Paul leads Hornets past Lakers in stunning opener

By GREG BEACHAM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Chris Paul had 33 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds, and the New Orleans Hornets pulled away down the stretch, stunning the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers with a 109-100 victory in their playoff opener Sunday.

Carl Landry scored 17 points and Jarrett Jack added 15 for the seventh-seeded Hornets, who overcame Los Angeles' major size advantage with a phenomenal game from Paul. The star playmaker scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, leading a late 8-0 run.

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points for the Lakers, who opened the postseason with the same halfhearted effort that comprised much of their regular season after three straight exhausting trips to the NBA finals.

Game 2 is Wednesday at Staples Center.

A few hours after eighth-seeded Memphis produced a series-opening surprise in San Antonio, Paul and the Hornets put another intriguing wrinkle in the NBA postseason.

Los Angeles' 7-foot starters, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, were widely expected to be an awful matchup for smallish New Orleans, but Paul led an impressive offensive game plan that minimized the big men's impact while emphasizing tough-to-defend pick-and-roll plays. Los Angeles struggled to get the ball down low on offense, too often settling for jumpers.

Ron Artest had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who swept the four-game regular-season series with New Orleans. They had won their last six playoff series openers since Houston beat them in the Western Conference semifinals in 2009 on Los Angeles' way to Bryant's fourth championship.

Los Angeles never grabbed a second-half lead despite another dynamite game from Bryant. Gasol struggled to eight points - just two more than his season low - on 2-for-9 shooting with just six rebounds.

Artest's free throws pulled Los Angeles within four with 3 minutes left, but Paul led the Hornets to eight consecutive points, setting off a celebration confined entirely to the Hornets' bench. The Staples Center crowd pointedly heckled Gasol in the final minutes, while other fans booed as they streamed out of the building.

Lamar Odom had 10 points and one rebound in 31 minutes of play, while Bynum contributed 13 points and nine rebounds but wasn't his usual defensive force in his first game back from a hyperextended right knee.

The playoff pressure of Staples Center clearly didn't bother the Hornets, who lost leading scorer David West to a knee injury last month. Coach Monty Williams designed an impressive approach for his playoff debut along with Emeka Okafor, Marco Belinelli and Jack.

Aaron Gray had 12 points for New Orleans, but was helped off the court by teammates with 1:07 to play after Gasol accidentally stepped on his right foot while fighting for a rebound.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson showed up for what's likely his final playoff run wearing his championship ring from the 1973 New York Knicks, saying he plans to wear a different championship ring to every playoff game. But Jackson's fears about his team's "so-so" readinesss for the postseason proved prescient in another poor Lakers performance in a big game.

Bryant bruised his neck when he tumbled into the front row after hitting a jumper in the final minute of the first half, spending the last 10 seconds facedown in pain while Ron Artest hit a 43-foot jumper at the buzzer. Bryant got up slowly and missed halftime warmups, but returned without missing a beat.

NOTES: G Trey Johnson, recalled from the D-League by the Lakers just five days earlier, played six minutes in the second quarter. Johnson was with the Lakers in training camp, and he suited up for Toronto earlier this season. ... Bryant collided with the courtside chair next to Tim Leiweke, the chief executive of sports conglomerate AEG. ... Fans near courtside included Jack Black, Seal, will.i.am, former Arizona forward Derrick Williams and Brewers owner Mark Attanasio.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the Lakers 2nd half play:
"I thought we kind of arose from the dead in the 3rd quarter and we got ourselves straightened out but then we went right back out and complicated things in the 4th."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on Chris Paul's performance:
"[Chris] Paul was terrific out there [in the 4th quarter] controlling the ball and the pace of the game and made some easy baskets."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on Paul Gasol's performance:
"There wasn't a lot of direction going towards [Pau Gasol]. There wasn't a lot of balls in the post. We didn't get the ball inside which is one of our strengths."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the Lakers energy:
"Our defense, I thought was late. I think we were late on everything. They were the aggressors, they stayed aggressive and beat us to balls; most typically the one that was a jump ball after an errant shot that crotched the rim, you know that was a key play for us, and them when they got a tip against our biggest guy."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the Lakers performance in morning games:
"We're not very good in mornings, morning games. We're not that, our guys just aren't really sharp all year. We really tried to get them going today; we asked them to come a couple of hours early, even, to the arena, so that they would be ready to go. We really weren't animated and really aggressive. I thought Ron [Artest] was probably our best player we had out there today."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson on the game in the paint:
"They're staying in the lane, they're crowding the lane, they're staying back. They had Gray outplaying our big guys today."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on if he was surprised by the loss today:
"No. It's very tough to beat a team in the league that many times in a row. They come out extremely motivated and very well prepared, and they played extremely well. Chris is a handful for anybody to deal with. They did a great job with their game plan and they executed extremely well."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on Pau Gasol:
"Pau is our guy. He's our guy, he's the next in line. Responsibility and the pressure comes along with that, and he'll be ready to go next game."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on why the Hornets came out with a lot of energy tonight:
"I'm not sure. I think when you beat a team that many times in a row, they're extremely motivated. They hear all the chatter of 'sweep this, sweep that' and they naturally come out more motivated…it seemed like that tonight."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on how to deal with Chris Paul:
"You have to keep him out of the lane as much as possible. He got into our middle way too often. We allowed him to play one-on-one at the top of the key when he had a good rhythm going."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on the importance of the Lakers forwards and centers playing well:
"Well, I mean you have two really good bigs. It's important for them to play well, to be aggressive and to attack."

