoma City without a protective pad along his sprained left shoulder. "It feels better not having it on," Sessions said. "It irritates you a little bit, but it also protects you. I'm going to try it tonight before we get into the playoffs to see how it feels without it. " Sessions said his sprained shoulder doesn't feel as sore as when the Lakers defeated the Clippers, 113-108, on April 4. He's also planning to keep the padding and additional undershirt handy in case the shoulder worsens against the Thunder.

OK, so I recognize that guy. Of course, absolutely, that's him. Still clutch, still fearless, still talented enough to throw his aging body in front of a defeat and almost single-handedly stop it, spin it on its axis, and turn it into a victory. Yeah, Kobe Bryant is still the one. Two days after giving away a second-round playoff game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Bryant grabbed one back for the Lakers on Friday night, controlling the momentum and creating the magic that gave the Lakers a 99-96 home victory in Game 3. With memories of Bryant's fourth-quarter collapse Wednesday still fresh, Bryant scored 14 points in this fourth quarter to give the Lakers new life, if only for 24 hours.

Some things to take from the Lakers' 119-90 Game 1 loss Monday to the Oklahoma City Thunder. 1. The Lakers have a lot of defensive adjustments to make on pick-and-roll coverages. Every time the Thunder ran its  offense, the Lakers showed up late on their rotations. After a few swing passes, dribble-drive penetrations or pick-and-rolls, the Lakers appeared way out of position. The reasons vary. Russell Westbrook dropped 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting because the Lakers forced him to be a jump shooter, and he made open shots.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Is it over? It's just the first game in two weeks' worth of them, the earliest hours in a brawl that could last all day, but I know what everyone is thinking, so we might as well ask it. Is this first punch a knockout punch? How on earth can the Lakers peel themselves off the floor to win four of the next six games against an Oklahoma City team that just beat them by 29 points, two dozen sprints, a dozen floor burns, six dunks, five tongue-wagging celebrations, and one glaring Derek Fisher?