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The Lakers trading Derek Fisher for Ramon Sessions and he’s being outplayed by Derek
Fisher and he’s not giving the Lakers anything, he has no confidence in his jump shot so
he’s no shooting when they pass it to him out of double teams, and he’s not playing any
defense and not even on the floor at the end of games, but I can’t say it was his fault that
they lost this game, they just didn’t finish and close out a game that they should’ve won…..
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OKLAHOMA CITY – Even down late, the Oklahoma City Thunder are showing that they are
never out. Kevin Durant scored 22 points and rattled in the go-ahead basket on a baseline
runner with 18 seconds left, and the Thunder scored the final nine points to rally for a 77-75
victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Wed-
nesday night. Oklahoma City trailed by seven with two minutes left before surging back
with a series of defensive stops by its stars to claw back from that deficit in the closing stages
of a game for the second time this postseason. Instead, Oklahoma City takes a 2-0 lead into
Game 3 on Friday night at Staples Center. Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum scored 20 points
apiece for the Lakers, who came up empty on their last six possessions after Bynum’s hook
shot made it 75-68 with 2:09 remaining. James Harden drove for a layup before Durant used
his height advantage to reach up and tip away a pass from Bryant, who he was guarding. Dur-
ant ran out for a right-handed dunk at the other end before Russell Westbrook forced another
turnover by aggressively challenging an outlet pass to Bryant along the sideline. Harden
made the next stop, blocking Bryant’s jumper on the next Lakers possession and getting a lay-
up in transition off it to cut the deficit to one in the final minute. Bryant couldn’t connect
again, this time on a 3-pointer, to give the Thunder the ball back with the chance to take the
lead and Durant was able to make it happen. Steve Blake missed an open 3-pointer from the
right side with about five seconds left after Metta World Peace couldn’t get the ball to Bryant
on the inbounds play. Brown said he thought Bryant was open on the back side of the play,
but World Peace apparently didn’t see him — agreeing that Bryant was supposed to be the
first option. “Blake was wide open. We didn’t have any timeouts left and he got a clean look,
a really good look,” World Peace said. “He can knock that down.” “It’s not good. I don’t think
anybody’s happy in there (in the locker room),” coach Mike Brown said. “We felt like we let
one slip away.” – (DUH) Bryant was right at the heart of the meltdown, missing two shots
and having a hand in two turnovers in the final 2 minutes. The first turnover came when
Durant used his nearly 7-foot frame and impressive wingspan to come up with an energizing
steal and fast-break chance. “We dominated defensively,” Bynum said. “We stopped them,
made them play through their bigs and turn the ball over. In the last two minutes, we gave
the game away.”
