Hornets at Lakers
THE STORY: Los Angeles may have been too caught up in its own hype. The Lakers fell apart at home against New Orleans and had no answer for Chris Paul in a 109-100 loss in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series. The Hornets never gave in to their bigger and more experienced foe despite the absence of power forward David West, who is out for the season with a knee injury. The Lakers have little time to waste if they want any chance of winning a third consecutive title and need a victory in Game 2 Wednesday night at Staples Center.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE LAKERS: Kobe Bryant did his part, which often is enough
for the Lakers. This time, however, his 34 points went for naught as he got little support from Pau
Gasol (eight points and no offensive rebounds) and the rest of the
front line. Lamar Odom had 10 points but just one rebound. Ron Artest had
a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The Lakers will have
guard Steve Blake back after he had chicken pox. “It’s not the end of
the world,” coach Phil Jackson said. “Teams have good days and bad
days. We probably had a bad day and they had a good day. Now we have to
meet their energy.”
ABOUT THE HORNETS: Chris Paul might not be the league MVP, but don’t tell that to the Lakers. Paul was sensational and basically willed the Hornets to victory. He had 33 points on 11-for-18 shooting and added 14 assists, seven rebounds and four steals. Carl Landry scored 17 points and the New Orleans bench outscored the Lakers 39-21. The Hornets could be without 7-footer Aaron Gray, who had a season-high 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting but twisted his right ankle with 1:07 remaining in Sunday’s Game 1. Gray was in a walking boot but said he believes he can play Wednesday night.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Paul was the show for New Orleans. In addition to his scoring, he had seven rebounds and four steals. He also had eight of his 14 assists in the first quarter. Gasol had just eight points on 2-for-9 shooting (22.2 percent), his worst shooting game of the season.
KEY STATISTIC: New Orleans had just three turnovers, tying an NBA playoff record.
LAST WORD: “I’ve been here and done that before. We took the Lakers to seven games. That definitely gives me confidence and I was telling my teammates about the situation I was in two years ago.” – Landry on playing the Lakers in the playoffs when he was with Houston in 2009.