Put all worries to rest as the Lakers won their first game of the 2011 playoffs at home on Wednesday night. In game one they played no defense and let the Hornets pick and roll their way to victory but i guess Phil really handed it to them after because they actually played big in game two.

The Lakers’ big men used their size and length effectively this game on both ends of the court. They were able to alter many of the Hornets’ shots in and around the paint forcing them to take more outside shots and without David West, this proved to be their weak point. They shot 33% percent in the second half and 39% for the game after shooting 52% in game one. Kobe proved to be effective defending Chris Paul and the bigs’ effort on the pick and roll really helped diminish the effectiveness of New Orleans’ go-to play. There was more of an urgency to the Lakers last night and they actually ran back on defense and hustled after loose balls more consistently. This improved effort didn’t give the Hornets many easy shots in the paint as in game one.

Offensively, they improved greatly even though they only put up a final tally of 87. They spread the ball a lot more and had a more balanced attack. In game one, Kobe scored 34 points on 13-26 which is still 50% shooting but 26 shots for one player is still too much even if it is Kobe. On the contrary, he  took ten shots in game two, played eight less minutes, and scored only eleven points. Not one other Laker took more than nine shots in game one while five players took ten or more in game 2.

Andrew Bynum and sixth man of the year, Lamar Odom, played excellent and were the Lakers’ top two scorers with 17 and 16, respectively. They stepped up their game and shot a combined 16-23, about half of all the field goals made. Bynum pulled down eleven boards while Odom got 7. Odom was the key for us since he was able to have a big impact in only 27 minutes of play.

Pau Gasoft has continued to stink it up scoring only eight  points with five rebounds on 2-10 shooting. Lets look at his numbers for the series so far: 4/19 from the field, 21% shooting, and only 5.5 rpg in 37 minutes. Keep in mind that this is against a team whose starting center is 6’10. That is not the Pau that we need if we expect to put up a valiant title defense in the coming weeks. He really needs to find his game and get back in a flow if we are to achieve any success.

Apart from Odom, the bench played well with Steve Blake back in the line up after having the chicken pox the past week. Blake dished out five dimes and Barnes was scrappy as usual adding 8 points on 4-4 from the field with a couple of steals. The bench needs to consistently keep the flow going on both ends of the floor when the starters begin to get their rest. Ultimately, it’s the bench that will need to prevail to keep the momentum going in the Lakers’ direction so the starters don’t have to do too much when they go back in. You want the bench to pick up where the starters left off and vice versa which they did in game two.

I was pleased to see the Lakers using their size and their heart to get the win. It was expected because going down 0-2 heading to The Big Easy was not an option. Hopefully they’re not brain dead and play the same way they did in their win and if Pau can get going, then consider the Lakers a lock to win it in five games.