Lakers

93-88 Hornets!  Series tied 2-2. Back to Los Angeles
The return of Chris Paul.  "Little Cesare" commanded his band of under sized teammates to their second victory against the Lakers, evening the series 2-2.

The Lakers once again  had trouble trying to control Chris Paul. Inspite of 2 defensive wins in games 2 and 3, the Lakers are still playing a very inconsistent brand of offensive basketball. That as well as New Orlean's zone defense continues to frustrate the offense,
 by affecting the rhythm and spacing of the Lakers.  The zone defense takes away the height advantage the Lakers enjoy. Throughout the year, the Lakers have struggled at times against teams who have employed a traditional or modified zone defense. In the past, the Lakers have show little patient when working against a zone defense, and start to take lower percentage jump shots (long 2's, and 3's).  The misses on those long shots  help fuel the Hornets early offense, and puts extreame pressure on the Lakers'
transition defense.
And now, Kobe is hurt. How serious?  We'll find out tuesday.  Now that being said,
the big question is "Where's Lamar?"
During the year, the "Sixth Man of the Year" award winner averaged 14.4 pts, 8.7 reb, 3 asst.  In the 2 losses, Lamar is averaging 8, 2.5, and 1. Not going to win too many games like that.  The up side is, had the Lakers gotten just "average" games from Lamar, Pau, and Kobe, the Lakers most likely sweep.