Odom Dominates as Lakers hand the Hornets rare Home loss

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Published: December 29, 2010

After last night’s loss against San Antonio, some Hornets fans worried whether Kobe would come out with something to prove, but it wasn’t #24 who killed New Orleans tonight, it was their new 6th man- Mr. Khloe Kardashian himself. Lamar scored a game high 24 points in his first game of the season in which he came off the bench.

Phil Jackson gave Andrew Bynum the start, moving Pau Gasol back to power forward, and the length of those two really bothered the Hornets on both ends of the court. The Lakers started the game pounding the ball inside on offense and pushing the Hornets out of the paint when New Orleans had the ball. In the first 15 minutes, the Lakers had 22 points in the paint and that opened up their outside shooting. Before you knew it, the Lakers were up 59-41 at the half and the game was all but over at that point.

The Lakers finished the game shooting 58.6% from the field and were +20 in rebounding margin, as the Hornets finished with a season low 24 boards. The final score might have read 103-88, but the game wasn’t really that close. Once David West went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter, the Hornets were basically a one-man squad and the Lakers simply had too much size and skill. After watching this game, it is hard to fool yourself into thinking this team is one trade away from being a contender (or as some people believe, simply move MT5 to the starting lineup). The Lakers aren’t even close to running on all cylenders and they just beat the Hornets down like they were a pesky (much) younger brother.

Notes and Observations:

– David West left the court in the second quarter and spent the rest of the half in the locker room. He came back in the third and made a few jumpers, but he just wasn’t the same. Since the Hornets were out of it in the fourth, Monty sat West for the remainder of the game. Kevin Garnett went down with an injury today, so hopefully West can play. If not, we might get that Big Baby/J Smitty match-up we all want to see.

– Trevor Ariza: 1-2, 4 points, 4 fouls, 4 turnovers in 24 minutes. You know, Quincy Pondexter hasn’t been looking too bad.

– Good News: Marco Belinelli had 15 points against a good team. Bad news: He took 16 shots and was 1-6 from three, most of which were wide open. The guy just isn’t a starter on a good team. I met the guy a few times, I like him, I wish him the best, but he is a short or a long term answer for this team.

– Chris Paul was ready to go tonight, scoring 10 points in the first ten minutes and playing with great intensity. It is a joke that people put any blame on this guy- EVER. Kobe goes to the bench up 3 points, he returns and his team is up 18. When has CP3 ever had this luxury? He had a nice starting five in 07-08 that stayed relatively healthy and he led the team to 56 wins and only missed out on MVP because it was Kobe’s time after being robbed himself in the past.

Now Paul has one other guy who shows up night in and night out and a bunch of other guys who would have much lesser roles on elite teams. Okafor would be the Lakers 4th big, Marco wouldn’t see the court on Orlando, Ariza is an energy guy off the bench on a good team, Jason Smith wouldn’t get off the bench for any of the contenders out West- I can go on and on. 11-1 was nice and I am glad it happened, but we have to be real about the talent on this team.

– Matt Barnes is a punk. That’s it and that’s all.

– Coach Williams said he expects WIllie Green to play at some point this week, but the team is giving him his space. He has been helping his family through this tragedy and I hope that we can all show him love when he returns to the Hive.

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