Four or five? That's the question for this series.
How long will it take the Lakers to beat the Hornets. The question isn't if they will win, but how fast can they dispatch them. The Lakers come sputtering into the playoffs and seem to be in disarray. For lack of a better word, the Lakers are a strange group. They seem aloof at times, disinterested and vulnerable with the task at hand. But as soon as you think you can count them out, they turn up the fire and start to eviscerate the league.
The Hornets are an entirely different animal. The Hornets struggled to get into the playoffs and it could be said that if it wasn't for their monster start this year, they might not be here at all. Going into the playoffs, the Hornets are losing their No. 1 scorer in David West, who is out for the season. Which leaves Chris Paul, Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor to bear the burden of scoring. The task can be problematic for all three players. Paul is still playing as if something is wrong with his knee. Okafor is not known for his offense and Arizia has never been one to post 30 point games on the regular.
With all the cards on the table, the Lakers are a far superior team. Even if you take Kobe Bryant out of the mix, this is still a sweep by the Lakers. Paul will play as we have come to expect and Ariza will do his best to prove he was more than capable of being an Artest-type player that the Lakers gave away.
When its all said and done, the Lakers just have too much fire power. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol will use this as a steppingstone to come to form before their second-round matchup. Lamar Odom will be the consistent force he always is, picking apart the Hornets bench players without thinking twice about it. Expect Phil Jackson to give Shannon Brown the chance to get out if his current slump as well. Looking ahead to the future and knowing the team will need him to be a contributor if they are to leave this season as champions.
Even if the Lakers come into this series disinterested -- which they won't -- still expect the Lakers to make short work of the Hornets.
The only question is in four or five?
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