C'mon, Mark. Even WE know better than that.

The LA Times keeps churning out doozies. (Mark Heisler, LA Times)

Superstars are made on the hallowed parquet floor as when Michael Jordan dropped 63 on the Celtics in the 1986 playoffs and Larry Bird called him “God disguised as Michael Jordan.”

This would make this “God, disguised as Derek Fisher.”

Sorry Heisler, but I think it was more like “Derek Fisher disguised as a really good point guard.”

When someone does something so special, so great, there’s no need to use hyperbole to describe it. Had Heisler described exactly what had happened, the piece would have been a terrific one. Just look at Bill Plaschke’s piece or Adrian Wojnarowski’s piece for an example of how describing the truth can be far, far better than using hyperbole. Fisher had done something great, so all Heisler had to do to make his own piece great was to explain exactly what Fisher had done.

Instead he went THERE, using the comparison to Michael Jordan, who had been compared to God — thus indirectly comparing Derek Fisher to God himself. Not exactly the best comparison, if you ask me. When Michael Jordan had been compared to God, he had scored 63 points and singlehandedly kept his team in the game. When Derek Fisher was compared to God, he had scored 16 points and made a few clutch shots so that his team wouldn’t finish blowing a 17-point lead. See the difference?

Fisher was spectacular, don’t get me wrong. He just didn’t inspire anyone to think of God. Unless, like me, they were thinking, “There mustn’t be a God if He allows Derek Fisher to hit so many damn shots in an NBA Finals game,” or simply, “God damn it! Fisher again???”