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 Hornets are in over their heads in this series. I look for the Lakers to sweep them right out of the first round.