Lakers' Kobe Bryant on looking forward to Pau Gasol's play next game:
"…I think this game here, he's going to use that as motivation coming back in Game 2, and be ready to go. I have no doubt about it."

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on if he felt the Lakers had their normal focus today:
"I didn't feel that , but I do think that we need to start going hard in practice. That's one thing that's kind of lacking. I don't know if it's due to health or a myriad of different reasons, but I think that's a big part of it."

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on if the Lakers can "flip the switch":
"We never believed in that flipping the switch. That's something from the media. It makes a good story. But at the end of the day, today was all about defense."

Lakers' Andrew Bynum on if he's angry about how the Lakers played today:
"I think defensively, we have a lot to work on, but anger is not going to solve it. We just have to have the willingness to go out there and do what it is that we practice in walk-through."

Lakers' Pau Gasol on his performance today:
"I was just not very sharp. I couldn't get into a good rhythm in the first quarter. I didn't get myself going at all. So it's up to me to get some energy out there and be a little more aggressive and find ways to find that rhythm."

Lakers' Pau Gasol on how he and the Lakers can bounce back:
"It was a lot about aggressiveness and focus. They played well and we didn't play that well. We didn't force many turnovers. They shot the ball well and we allowed Chris [Paul] to run the tempo the way that they wanted to. So we just have to come out with a little more focus and stick to our gameplan and be more aggressive overall."

Lakers' Pau Gasol on
"I'm disappointed. I'm stunned, surprised, but we're the ones responsible for this happening. Unfortunately, we have to own up to that and come back to work the next couple days and get the series where we want it to be."

Lakers' Lamar Odom on today's game:
"It's always good for us, when I think about the personality of our team, to be humbled a little bit. Sometimes, that's the best thing for us, to be humbled. To lose on our homecourt, in the playoffs, probably against a team that people think we should handle easy, I think is good for us."

Lakers' Lamar Odom on how the Lakers fix the mistakes they made today:
"By going in and watching the tape, and just learning. It's like life. Something hits you and hopefully you learn from it and get better."

Hornets coach Monty Williams on beating the heavily favored Lakers:
"I'm glad our guys came to fight-- that was the mantra for the week. We said that we had to be strong and courageous no matter what the situation. You're playing against the defending champs, who we have so much respect for-- the way they play the game, what they've done over the years, and we can't match that with anything else but fight, and so we got a big win, the biggest win of the year."

Hornets coach Monty Williams on his feelings about his team's performance:
"I'm happy about a number of things but all of our guys contributed tonight. Everybody who stepped on that floor made a major contribution, and we're going to have to be ready in the next game."

Hornets coach Monty Williams on if tonight's win shocked him:
"I'm not shocked, but I am pleasantly surprised. We haven't beaten them all year. I'm not going to disrespect our team and sit here and say, "I'm shocked." We go out and try to win every game so when we do we're not shocked but pleasantly surprised that we came out and played the way we did."

Hornets coach Monty Williams on the Hornets bench play:
"I think we got 39 points from our bench. I thought they were really effective."

