New Orleans had better come out desperate for Game 5, because if they go down 3-1 in this series it is over. The Lakers are not going to be beat three times in a row by the undersized Hornets. Not with Kobe around.
The Lakers… who knows how they are going to come out? You want to predict this team’s psyche?
There are two real questions for Sunday Night’s Game 5: 1) Will the Lakers go away from their advantage inside with their big men — as they often do when they get lazy — and; 2) Can they continue to control Chris Paul.
Andrew Bynum has been fantastic for the Lakers all series long and in Game 3 Pau Gasol joined him in the quality play category. The problem for New Orleans is that they are like pretty much every other team in the NBA — they have no answer for the Lakers length and skill up front. There are things you can scheme for, the Lakers front line isn’t one of them. It’s why they have shiny rings. The only thing that stops the Lakers front line is the Lakers, and the question is if they go to them.
The Hornets hope is a Game 1 like performance from Chris Paul. He is going to run the pick-and-roll roughly 850 times this game, trying to get the Lakers to defend it poorly as they did in that series opener. CP3 has been the best single player in the series but his good games (22 points and 8 assists in Game 3) are not enough to overcome the other talent gaps in this series. He has to be in the Game 1 CP3 (33 points and 14 assists). He can do that to Derek Fisher, but when the game gets serious the Lakers have switched the longer, more athletic and more tenacious Kobe Bryant on to him. And that has been enough.
Emeka Okafor and D.J. Mbenga have done all they could, but the Lakers simply have the matchup advantages in this series if they exploit them. Whether they bother to or not is another question. The Hornets need a big night from CP3 and their shooters to get hot (making the pass is only half the assist, somebody has to knock down the shot).
If they do, the Hornets can even this series at 2-2. Then it’s a best of three and anything can happen. Lose and it may be the end of the party in New Orleans.