New Orleans Hornets face Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of NBA Playoffs
The Los Angeles Lakers will play against the New Orleans Hornets this Wednesday. These teams will play their 2nd game of a best-of-7 series.
The Lakers are an 11.5-point favorite and the total is 187 in basketball betting odds.
The Hornets surprised the world by stealing game 1 away from the Lakers in Los Angeles. There were a few key factors that came into play for the Hornets in the opener that allowed them to take home the victory.
The first thing that went well for the Hornets was the play of Chris Paul. Paul was playing at a ridiculous level. He was unstoppable with the ball and found his teammates for open looks throughout the game. The Lakers tried to switch on the pick-and-roll against Paul in the last game and that left Pau Gasol guarding Paul. While Gasol is a solid defender, he was not nearly quick enough to keep up and Paul torched him over and over again. The Lakers will need to find a way to more effectively stop the pick-and-roll or they may have to face it repeatedly throughout the playoffs.
The second thing that went well for the Hornets was their defense against the big men of the Lakers. The Lakers were unable to get things going through Gasol on offense as he was limited to just 8 points on 2-9 shooting for the game. Look for the Lakers to go to Gasol early and often in this game in order to get some momentum rolling in their favor.
Game 2 will take place in Los Angeles as the Lakers try to even the series. The Los Angeles Lakers are favorites in basketball picks to win this match.
