Lakers at Hornets
THE STORY: Kobe Bryant went over – and through – the New Orleans Hornets, making his sprained left ankle appear just fine with two thunderous dunks in scoring 19 points as the Los Angeles Lakers earned a 106-90 victory in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round series Tuesday night. “It looked like he had his Afro back,” said teammate Shannon Brown. The Lakers will try to close out the series in Game 6 on Thursday night in New Orleans. They are 22-4 in series after winning Game 5.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT, KCAL
ABOUT THE LAKERS: In addition to Bryant, the Lakers got their most balanced game of the series with six players in double figures. Pau Gasol had 16 points in his best game so far and Andrew Bynum turned in another double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Bryant shrugged off the ankle injury and talk of why he did not have an MRI. “I didn't feel like it was broken,” the superstar said. “And even if it (were) it wouldn't have mattered. I would have played anyway. So it (would have been) a waste of time. I would've had to … sit in 405 traffic for two hours. It’s not like we would have told you the results anyway.”
ABOUT THE HORNETS: New Orleans has played admirably in this series, pushing the Lakers deeper than most expected, but now the Hornets are down to their last chance. “We’re definitely not just going to let them come into our house and push us around,” Hornets forward Carl Landry said. “That’s not happening.” Trevor Ariza led the Hornets with 22 points, including 10 in the first quarter when Bryant seemed a step slow. Chris Paul had 20 points and 12 assists, but took no shots from the field in the third quarter. The Hornets also got very little help from their bench, being outscored 29-14.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Bryant shot 8 of 13 and set the tone by driving the lane for a one-handed dunk over Emeka Okafor in the second quarter. Ariza made 5 of 8 3-pointers after going just 2 of 10 in the series.
KEY STATISTIC: The Lakers outrebounded the Hornets 42-25 and had a huge advantage in second-chance points, 22-2.
LAST WORD: “It looked like he (Okafor) was going to challenge me at the rim, and I decided to accept the challenge. ... It's a message for us that this was important. It's time to raise up and do what we've got to do.” – Bryant on his monstrous dunk over Okafor