There is truly only one way to describe the game against the Golden State Warriors: Priceless

The adventure started early in the game as Pau Gasol had his back to the basket with the ball about 4 feet out on the right wing. The double team came early he looked over his shoulder and saw Bynum floating down the paint toward the basket. Pau threw the ball over his shoulder right into the arms of the wide open Bynum creating an easy dunk for the big man.

The game went back and forth in the beginning as the Lakers struggled to pull away. The halftime lead was only seven. To put that into perspective, the Boston Celtics led the Warriors by 8 going into the fourth quarter on Friday and managed to get outscored by Don Nelson’s crew by 18 points resulting in a 10 point loss. The Lakeshow would have none of that.

Season memorable nights for Derek Fisher and Sasha Vujacic set the tone for the second half and the Lakers went on to complete an easy, or at least what looked to be easy, win over the Golden State Warrios. The final score was 130-113 Lakers and a perfect way to end 2008. For the sake of breaking down the game however, it’s quite simple to decipher.

Overall, the team played great shooting 52% from the field, 46% from three point range, 81% from the free throw line, and dropping 65 points in each half. Two numbers that stand out:

• 33 – The number of assists the Lakers had on 47 made shots. This is a grea stat and shows that there was great ball movement for the entire team.
• 11 - Eleven different Lakers played in this game. Every member of the team that participated in this contest played a minimum of seven minutes. Rookie guard Sun Yue even scored a basket.

This game however, wasn’t all about the team’s accomplishments, but also two players in particular. The Lakers made a statement. Derek Fisher and Sasha Vujacic also made statements.

D Fish had a great game and complete by every measure. Fisher shot 9 for 12 from the field finishing with 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists in only 25 minutes. In the last four games since Jordan Farmar has been out due to his knee injury, Fisher has been playing a lot more minutes averaging nearly 40 a game. With the Lakers playing eleven different guys Fisher was only in for 25 minutes but made sure to make the best of them. His performance was truly great to see and it felt like there wasn’t a shot he couldn’t make. If the refs didn’t make three questionable blocking calls against him in the first half, perhaps he would’ve filled up the stat sheet even more. Ok, maybe I’m just getting greedy.

Sasha Vujacic had a superb game. Vujacic finished with a season high 17 points in a season high 31 minutes. Sasha has only averaged about 15 minutes per game this season and hasn’t had the opportunity to find any rhythm while on the court. This game was very different though. Shooting 6 for 10 from the field, 4 of  7 from beyond the arc is quite impressive and explains exactly what Vujacic is getting paid the big bucks for: to knock down the jumpers. There was also another side to Sasha tonight that we many fans aren’t accustomed to. Sasha Vujacic, the great passer.

Fans have often mistakened Vujacic for a pure shooter. Many don’t realize that Sasha’s experience is in the point guard position and his ability to see plays develop and read the defense are remarkable. This game was a great demonstration as most of the time he was assigned to play the one spot. Sasha finished with 6 assists in the game.

Since Jordan Farmar went through his surgery, only a few days ago, and diagnosed with a recovery period of 8 weeks, we’ve all started panicking as to who will play the point guard position. We’ve hear it all. “Derek Fisher can’t play 48 minutes a game at his age, we’ve got to give him some rest in his 13th season.” “Sun Yue isn’t ready to be the second string point guard on a championship caliber team.” “Let’s fill that 15th roster spot with an experienced veteran point guard.”

NO, NO, NO. Our answer is already wearing a Lakers uniform. Phil Jackson has always preferred tall point guards because they operate well in the triangle offense. The triangle isn’t designed for a pass first point guard, but for a point guard with a court vision that can pass the ball and float to the wing for an open jump shot. Fisher is clearly good at this and Farmar has become a lot better as time has passed. In this game, Vujacic has proven that he can fill that role.

I hope that as the season progresses, Vujacic gets more playing time to develop even more than he already has. The talent is clearly there. The passion is clearly there. The work ethic is clearly there. Not lets provide more opportunity.

By the way, almost forgot to mention. It was nice to see Ronny Turiaf back at Staples Center. After the game Ronny and Andris Biedrins exchanged hugs and a few words with many of the Lakers players. Classy players are always admired. All the best to Ronny Turiaf as always!