This is a scary loss. A double double and a VERY efficient game from Ron Artest is not something that is consistently given to the Lakers, but they got it this afternoon. Bynum was a rebound away from a double double. Kobe went off for 34 and Fisher had a respectable contribution(although his defense was exposed by Paul as was expected). You have to take advantage of performances like this, but Gasoft didn't do shit. Two for nine with 8 points? From a guy that should be getting 20 a night, that is inexcusable. Trey Johnson looked like he was willing to contribute, but was limited by his short playing time. Shannon Brown gave his normal game and Odom gave a decent performance, but these two need to bring more in this series. The biggest problem was defense. You can't let a team shoot over 50% if you want to win a ball game. Chris Paul just carved the Lakers up. I know Trey Johnson probably won't be a starting player in this league, but damn, I think the Phil needs to look into giving him 15 minutes if he plays well, because that might help the team. The Lakers have no bench after Brown/Odom(Barnes could be a factor but he didn't show up), and it really shows. Meanwhile, NO's bench had 39 points; more than Fisher/Gasol/Bynum combined. For all the talk of the Lakers monster front court, the Hornets dominated the paint. Out rebounding the Hornets didn't make up for that. Too many turnovers for the Lakers on offense. They shot a better three point percentage(+6 from three) and had a higher free throw percentage on the same amount of attempts(+3 from the line). Other than Gasoft, the offense wasn't an issue in this game. 100 points should be plenty for the Lakers to win, and the defense is usually much better than today. Hopefully they get it together.