Hornets coach Monty Williams on defending Kobe Bryant:
"We tried to be physical with him. Trevor Ariza did a good job on him tonight. You're not going to stop him, we know that. The thing that we did tonight was keep everyone else at bay.

Hornets coach Monty Williams on Chris Paul's performance and execution:
"When he's fresh nobody can stay in front of him. The pick and roll is what he does and sometimes I tend to mess with the game by trying to run too many "basketball sets" when sometimes I just need to give him the ball and let him go to work. He and I were on the same page tonight as far as calling plays."

Hornets coach Monty Williams on the series moving forward:
"We still have to do the same thing. No, I take that back we have to do more of what we did tonight, we have to have more because we're playing against the defending champs."

Hornets' Chris Paul on the bench's performance in today's game:
"It was very important. That's why we were able to win this game. AG [Aaron Gray] was outstanding, just his presence on the boys, not really letting those guys get deep post positions. [Jarrett Jack], he's been outstanding after All-Star break, leading our team, he was good for us tonight."

Hornets' Chris Paul on his performance in today's game:
"Yeah, I just felt good tonight. The guys will tell you I've struggled all season long, you know, trying to figure out where to pick my spots, but it's the Playoffs, it's the Playoffs, man. It's a whole nother energy, it's a whole nother thing. We came over here last night, a bunch of us, and got shots done. I don't know, I don't really know what to say, it was a good game for us tonight."

Hornets' Chris Paul on needing the win today for "belief":
"No, we needed to win, we needed to beat them so we had one game in the seven game series. It's one of those things, I'm not a huge vet, but I've been in the NBA six years and played in the Playoffs before and the regular season doesn't matter. There's teams that win 60 games, there's teams that win 45 games, and once you get into the Playoffs you have a clean slate. And that's how we tried to approach this game."

Hornet's Chris Paul on if the Lakers lacked energy in today's game:
"I wouldn't say they lacked energy. Those guys played effectively, you know, Kobe got it going, got it going there for a stretch, and I think our team showed a lot of poise in that we weathered the storm. We know, two time defending champs, they don't make a run there's a problem. It's gonna be a long series. It's one game for us, and we're gonna go back to the drawing boards, see what we did well, see what we did wrong and get ready for Wednesday."

Hornets' Chris Paul on what it means to be playing the Lakers in the first round of the Playoffs:
"…I know for us, we didn't finish the season as strong as we would've liked to, so in all of our practices we were focusing on us. We're not good enough to judge who we want to play. We just had to make sure we would be ready no matter who it was. And that's the thing about our team, since day one everyone has had a chip on their shoulder. We lost [David West], we've just been through all different kinds of circumstances."

Hornets' Chris Paul on if he finds himself lying back too much versus being too aggressive:
"I just try to pick my spots. And the thing is, while you want to be aggressive, sometimes you can be overly aggressive to a fault and you can lose your rhythm. I've always been a pass first point guard, I always want to get my teammates involved, and tonight the fourth quarter just called for me to be more aggressive 'cause a lot of times people will be looking for me to pass and that opens up the shot.

Hornets' Trevor Ariza on the game tonight:
"We played tough tonight. We gave ourselves a chance by playing aggressive, attacking the basket…"

Hornets' Trevor Ariza on the importance of getting off to a good start against the Lakers:
"It's very important, they're a really good team, they have a lot of talent on the team and I feel when we play aggressive and try to come out first and do what we know how to do I think we give ourselves a chance."

Hornets' Trevor Ariza on how they're quickness played a great role in the game tonight:
"We just play, what do we have to lose? We're out here just playing basketball."

Hornets' Willie Green on how it feels to 'shock the world' with this win:

Hornets' Jarrett Jack on every guy on the team scoring tonight:
"When our starters are playing we constantly talk to our group; "be ready," individually I might say be ready AG [Aaron Gray], Willie [Green] might say be ready Jarrett [Jack]. We're constantly just keeping each other in to the ball game. If you didn't notice when we make plays all of us are standing up cheering the guys on…like I said we just try to come in and sustain that same energy and emphasis that the starters put out…"

LAKERS VS. HORNETS GAME 1 PREVIEW

By GREG BEACHAM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Never mind the rings. The Los Angeles Lakers would be a nightmare playoff matchup for the New Orleans Hornets even without the fame, fortune and back-to-back titles.

