The Los Angeles Lakers outrebounded the Hornets 43-30 and they outscored them 58-46 in the second half to pull away from and finish the Hornets last night.  Kobe Bryant led the way for the Lakers last night with 24 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists and 3 steals.  Andrew Bynum (18 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots) and Pau Gasol (16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots) also had really solid games yesterday.  Lamar Odom pitched in with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists last night.  The Lakers finished off the Hornets 4-2 in this series and now they will deal with the Dallas Mavericks starting next weekend.

The Lakers outscored the Hornets 52-39 in the second half last night and they outrebounded them 42-25 which explains the beatdown.  Kobe Bryant shot 8 of 13 from the floor as he led the way for the Lakers last night on a sprained ankle with 19 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal.  Andrew Bynum (18 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots) and Pau Gasol (16 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocked shots) also pitched in for the Lakers last night.  Derek Fisher (13 points), Lamar Odom (13 points) and Ron Artest (11 points) also pitched in for the Lakers in this game.  The Lakers are now up 3-2 in this series as they are back in charge.

Starting small forward Ron Artest looked like he was sleepwalking during the regular season, but with the bright lights of the playoffs on, he is really stepping up.  Artest has played in 4 games (all starts) for the Lakers so far against the Hornets in this series and he is averaging 33.5 minutes, 14.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  He is shooting well from everywhere on the floor in this series as he is hitting 52.5% of his shots from the floor, 46.2% (6 of 13) from three point range and 80% from the free throw line.  Artest is the X Factor for the Lakers in this series.

The Lakers got outrebounded by the Hornets 39-32 and that’s just plain silly.  With the frontline the Lakers have, the Hornets should NEVER outrebound them, period!  Kobe Bryant had an off night as he only shot 5 of 18 from the floor, but he still finished up with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal last night.  Ron Artest (16 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals) and Pau Gasol (16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocked shots) also pitched in for the Lakers last night.  Andrew Bynum (11 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal and 3 blocked shots) and Derek Fisher (10 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists and 1 steal) also helped out for the Lakers yesterday.  The Lakers are now in a dog fight with the Hornets as this series is tied up at two games apiece.

The Lakers really pulled away from the Hornets last night in the 4th quarter when they outscored them 25-18.  Kobe Bryant led the way for the Lakers in this game with 30 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 blocked shot.  Pau Gasol (17 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 blocked shot), Andrew Bynum (14 points and 11 rebounds) and Lamar Odom (13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists) helped the Lakers rule the glass last night.  Derek Fisher pitched in with 10 points, 1 rebound, 5 assists and 3 steals.  The Lakers are now up 2-1 on the Hornets in this series.

The Lakers outrebounded the Hornets 44-36 last night and they also turned up the D, holding the Hornets to only 39.1% shooting from the floor.  Andrew Bynum led the way for the Lakers last night with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots.  Lamar Odom (16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 blocked shot in 28 minutes) and Ron Artest (15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots) also had solid games for the Lakers last night.  Kobe Bryant only shot 3 of 10 from the floor as he finished up with 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal last night.  The Lakers have tied the series with the Hornets at 1 game apiece as they shift to New Orleans for the weekend.

31-year old SF/PF Lamar Odom has been named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award for the 2010-11 NBA season.  He played in 82 games (35 starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 32.2 minutes, 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.  Odom hit 53% of his shots from the floor this year as he was very solid for the Lakers this year.  He becomes the first Lakers’ player ever to win this award which starting getting handed out by the NBA in 1983.

The Lakers outrebounded the Hornets 41-33 yesterday but that’s about the only thing they did right in a very disappointing home loss to the Hornets.  The Hornets shot 51.9% from the floor and they outscored the Lakers 36-28 in the 4th quarter to pull away as the Lakers’ didn’t play much D.  Kobe Bryant led the way for the Lakers yesterday with 34 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 blocked shot.  Ron Artest had one of his best games of the year for the Lakers as he had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 1 assist.  Andrew Bynum (13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots) and Lamar Odom (10 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists) also pitched in for the Lakers in this game.  The Lakers are now down 1-0 in this series and now Game #2 becomes a must-win for them.

The Hornets come into this series not exactly playing their best basketball.  Phil Jackson is ready to amp his team up for the playoffs as he always seems to treat the regular season with a grain of salt.  Here is a look at the matchups in this series:

POINT GUARD:  Chris Paul is still one of the best point guards on the planet and it will be up to him to get the ball to the right guys as often as possible in this series.  Paul played in 80 games (all starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 36.0 minutes, 15.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 9.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game.

Derek Fisher does nothing but make big shots when it really counts.  Fisher played in 82 games (all starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 28.0 minutes, 6.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game.  He is going to have defensive issues in trying to deal with Chris Paul in this series.

EDGE:  HORNETS

SHOOTING GUARD:  Marco Belinelli will likely start at shooting guard in this series.  He played in 80 games (69 starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 24.5 minutes, 10.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.  There is no way that the Hornets can put Belinelli on Bryant defensively.  With that in mind I expect that they will have Belinelli on Ron Artest with Trevor Ariza guarding Kobe Bryant.

