Looking back, Fisher sees it all so clearly

Well if it isn’t Derek Fisher, lasting longer in the postseason than Kobe and Shaq, channeling Robert Horry, playing the most important basketball of his career.

He came through in the clutch in two of Utah’s three victories over Golden State, which has the Jazz in position to finish off this second-round series in Game 5 tonight in Salt Lake City. And he’s done it while worrying about the welfare of his infant daughter and raising awareness of the disease that afflicts her.

Fisher’s never been more valuable. It was easy to overlook him while he was with the Lakers. He was a Toyota Corolla parked between the Hummer and the Ferrari that were Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Now, after a season with Smush Parker yielding to Jordan Farmar and culminating in a first-round playoff loss for the Lakers, that trusty, dependable Corolla doesn’t seem so bad.

Rest assured, Fisher misses the Lakers. Not necessarily these Lakers. Those Lakers. The teams that played into June every year, those two superstars mixed with the right blend of veterans and role players, the best team in the NBA three consecutive seasons.

“Professional sports, you know you’re not going to stay together forever,” Fisher said. “But it was so special what we were able to accomplish together as a group that a lot of times, even years removed, you still have to kind of stop and think like, ‘Man, what if? What if we had two or three more years together? Could we have won another three or four championships?’ ”

Fisher was the voice of reason on those teams, standing by with a bucket of water as the petty spats and controversies flared up in the locker room. And if Ken Burns ever made a documentary on the downfall of the Lakers empire you could just imagine long interviews with Fisher talking over a series of photographs flashed on the screen.

“Sometimes it just seemed like things were too complicated,” Fisher said. “Couldn’t we just focus on being the best team we could be? But I think the fact that a lot of the focus was on Kobe and Shaq and Phil [Jackson] and all these larger personalities, it kind of gave me a perspective where I could see things from a different angle and offer a middle ground for everything. I didn’t feel obligated to choose sides with this guy or that guy, this situation or that situation. I was just able to step back and say, this is what I see, this is what I’m observing.

“I wish it could be different at times so we could just focus on trying to win a championship.”

It was also about egos and attention and money. Even Fisher wasn’t immune to the finances of the game, leaving in the great break-up of 2004 to sign a six-year, $36.6-million contract with the Warriors. But everyone seemed to understand the deal: having made his contributions to three championship teams, Fisher was entitled to cash in while he could; and the Lakers would probably be better off spending their money elsewhere. As it turned out, Fisher made only $600,000 more than the Lakers paid Vladimir Radmanovic this season. Oops.

The Jazz traded for him last summer, in part because the 117 playoff games he racked up with the Lakers were more than the rest of the Utah roster combined. Of course, Bryant and O’Neal deserve most of the credit for that Lakers success, but Fisher is reminding people he wasn’t just along for the ride. Now he’s the one helping his team to the brink of the Western Conference finals, while Bryant and O’Neal are at home.

“He’s done so much, not just for me but for our team, leadership-wise,” second-year point guard Deron Williams said. “He’s been in a lot of these situations before in his career.”

But no one in NBA history had a day exactly like Fisher did last Wednesday. It started in New York, where his daughter Tatum had treatment to reduce a cancerous tumor in her eye. It’s a rare condition known as retinoblastoma, and it usually results in either removal of the eye ... or death. A friend of Fisher’s did some research and discovered a doctor in New York who had an alternative treatment that involved shrinking the tumor with hopes of eventually removing it without losing the entire eye.

So after the procedure went well, Fisher flew back to Salt Lake City, filled with hope and accompanied by his family. After arriving during the game and checking in as soon as he came out to the bench, he forced Golden State’s Baron Davis into a crucial turnover during the final minute of regulation, then had his Horry moment with a crucial three-pointer when the Jazz was up by three in overtime.

Fisher, normally very private about his personal life, then went on national TV and gave the medical details to TNT sideline reporter Pam Oliver.

“I think if I was talking about myself, I probably would be uncomfortable,” Fisher said. “But I think, talking about my daughter’s situation and the disease overall in particular, and the fact that it’s raising so much awareness and already three or four kids are possibly not going to have to have their eyes removed and they’re going to be able to see this doctor and maybe save their eye, I’m comfortable with that. I’m not comfortable bragging and talking about everything I’m doing as a player. But if I can help people, I’m comfortable talking about that all day.”

In the fourth quarter of Game 4, when the pressure was at its highest in a game that would decide if the series was all but over or given a fresh start, Fisher produced 14 points.

Add those to the most memorable four-tenths of a second in Lakers history three years ago in San Antonio and Fisher has a nice little collection of playoff moments going.

“To add one of those stories or situations that people are going to remember for a long time, it’s special,” Fisher said. “When you think about your grandkids hearing about things that you did or accomplish as a professional, it’s great.”

Hopefully it will be Tatum telling the story.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.