The New Orleans Hornets may be silent right now with the NBA in the middle of its labor dispute with the players, but that doesn’t mean members of the team are sitting still.  From Carl Landry pondering his impending free agency, to Monty Williams and his assistants taking in Saints practice, the local stars are remaining active.

That includes point guard Chris Paul, who recently took part in an all-star contest to benefit the Carmelo Anthony Foundation.  The Melo League vs. Goodman League all-star game, held at Morgan State in Baltimore, resulted in a 149-141 win for Paul and his teammates (among them Anthony and LeBron James).

Here are some highlights featuring Chris Paul courtesy of ESPN:

And some off-court hijinks involving magic courtesy of James:

Finally, for more all-star highlights (and a recap), check out Insidehoops.com.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – New Orleans Hornets coach Monty Williams says he has added veteran assistant coach Dave Hanners to his staff, filling a vacancy that opened when Mike Malone joined Golden State shortly after last season.

Hanners has worked under longtime NBA coach Larry Brown with four teams: Philadelphia, Detroit, New York and Charlotte.

Hanners played guard for North Carolina in the 1970s and returned in the late 1980s as an assistant. He has been an NBA assistant since 2000, when he worked for Brown in Philadelphia.

He then followed Brown to Detroit, where they won an NBA title together in 2004. Hanners also was on U.S. coaching staff at the 2004 Olympics

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

The New Orleans Hornets have granted the Lakers permission to interview Mike Malone for an assistant job on newly hired Mike Brown’s staff, according to league sources. 

Prior to the joining the Hornets, Malone spent five seasons as an assistant on Brown’s staff with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brown is seeking to hire assistants that he’s work with before.

Malone, who could not be reached for comment Saturday,  is considered a defensive mastermind and was instrumental in helping the Hornets emerge as one of the top defensive teams in the league.

Malone has a year remaining on his contract with the Hornets that he signed last summer. Malone’s father, Brendan Malone, is an assistant with the Orlando Magic and former head coach of the Cavaliers.

After Malone surfaced as a candidate for the Rockets’ head coaching coaching vacancy last month during the playoffs, Hornets Coach Monty Williams said it was only a matter of time before teams pursued.

“He’s put the work in,” Williams said. “He hasn’t gone after jobs the way I’ve seen other guys do. He’s a prime candidate.”

The Hornets lost to the Lakers in six games during the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Phil Jackson retired as the Lakers head coach after they were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round.

Last week, the Lakers hired Brown to succeed Jackson. The Lakers extended a four-year, $18 million to Brown, who was fired by the Cavaliers after the 2009-10 season  when they failed to advance to the NBA Finals with All-Star forward LeBron James.

James left the franchise last summer after seven seasons, signing as a  free agent with the Miami Heat, which is in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.

Finally, there was no more to be wrung from the New Orleans Hornets.

The task of extending the two-time defending champion Lakers to a winner-take-all Game 7 required more firepower than the Hornets had available. It required more gas than Chris Paul had in reserve, and more spark than he could conjure from his teammates in a 98-80 loss Thursday night that gave Los Angeles a 4-2 series win.

“We didn’t do anything (special defensively),” Lakers guard Kobe Bryant said of Paul’s subpar game. “He was tired.

“He was all over the place this series. (Thursday) he looked a little tired. It wasn’t anything we did defensively.”

If it was fatigue, it ensured that when the Hornets needed Paul to play superstar-level basketball the most, even more than he had in Game 1 and 4 wins, he was more human than he’d been in any game of the series – 10 points, 11 assists, two steals, eight rebounds and five turnovers.

And his teammates were no better in front of a sellout crowd that was aching to help produce a victory that would lead to Game 7 and a trip back to Los Angeles.

“We just lost to a really, really good team,” Paul said. “It’s obvious why those guys are two-time defending champs.

“They did a really good job of closing the lane down. I still tried to find my spots but the lane was packed.”

And now so are the Hornets, packed and off to an offseason of uncertainty that’ll include a possible lockout, rumors of where Paul will or won’t play when (if?) the next season commences, whether the roster can be upgraded to the point he believes the Hornets have a chance to win in the playoffs, and whether the Hornets can build on the momentum they created during the series.

Before we move on to that, though, we must pause and take the time to acknowledge that the Hornets forced the Lakers to dig deeper than anyone expected the Lakers would have to, capping a season that only can be classified as a pleasant surprise.

There weren’t many indicators that this collection of Hornets could advance to the playoffs, let alone take two games off the Lakers. Especially, after David West tore his ACL and was lost for the season, there wasn’t much reason to believe the Hornets could hold on to a postseason spot or mount much of a challenge to any opponent.

The fact that they won 46 regular-season games, under a rookie coach whose system had to be implemented and whose style had to be adapted to, will be remembered as a significant accomplishment.

Monty Williams didn’t inherit a roster loaded with talent in New Orleans. The discrepancy was glaring against the Lakers, who owned an advantage at every position except point guard.