Kobe Bryant had another solid year as he is showing no signs of slowing down.  Bryant played in 82 games (all starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 33.9 minutes, 25.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 assists per game.  I think Kobe is going to really go off in this series.

EDGE:  GIGANTIC FOR THE LAKERS

SMALL FORWARD:  Trevor Ariza is going to try to get back at his old team in this series.  Ariza played in 75 games (all starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 34.7 minutes, 11.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  The Hornets might be putting too much on Ariza in this series if they have him guarding Kobe Bryant on defense and having to work against Ron Artest when they have the ball.

Ron Artest played in 82 games (all starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 29.4 minutes, 8.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.  Artest is the defensive stopper for the Lakers but he might shoot more in this series, especially if Ariza isn’t on him.

EDGE:  EVEN

POWER FORWARD:  Carl Landry will be starting at power forward in this series for the Hornets.  He played in 23 games (10 starts) after coming over in the big deal with the Kings and he averaged 26.2 minutes, 11.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.  Landry will likely get his points but the Hornets will need him to mix it up inside with the Lakers’ big men and that’s not his game.

Pau Gasol is in line to have a big series for the Lakers.  Gasol played in 82 games (all starts) during the regular season for the Lakers and he averaged 37.0 minutes, 18.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game.  Gasol has a huge size advantage over Carl Landry and I think he’s going to use it to his advantage.

EDGE:  LAKERS

CENTER:  Emeka Okafor is the lone muscle man in the paint for the Hornets.  He played in 72 games (all starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 31.8 minutes, 10.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game.  Okafor is the key player for the Hornets in this series because they can’t win it unless he has a big series.

Andrew Bynum says he’s ready to go, so I have to believe him unless proven otherwise.  Bynum played in 54 games (47 starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 27.8 minutes, 11.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.0 blocked shots per game.  The Lakers will likely watch his minutes and have Pau Gasol to slide to center quite a bit in this series.

EDGE:  SLIGHT FOR LAKERS

BENCH:  The Hornets have solid backups at guard but not really at forward or center.  PG/SG Jarrett Jack will likely get the most minutes of the bench for the Hornets in this series.  Jack played in 70 games (2 starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 19.6 minutes, 8.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.  SG Willie Green is a solid offensive player too.  Green played in 77 games (13 starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 21.7 minutes, 8.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game.  PF/C Jason Smith will probably be the first big off the bench for the Hornets in this series.  He played in 77 games (6 starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 14.3 minutes, 4.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  Center Aaron Gray could also get some P.T. in this series.  He played in 41 games (6 starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 13.0 minutes, 3.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  Rookie SF Quincy Pondexter might get on the court a little bit in this series.  He played in 66 games (6 starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 11.1 minutes, 2.8 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  C/PF David Andersen won’t likely get much P.T. in this series.  Andersen played in 29 games (0 starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 7.7 minutes, 2.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. 

PF/SF Lamar Odom is one of the best sixth men on the planet and he will likely get 30+ minutes per game in this series.  Odom played in 82 games (35 starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 32.2 minutes, 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.  SG Shannon Brown played in 82 games (0 starts) as Kobe’s backup this year and he averaged 19.1 minutes, 8.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.  Backup PG Steve Blake has a case of the chicken pox so he might miss a few games in this series.  Blake played in 79 games (0 starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 20.0 minutes, 4.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.  SF Matt Barnes will likely give Ron Artest a rest when he needs one.  Barnes played in 53 games (0 starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 19.2 minutes, 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.  SG/SF Luke Walton might get a few scrap minutes on the floor in this series.  Walton played in 54 games (0 starts) for the Lakers in this series and he averaged 9.0 minutes, 1.7 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. 

EDGE:  LAKERS

COACHING:  Monty Williams rallied the troops in 2010-11 as he led them back to the playoffs with a 46-36 (56.1%) record.  Williams will be getting his first taste of the NBA Playoffs as a head coach.

Phil Jackson is the best coach on the planet and maybe of All-Time.  Jackson has a 1,155-485 (70.4%) during the regular season and he is 225-98 (69.7%) in the post-season.  The Zen Master will be going for his fourth three-peat (of winning the NBA Championship) as he already has an amazing 11 NBA Championships as a head coach!

EDGE:  GIGANTIC FOR THE LAKERS

PREDICTION:  The Lakers are going to bully the Hornets under the glass and sweep them right out of the first round.

The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t have much P.T. available for rookies, but that happens when the goal is to win the NBA Championship.  22-year old power forward Derrick Caracter played in 41 games (0 starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 5.2 minutes, 2.0 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.2 assists per game.  21-year old small forward Devin Ebanks had a leg injury that cut his rookie season short.  Ebanks played in 20 games (0 starts) for the Lakers this year and he averaged 5.9 minutes, 3.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game.  They will likely be sitting at the end of the Lakers’ bench for a while before they can a chance to really help out the team.