LOS ANGELES -- If you're still not sold on "Derek Fisher, long-range marksman," then you're not going to believe the latest title Lakers coach Phil Jackson has added to his point guard's business card.

	Derek Fisher may not score as much against Philly, but that's not what the Lakers need from him.

Derek Fisher ... defensive stopper?

Fisher will be the unlucky Laker who has to chase Allen Iverson around the 76ers' screens and all over the court when the NBA Finals start tonight. The job isn't as glamorous as burying wide-open 3-pointers, as he did against the Spurs, but Fisher understands that someone has to try and get in Iverson's way. So why not him?

"Going into a series where they have such an effective guy closer to my size like Allen obviously is probably going to require me to play a lot of minutes," the 6-foot-1 Fisher said of the 6-foot Iverson. "It's going to require me to make sure I have enough energy on both ends to help our team. I can't just play defense and make other guys work on the offensive end for us."

Even Kobe Bryant, one of the better on-the-ball defenders in the league, has trouble keeping up with the Sixers' league MVP. In the teams' last meeting in the regular season, Iverson scored 40 points in a 112-97 Valentine's Day victory in Philadelphia.

Bryant said Fisher won't be as overmatched against Iverson as some might expect.

"He's a physical defender, but the important thing is Derek keeps playing no matter what the score is," Bryant said. "Calls might not go his way but he just plays through them."

"There isn't much you can do to try to stop him or contain him," Fisher said of Iverson, who's averaging 32.1 points a game in the playoffs. "He pretty much controls his own ability to dominate a game, whether he's making or missing shots. So for me to try and put a lot of pressure on myself to cut into his output would be silly of me."

Everyone from Jackson to Jack Nicholson has gotten credit for getting the Lakers' two megastars, Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, aligned in time for a repeat run at the NBA title. The unlikely figure cast in the middle of this L.A. story has been Fisher, who missed the first 62 games of the season with a stress fracture in his right foot.

With Fisher at the point, the Lakers have gone 26-5 overall and 11-0 in the postseason. He capped the Western Conference finals sweep of San Antonio with a career-high 28 points, including 6-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. For the series, Fisher was a remarkable 15-for-20 on threes.

"The way he's shooting the ball, he's opening up the defense," Sixers guard Eric Snow said. "When you have a guy shooting that well and you have a Kobe Bryant on the perimeter and a Shaquille O'Neal and Rick (Fox), (Robert) Horry and Horace (Grant), he just gives them the dimension that, for the most part, they didn't have all season long.

"I thought Tyronn Lue and (Mike) Penberthy played well for them at times. But he gives them those two guys in one player."

With the Sixers opting to defend O'Neal man-to-man with Dikembe Mutombo, the Lakers' perimeter shooters may not get as many clear looks at the basket. That'll probably mean fewer shots for Fisher. Then again, his primary job in this series won't be bombing from the outside anyway.

"I just have to go out and stay focused on what I do well," Fisher said.

The Lakers hope his forte will be getting inside Iverson's jersey the next four to seven games.