Be shocked if they lost this..they have pau and nash with team..they have okc next so will get asses kicked there..so if they lose to hornets means they are 3 zip on road and a really shit team...lakers have fire power to take hornets..lakers will try some stuff against hornets..time to pull trigger lakers
This is an interesting match up of two very different teams....
- The Hornets have one of the lowest rates of offensive possession per game in the league (29th) and the Lakers one of the highest (6th) with the Lakers #1 in the league in this stat over last 3 games and NO 30th.
- One of the Lakers biggest weaknesses as we know is the fast break where they are 29th in the league in fast break points allowed, however NO are 25th in the league in fast break point scored
- If you've watched the Lakers in the last few games you'd see that they have been choke artists with the 4th highest points allowed in the 2nd half and highest in points allowed in the 4th quarter in the league over the last 3 games. NO though are 22nd in the league in 2nd half points scored (LA's last two choke opponents Houston and Orlando are 3rd and 12th btw), and 20th in 4th quarter points.
- Finally in terms of plays run the Lakers match up ok vs NO. Their biggest weakness is defending the Pick and Roll where LA are ranked 25th in the league and this is NO's go to play where they run it 25% of the time. But LA match up well vs NO in iso where NO are 30th in the league and post-up offence where NO are 29th in the league.
- The Lakers offence matches up very well vs NOs 29th ranked defense.... LA run spot up plays 20% of the time and NO are 29th in defending the spot up. As we all know LA loves running iso for kobe, and NO are one of the worst teams in the league vs iso plays ranked 28th. Finally a trademark of D'Antonis system is pick and roll, where Lakers are offensively 2nd in the league and NO are 22nd in defending the P & R
Because of all this I like LA tomorrow, its a good match up for them imo