Kobe Bryant barely made a ripple on offense for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was too busy ensuring Chris Paul didn't make another huge splash that could have put the Lakers in a cavernous playoff hole. Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 11 rebounds, Lamar Odom scored 16 points, and the Lakers survived quiet offensive games from their two biggest stars to even their first-round playoff series with an 87-78 victory over the New Orleans Hornets in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=310420013
Gasol's effort is embarrassing. He's completely shook on the court after he takes a hard foul. The one time he actually went hard to the basket against Aaron Gray he drew the foul and knocked Gray backwards which he needs to do more of. Kobe sacrificed his offense to chase Paul around and fight through the high pick, but he took some terrible shots from the perimeter. Ariza did a good of staying in front of Kobe and contesting his jumpers. I'd like to see Kobe play off the ball more and attack from the wing position either with his baseline turnaround jumper, or back door cuts to the rim. Our bench played well last night with Odom and Barnes. The question is can they do it on the road? I have to give Monty Williams credit he has the Hornets playing scrappy basketball and they are making it a tough series. I also like the emotion of Jarrett Jack yelling at Landry and Okafor for not running down the court to rebound Fisher's miss. Instead Kobe beat them both down and drew a foul. That was a crucial play late in the game. Jack was PISSED. The hero last night though was Bynum. He played BIG and stepped up to play the role of scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker. Very impressive moxie by Andrew last night.
