SEASON RECORDS
Lakers: 57-25 (No. 2 seed)
Hornets: 46-36 (No. 7 seed)
SEASON SERIES
Lakers sweep 4-0.
KEY INJURIES
Lakers: Andrew Bynum, he has a bone bruise in his surgically-repaired right knee due to a fall Tuesday night against San Antonio, he said he could play but the Lakers may be cautious with Game 1; Matt Barnes has had a knee problem but is expected to go for the playoffs; Steve Blake has the chicken pox and could be out a week or more. And stop laughing at him, it’s not funny.
Hornets: David West, the team’s leading scorer, will be out for the series after having his knee reconstructed.
OFFENSE/DEFENSE RANKING (points per 100 possessions)
Lakers: Off. 107.9 (7th in NBA); 101.3 (6th in NBA)
Hornets: Off. 103.8 (19th in NBA); 102.5 (10th in NBA)
THREE KEY LAKERS
Pau Gasol: The question is not if Pau Gasol is capable off scoring on the Hornets, he can score on anyone. The question is will the Lakers guards get him the rock? The Lakers have this habit of just going away from getting the ball into the post because… well, nobody knows why. Phil Jackson would like to know why. Without David West the Hornets have to use Carl Landry to cover Pau Gasol, and last meeting Gasol had 23 points on 14 shots in that situation. The Lakers need to exploit that matchup until the Hornets adjust.
Lamar Odom: The Hornets are not a very deep team, when the two teams go to the bench the Lakers have a big advantage, and soon to be Sixth Man of the Year is key to that. The Hornets have nobody who can match up with him, he can get Bynum some rest for that knee and present serious matchup issues for the Hornets.
Andrew Bynum: The Hornets are going to run a lot of pick-and-roll, about 21 percent of their offense either comes from the ball-handler (Chris Paul) or the roll man on this play. Plus they got a lot of spot up opportunities off this play. The Lakers center has started to lay back on those — by design — and give up jumpers to take away penetration, but when asked can he show out on Paul and recover with Emeka Okafor? It matters this series, it will matter more in future rounds.
THREE KEY HORNETS
Carl Landry: David West was at the heart of everything the Hornets did, and Landry is his replacement. He has stepped up on offense — in the team’s last 10 games he has been the leading scorer at 14.9 points per game on 51.8 shooting. He is going to have to keep that up and then go to the other end of the floor and defend Gasol. If the Hornets are to have any chance Landry is key.
Chris Paul: The Lakers do not defend point guards well, and there is no better point guard in the league than CP3. The Lakers will likely try to hide Derek Fisher by asking him to cover Hornets coach Monty Williams (“Hey, just go stand by the guy in the suit”) and that means a combination of Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant on CP3. Paul has shot 41.5 percent in the Hornets last 10 and 20 percent from three. That will not do it here. Simply put, he is going to have to be amazing both scoring and passing to steal a game from Los Angeles.
Trevor Ariza: The former Lakers will be looking for a measure of revenge. He also will draw the Kobe Bryant cover. You need to get Kobe shooting a lot, particularly jumpers, and not running the offense to beat the Lakers and Ariza has to goad and challenge Kobe into that mode.
OUTLOOK
With all due respect to how well Landry has played, the Hornets really need David West here. The offensive problems that West created would have challenged Pau Gasol more and maybe tiered the Spaniard out some.
Look for the Hornets to try to pick-and-roll the Lakers to death, the Lakers strategy has been to lay back on that and dare you to beat them with the jump shot. Paul is going to have to both knock down shots and find ways to get some easy buckets inside for his teammates. They need to get Andrew Bynum and his balky knee on the move, the problem is the Hornets are not really a running team.
Emeka Okafor also is going to have to have a monster series on the glass for the Hornets to have a chance.
PREDICTION
Without West the Hornets do not have the firepower. They didn’t really with him, but without him the Hornets (like most teams) just cannot match up with the length and skill of the Lakers front line.
Lakers in 5.