WASHINGTON (AP) — Byron Mullens scored 27 points, Ramon Sessions had 20 and Ben Gordon added 19 as the Charlotte Bobcats earned their seventh win of the season and kept the Washington Wizards winless with a 108-106 double-overtime victory on Saturday night.
One of the biggest plays in Monday night’s entertaining and competitive — no, really! — contest between the Charlotte Bobcats and Milwaukee Bucks came late in the fourth quarter, with the Bucks holding onto a 96-93 advantage following a 14-6 Bobcats run over the preceding 4 1/2 minutes. With about 2:30 left and a chance to tie, Bobcats power forward Byron Mullens faced up on defender John Henson. As he began to back the Milwaukee rookie down, Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings dug down with a double, leaving his man, Charlotte reserve Ramon Sessions, wide open on the opposite side of the court.
You can check out the result of the play at about the 40-second mark of the clip below, although you can probably guess what happens next:
Yep, that’s right — Mullens skips the pass across the court and Sessions steps into an in-rhythm 3-pointer to knot the game at 96. After some clutch ‘Cats free-throw shooting (they went 27-for-30 in the game and now sit seventh in the NBA in team accuracy at the stripe) and a pair of bad final-minute Bucks possessions — a pick-and-roll resulting in an off-balance Samuel Dalembert 15-footer with 49 seconds left and a 27-foot heave by Monta Ellis with five seconds left, both of which came with Milwaukee trailing by two points — Charlotte walked away with an impressive 102-98 win over the Central Division-leading Bucks.
The pass out of the double led to Mullens’ only assist of the game and just his 12th in nine games on the season. But according to Mullens, the dime wasn’t the rarest thing about the play. From Rick Bonnell at the Charlotte Observer :
Really funny moment in the post-game locker room when I asked Byron Mullens about the pass he threw to Ramon Sessions for the tying 3-pointer. Mullens started chuckling, saying that’s the first time he can remember being double-teamed as an NBA player.
The Charlotte Bobcats need an early win to avoid an ugly record … Ramon Sessions bringing some Lakers mojo to Charlotte? … Jeremy Lin makes his first opening night start tonight . . .
Jodie Meeks is loving life with the Los Angeles Lakers, and he could be a key piece for them this season … Ramon Sessions hoping to change the culture in Charlotte … Jamaal Tinsley and the Utah Jazz are confident entering the season
After struggling in the playoffs with the Lakers, Ramon Sessions is happy to be playing in Charlotte.
The Los Angeles Lakers finished the 2011-12 season with an overall record of 41-25. Kobe Bryant led the team with 27.9 points per game, Andrew Bynum led the team with 11.8 rebounds per game, and Ramon Sessions led the team with 5.5 assists per game. The Lakers ranked 15th overall averaging 97.3 points per game while ranking 15th overall allowing 95.9 points per game.
The Cleveland Cavaliers finished the 2011-12 season with an overall record of 21-45. Kyrie Irving led the team with 18.5 points per game, Anderson Varejao led the team with 11.5 rebounds per game, and Ramon Sessions led the team with 5.5 assists per game. The Cavaliers ranked 25th overall averaging 93.0 points per game while ranking 26th overall allowing 100.2 points per game.
The success of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ 2012-13 season won’t be determined by wins and losses.
Instead, it depends entirely on the development of starting point guard Jrue Holiday.
Holiday made waves this summer by reportedly seeking a maximum contract offer from the Sixers, drawing a predictable wave of jokes from the basketball blogosphere.
After all, teams don’t typically hand out max contracts to players with a career average of roughly 12 points, five assists and three rebounds per game.
Otherwise, the Ramon Sessions’ of the world would be much richer men.
Since Holiday reportedly floated the idea of a max contract, it’s time to put his money where his mouth is. He needs to play like he deserves it this season.
The Sixers’ long-term future starts with that.
Throughout this past year’s playoffs, Holiday showed flashes of the player he needs to consistently be this season. He nearly doubled his 1.8 free throw attempts from the regular season, averaging 3.4 FTAs per game in the Sixers’ two playoff series.
There’s plenty of remaining work, though. Holiday battled two of the best defenses in the league in the playoffs and suffered a number of rough shooting nights as a result.
Overall, he shot a subpar 41.3 percent from the field in the playoffs. Of the 35 guards who played 20 or more minutes and shot at least 40 percent in the playoffs, Holiday ranked 31st, according to Basketball Reference.
