To say that the Los Angeles Lakers won Monday night's contest at the Staples Center over the Dallas Mavericks seems like a stretch. More appropriately, the Lakers survived Monday night, an ugly game in which the Lakers threatened to score their fewest points in the shot clock era, and scored all of seven points in the third quarter. But thanks to Derek Fisher, the Lakers prevailed 73-70 for their ninth straight home win.
Fisher hit a game-winning three-pointer with 3.1 seconds left, breaking the tie and giving the Lakers the win. He scored nine points in the quarter and had two key steals that helped the Lakers take the lead. In the last 25 years, the Lakers have won just four games when scoring under 80 points, including the playoffs. Their record when scoring under 80 points since the 1985-1986 season is 4-47.
Fisher famously made a shot with 0.4 seconds left in Game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals to beat San Antonio. That was one of the four under 80 wins by the Lakers, joining a 79-76 win over the Indiana Pacers on December 11, 1996, and a 72-71 win over the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of the first round in 2004.
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