Lakers vs. Thunder: Ramon Sessions Must Step Up to Save Los Angeles' Season
The entire 2011-12 Los Angeles Lakers season resides on the shoulders of Ramon Sessions tonight.
Down 3-1 to the Oklahoma City Thunder, it’s clear that Kobe Bryant can’t do it by himself.
Andrew Bynum has been strong in the series thus far, and Pau Gasol looks like a guy that’s already planning for the Olympics this summer.
Despite being on the brink of elimination, there is still hope, and that hope resides in Sessions.
He has played awful basketball in the series, scoring 6.5 points, with three assists while shooting 36 percent from the field, and he hasn’t drilled a single three-point shot through four games.
It’s rather obvious that the increased intensity and physicality that comes with the postseason is overwhelming Sessions in his first-ever playoff run, and the flow of the offense has been disrupted because of it.
He’s been extremely indecisive and isn’t attacking the basket with the same aggressiveness he displayed in the regular season. He has attempted a grand total of four free throws in the series and that has really put the pressure on Bryant to create open shots.
Tonight in Game 5, Sessions has to do a better job of running the offense and attacking the basket. Kobe has had opportunities to close Games 2 and 4, but has been hampered by extreme fatigue. Sessions needs to take some of the weight off his shoulders.
Oklahoma City is beginning to sag off him defensively, and that’s hurting the effectiveness of the bigs down low.
Sessions doesn’t need to score 20 points tonight, but if he’s able to register 10 or more assists, I believe the Lakers will survive to see a Game 6. His playmaking ability is there, and he can’t let Russell Westbrook dictate how he plays any longer.
The quicker Westbrook has dominated the matchup when the two are guarding each other, and Sessions can’t let him get inside of his head. Sessions is an upgrade over Derek Fisher athletically, but they are light years away from each other when it comes to mental toughness.
The playoffs have been a baptism by fire for the 26-year-old and Sessions still has a chance to redeem himself.
Is he up for the challenge?