It’s to Holiday’s credit that he wouldn’t let a poor shooting night deter him from continuing to fire away. Despite a 1-for-14 start to his Game 4 against the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, he bailed the Sixers out with two huge three-pointers in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
As Andre Iguodala said during the playoffs, Holiday is a “young guy who [is]… kind of too dumb to know [any better],” according to Tom Sunnegren of Philadunkia.
He’s got the confidence in his shot that he’ll keep shooting, make or miss.
Having lost Lou Williams in free agency this summer, the Sixers need that type of player now more than ever.
If Holiday hopes to become a cornerstone of the Sixers franchise, he’s going to need to evolve into the Sixers’ go-to option on offense.
Naturally, that means bumping his playoff shooting average of 41.3 percent up a few percentage points, at the very least.
Holiday just turned 22 in June, but already has three NBA seasons under his belt. In theory, he still has plenty of time to continue developing and refining his game before hitting his athletic prime in his late 20s.
The Sixers can’t afford to wait that long to determine Holiday’s role in their future, though.
Holiday becomes eligible for restricted free agency after next season, and if he accepts the Sixers’ one-year qualifying offer, he’d become an unrestricted free agent the following summer.
Realistically speaking, this year is a make-or-break season for Holiday and the Sixers. If Holiday suddenly starts averaging 20 points per game with a shooting percentage in the high-40s, the Sixers should be more willing to match an exorbitant offer in restricted free agency.
If Holiday’s progress stagnates, as it did through much of this past regular season?
He could become the next recipient of a Jeremy Lin-esque “poison pill” offer, one the Sixers would have less incentive to match.
The Sixers made a host of moves this summer, but none moved them any closer to being able to upset the Miami Heat in a seven-game playoff series.
At this point, without Elton Brand and Williams, the Sixers will be lucky just making it back to the playoffs this coming season.
They need to fully hand the reins of the team to Holiday, for better or worse, and see what happens this year. (To a lesser extent, this also applies to Evan Turner, the No. 2 overall pick from 2010.)
Realistically, three years into Holiday’s career (and two years into Turner’s), there’s not much evidence that the Sixers should build around either player long-term.
It’s time for the team to force both players to prove their worth.
If it means missing the playoffs this year? That’s fine.
That should definitively tell the Sixers that it’s time to move on from Holiday (or Turner), bottom out in the next two years and restart in 2014, when the team will have an abundance of cap space.
Is that such a terrible worst-case scenario?
By doing so, the team could finally determine whether Holiday (and Turner) are worth building around.
That’s worth a full season, no matter what the W/L record ends up being.
Read more Philadelphia 76ers news on BleacherReport.com
The Los Angeles Lakers immediately became one of the NBA‘s top five offensive teams when they officially signed Steve Nash to the roster, but unless Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum become terrors in the paint, their team defense is likely to take a reciprocal hit.
Under Phil Jackson the Lakers were consistently one of the league’s top defensive and offensive teams, but when Mike Brown assumed control, the Lakers fell off the cliff offensively and held the line defensively, at first.
Brown’s defensive philosophy and Kobe Bryant carried the Lakers while the team was adjusting to the growing pains of a new offense, but when the defense began to falter the offense never manged to catch up.
By the end of the 2012 postseason it was apparent that the Lakers couldn’t stop any of the NBA’s true title contenders on the offensive end when they needed to, and even when they could the often inept Lakers offense couldn’t manufacture enough points to win anyway.
What Nash brings to the table offensively for the Lakers is mind-boggling when you consider the talent around him.
Bryant, Gasol and Bynum are probably 20 point per game players without Nash, so imagine how good they could be with one of the most visionary lead guards of our time.
Bryant should have a decent chance at shooting 50 percent from the field for the first time in his career, and Bynum and Gasol should feast on the pick-and-roll buffet Nash is sure to provide.
The Lakers will certainly score points in bunches with Nash at the helm, but it won’t matter in the playoffs unless they get defensive stops at Nash’s position.
And for those of you who don’t know, Nash’s idea of good defense is racing the ball up the court after an opponent has scored.
It may seem like Nash has no concept of NBA defensive theory, but I just think that side of the court doesn’t interest him very much. Nash is an offensive player in every sense of the word, but that approach doesn’t win championships.