The Lakers swept the teams' four-game regular-season series with height and bulk, mercilessly outmuscling New Orleans in the paint. Seven-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum were far too much for the slimmer, sleeker Hornets to handle, even when New Orleans star David West was healthy.

Gasol and Bynum realize they've got to be big bullies when the series opens Sunday at Staples Center, or what's expected to be another long postseason run for the Lakers will be in early trouble.

"Our effort and focus is always to get it down low," Gasol said. "We start off everything from there. We try to do it on a consistent basis, even if it's not always there. Especially against New Orleans, we have to concentrate on our strengths. If we do that and we're successful, it will be a huge help down the road."

Los Angeles' size advantage was epitomized in an early possession during the clubs' meeting three weeks ago at Staples Center - one that Emeka Okafor probably would love to forget.

With his back to the basket, Bynum did an imitation of the overgrown kid in a sixth-grade P.E. class, patiently backing down Okafor at least 8 feet - starting outside the paint, until both players were under the basket - before reaching up and calmly dunking.

"They're some big boys," agreed Okafor, who finally made the postseason after seven years in the league.

"It's like a fresh start," Okafor added. "You can think of those four (regular-season) games as warmups, because they don't really matter now. You have to play. Everybody's 0-0. Man up and match up."

The seventh-seeded Hornets realize this series appears to be a mismatch, yet they've thrived on exceeding expectations all season. Even after the franchise that's owned by the NBA lost West to a left knee injury last month, New Orleans still made the playoffs - only to run into the second-seeded Lakers, most experts' picks to come out of the West for the fourth straight season.

"We may be the one that's probably outmatched more than any other series, but that's OK," New Orleans coach Monty Williams said. "We've been outmatched all year long."

No NBA team has been swept in a regular-season series longer than two games and then beaten that team in the postseason since 1998, when the then-Charlotte Hornets did it to Atlanta.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson is cautiously confident his club has its collective head together after a stumbling finish to the regular season. Los Angeles lost five straight before back-to-back wins last week, barely keeping the No. 2 seed ahead of Dallas.

The Lakers lately haven't resembled the club that went 17-1 after the All-Star break. Luckily for Jackson, it's finally time for the postseason - the one thing in the world that can probably sustain his decorated club's attention.

"We've had a very up-and-down finish, there's no doubt," Jackson said. "The last 25 games don't make sense in a lot of ways. A great winning sequence of games, then losing five in a row. It's about the wear and tear of a season, obviously, just losing focus at some time."

Kobe Bryant has been uneasy with the Lakers' lapses in concentration, but he sounded confident Saturday in a renewed focus. The Lakers insist they aren't taking New Orleans for granted, studying film of their four victories and vowing to minimize the effectiveness of star point guard Chris Paul and the Hornets' younger legs.

"Teams definitely know the way to beat us is to get turnovers, get out in transition and run," said Bryant, who's likely to be checked by Trevor Ariza, the former Lakers forward and UCLA star.

Bynum expects to be fully healthy after he missed the final two regular-season games with a bone bruise in his troublesome right knee. Forward Matt Barnes also said he'll play after getting his surgically repaired right knee drained, but backup point guard Steve Blake is likely to be out for a bit longer with chicken pox.

While the Lakers have been to three straight NBA finals with largely the same core that will take the court Sunday, Hornets starters Okafor and Marco Belinelli and key reserve Jarrett Jack will all make their playoff debuts.

"I didn't imagine it would take this long," said Okafor, the former NCAA champion at UConn. "Being at Connecticut, the tournament was almost like a foregone conclusion. ... Then turn around and be drafted by an expansion team and almost be expected not to make the playoffs, and to finally get here, I want to make it last as long as possible."

---

AP Sports Writer Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

OPENING ROUND HISTORY (Los Angeles era only)
The Lakers have opened the Playoffs in the FIRST Round 39 times and in the SECOND round on seven occasions (1962, 63, 65, 66, 80, 82, 83) since moving to Los Angeles prior to the 1960-61 season. The Lakers have won 36-of-46 opening playoff series over that span and are 136-69 (.663) in opening round games. In Game 1's of their first postseason series, the Lakers are 34-12. When the Lakers have had home-court advantage in the opening round, they have posted a 33-2 series record. When winning Game 1 in the opening round, the Lakers have a series record of 33-1. Their lone loss came to the Phoenix Suns (2-3) in 1993. When falling behind 0-1 in the opening round, the Lakers are 3-9.