Derek Fisher and Ramon Sessions routinely got beat off the dribble by the West’s elite guards, but Nash gets beat off the dribble by all guards, elite or otherwise.
So in order for the Lakers to benefit from Nash’s offensive boost, they must commit to helping Nash when he gets beat on penetration, which will be plenty.
I’m just not sure Bynum and Gasol are up for the task, but a healthy Dwight Howard sure is.
Both Bynum and Gasol are above-average defensive players, but Gasol doesn’t have the attitude or focus to bang with the league’s interior bruisers, and Bynum doesn’t have the discipline.
However, Howard has made his defensive living by erasing his teammates’ mistakes, and what he lacks in skills compared to Bynum or Gasol he makes up in instincts.
Bynum might change a few opponent’s shots in the lane but he’s just as likely to be caught out of defensive position.
And the shots that Bynum would change, Howard can block.
Not to mention Howard has the potential to be just as good as either Bynum or Gasol on the pick-and-roll, just in a more athletic kind of way.
Most Lakers fans are intrigued by the possibilities that a Nash-led offense could offer, but they should be equally concerned by a Nash-led defense, especially with Bynum or Gasol at the second tier.
The Lakers will win more games next season, and they will probably reside among the top three or four teams in the Western Conference. But unless their current frontcourt receives a defensive epiphany, Nash’s offense will not be enough to offset his horrible defense when the games really matter, but Howard’s defense can.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
The Los Angeles Lakers immediately became one of the NBA‘s top five offensive teams when they officially signed Steve Nash to the roster, but unless Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum become terrors in the paint, their team defense is likely to take a reciprocal hit.
Under Phil Jackson the Lakers were consistently one of the league’s top defensive and offensive teams, but when Mike Brown assumed control, the Lakers fell off the cliff offensively and held the line defensively, at first.
Brown’s defensive philosophy and Kobe Bryant carried the Lakers while the team was adjusting to the growing pains of a new offense, but when the defense began to falter the offense never manged to catch up.
By the end of the 2012 postseason it was apparent that the Lakers couldn’t stop any of the NBA’s true title contenders on the offensive end when they needed to, and even when they could the often inept Lakers offense couldn’t manufacture enough points to win anyway.
What Nash brings to the table offensively for the Lakers is mind-boggling when you consider the talent around him.
Bryant, Gasol and Bynum are probably 20 point per game players without Nash, so imagine how good they could be with one of the most visionary lead guards of our time.
Bryant should have a decent chance at shooting 50 percent from the field for the first time in his career, and Bynum and Gasol should feast on the pick-and-roll buffet Nash is sure to provide.
The Lakers will certainly score points in bunches with Nash at the helm, but it won’t matter in the playoffs unless they get defensive stops at Nash’s position.
And for those of you who don’t know, Nash’s idea of good defense is racing the ball up the court after an opponent has scored.
It may seem like Nash has no concept of NBA defensive theory, but I just think that side of the court doesn’t interest him very much. Nash is an offensive player in every sense of the word, but that approach doesn’t win championships.
Derek Fisher and Ramon Sessions routinely got beat off the dribble by the West’s elite guards, but Nash gets beat off the dribble by all guards, elite or otherwise.
So in order for the Lakers to benefit from Nash’s offensive boost, they must commit to helping Nash when he gets beat on penetration, which will be plenty.
I’m just not sure Bynum and Gasol are up for the task, but a healthy Dwight Howard sure is.
Both Bynum and Gasol are above-average defensive players, but Gasol doesn’t have the attitude or focus to bang with the league’s interior bruisers, and Bynum doesn’t have the discipline.
However, Howard has made his defensive living by erasing his teammates’ mistakes, and what he lacks in skills compared to Bynum or Gasol he makes up in instincts.
Bynum might change a few opponent’s shots in the lane but he’s just as likely to be caught out of defensive position.
And the shots that Bynum would change, Howard can block.
Not to mention Howard has the potential to be just as good as either Bynum or Gasol on the pick-and-roll, just in a more athletic kind of way.
Most Lakers fans are intrigued by the possibilities that a Nash-led offense could offer, but they should be equally concerned by a Nash-led defense, especially with Bynum or Gasol at the second tier.
The Lakers will win more games next season, and they will probably reside among the top three or four teams in the Western Conference. But unless their current frontcourt receives a defensive epiphany, Nash’s offense will not be enough to offset his horrible defense when the games really matter, but Howard’s defense can.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com