LAKERS IN BEST-OF-SEVEN SERIES (Includes NBA Finals series)
- The Lakers are 72-29 in best-of-seven series (any round) all-time. (66-28 Los Angeles, 6-1 Minneapolis)
- The Lakers are 67-34 in Game 1 of best-of-seven series (any round) all-time. (63-31 Los Angeles, 4-3 Minneapolis)
- When winning Game 1 of a best-of-seven series (any round), the Lakers are 60-7. (56-7 Los Angeles, 4-0 Minneapolis)
- When losing Game 1 of a best-of-seven series (any round), the Lakers are 12-22 all-time. (10-21 Los Angeles, 2-1 Minneapolis)
- The Lakers are 59-42 in Game 2 of best-of-seven series (any round) all-time. (56-38 Los Angles, 3-4 Minneapolis)
- When winning both Games 1 and 2 of a best-of-seven series (any round), the Lakers are 42-1 all-time. (41-1 Los Angeles, 1-0 Minneapolis)
- When splitting Games 1 and 2 of a best-of-seven series (any round), the Lakers are 28-12 all-time. (23-12 Los Angeles, 5-0 Minneapolis)
- When losing Games 1 and 2 of a best-of-seven series (any round), the Lakers are 2-16 all-time. (2-15 Los Angeles, 0-1 Minneapolis)

STAPLES CENTER ADVANTAGE
Since moving to STAPLES Center prior to the 1999-2000 season, the Lakers have won 84% of their postseason home games (74-14). The Lakers have topped the century mark in over half of their postseason home games at STAPLES Center (51-of-88) while the opposition has been held under 100 points in all but 26 of those games. Since the start of the 2008 NBA Playoffs, the Lakers are 31-4 in games played at STAPLES Center. In their last 51 home playoff games, the Lakers are 44-7. The Lakers had won 12 straight home playoff games dating back to the 2009 Western Conference Finals before losing Game 2 of to 2010 NBA Finals at home.

JACKSON-LED TEAMS A TOUGH OUT WHEN PLAYING FROM AHEAD
When Phil Jackson wins Game 1 of any playoff series, best-of-five or best-of-seven, his teams are 48-0, having gone 24-0 with Chicago and 24-0 with the Lakers. When Jackson-led teams open a series with a 2-0 lead, he is 36-0 all-time. And when holding a series lead of any kind, Jackson's teams are 54-1 all-time.

BRYANT 4th ON NBA'S ALL-TIME PLAYOFF SCORING LIST
Last postseason, Kobe Bryant's fade away jumper at the 8:58 mark of the third quarter April 22, 2010 at Oklahoma City moved him past Jerry West (4,457) for 1st on the Lakers all-time playoff scoring list. Entering this postseason, only Michael Jordan (1st/5,987), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2nd/5,762) and Shaquille O'Neal (3rd/5,248) have scored more points in the playoffs than Bryant (5,052). Among all players with 2,500+ postseason points, only Michael Jordan (33.4), Jerry West (29.1), Elgin Baylor (27.0), Hakeem Olajuwon (25.9) and Dirk Nowitzki (25.6) have a higher postseason scoring average than Bryant (25.5).

JACKSON'S SPARKLING PLAYOFF RESUME
Last postseason, with the Lakers victory over Utah in Game 1 of the 2010 Conference Semifinals, Phil Jackson won for the 103rd time with the Lakers in the playoffs, passing Pat Riley (102) for most playoff victories in Lakers franchise history. Overall, Jackson owns a 225-98 postseason record, with his 225 victories being the most of any NBA coach in playoff history. Additionally, Jackson's 323 career playoff games are also the most of any coach in playoff history, while his .697 postseason win percentage is tops among all coaches as well. With the Lakers 2010 NBA Championship, Jackson (11 as head coach, 2 as player) further surpassed legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach (9) for most championships won by a head coach while also further passing fellow Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell (11) for most championships won by a player/coach. Jackson has taken his teams to the NBA Finals 13 times, tying him with NHL coaching legend Scotty Bowman for most trips to the Finals in a major professional sport played in the United States.