“Our players exemplified all the good things that sports are about,” Williams said. “They just came to work every day and they busted their tails and they believed.”

But, that said, Thursday’s playoff exit came with a whimper more than with a bang.

All the things that separated the two teams — size, experience, hunger, drive — entering the series were on display in each Laker victory.

The Hornets were outrebounded 43-30, outscored 21-4 on second-chance points, outscored 42-34 in the paint. They even finished with more assists (23-20) and fewer turnovers (14-12).

“New Orleans is an impressive team,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “I think the size and depth of our team wore them down.”

Wore them down, and now they’re out.

The Hornets were outscored in each quarter, and by twin 29-23 margins in each of the final two periods. They looked lethargic for most of the 48 minutes, only periodically snapping out of the funk to rally.

But, too, the Lakers had much to do with that. They’ve taken opponents, battered their hopes and dismissed them many times before finding themselves staring down the Hornets.

“We’re good at making adjustments and learning,” Bryant said.

They adjusted and they learned during the series and the Hornets paid the price for it. But at least the Hornets exit knowing all that could be wrung out of this collection of players was squeezed out, that there was no more “more” there, that the strain of matching wits and elbows with the defending champs emptied their tank.

There should be some satisfaction in that, and in knowing that the Lakers had to burn some fuel to get rid of them, too.

•••••••

John DeShazier can be reached at jdeshazier@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3410.

Posted: Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 2:09 PM

When quizzed about the health of backup center Aaron Gray after today’s shootaround in Los Angeles, New Orleans Hornets coach Monday Williams said his team needs everyone in this series.

Los Angeles — Among many, there were two moments from Chris Paul’s brilliant performance Sunday afternoon in the New Orleans Hornets’ 109-100 victory against the host Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of a Western Conference playoff series that are equal testimony to his on-court virtuosity.

The first came with 2:24 remaining in the second quarter when Paul rifled a 30-foot, one-handed pass to Aaron Gray for an easy layup, what was Paul’s 10th assist, that gave the Hornets a 47-38 lead.

The second came with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter when Paul, at the top of the key, executed an ankle-breaking cross-over dribble that floored Lakers guard Derek Fisher, leaving Paul an unobstructed passing lane where he found Emeka Okafor for an easy slam.

Those two plays at once exposed the Lakers’ aging reflexes and reinforced Paul’s place as the league’s preeminent point guard, ascending the playoff stage where no one — emphasize no one — has accumulated postseason numbers that included scoring and assist averages greater than 20 and 10.

After Sunday’s 33-point, 14-assist effort, Paul’s 18-game playoff averages stand at 22.5 and 11.2.

“Just as a player,” said Hornets backup point guard Jarrett Jack, one of Paul’s best friends. “You marvel at the ability he has.”

If you group every one of the NBA’s best points-assists players together, in the history of the league, Paul’s career playoff totals are at the top.

Magic Johnson, 19.5 points, 12.3 assists.

Oscar Robertson, 22.2 points, 8.9 assists.

Isiah Thomas, 20.4 points, 8.9 assists.

Jerry West, 29.1 points, 6.3 assists.

Michael Jordan, 33.4 points, 5.7 assists.

John Stockton, 13.4 points, 10.1 assists.

Bob Cousy, 18.5 points, 8.6 assists.

Kobe Bryant, 25.6 points, 4.8 assists.

Larry Bird, 23.8 points, 6.5 assists.

On Sunday, in New Orleans’ win over the two-time defending champion Lakers, Paul proved once and for all, nobody does it better.

“Sometimes,” Hornets Coach Monty Williams said, “I tend to mess with the game by trying to run too many basketball sets when I just need to give him the ball and let him go to work.”

Following an injury-plagued, loss-filled 2009-10 season that came on the heels of a year in which Paul and his team were embarrassed in a five-game, first-round playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets, this season he put up the most anemic regular-season scoring numbers in his career: 15.9 points.

Yet that figure was as much a result of the Hornets’ methodical offensive tendencies as it was Paul’s deferential attitude that he carried through most of the regular season, opting to set up teammates and many times passing up open looks.

On Sunday, Paul combined to not only feed open teammates, but he was pulling up for jumpers and often stepping back to create his own shots when the Lakers’ big men, most notably Pau Gasol, got caught in switches and were forced to guard Paul one-on-one.

“I was just making shots,” Paul said Monday. “That’s all it was. I was trying to pick my spots. Guys were taking shots, and we were aggressive. We got out in transition, and I think that’s when we’re at our best.

“It’s the same (defensive) thing they do just about every time we play. It just looks a lot different if I make a shot or two. Seriously, I mean I’m sure they came out with the same mind-set to do what they’ve been doing all year.”

But Sunday, Paul was exploiting the Lakers, making them pay for every defensive breakdown, no matter how slight.

In the last five minutes, shortly after Los Angeles had trimmed New Orleans’ lead to three — 90-87 — after two free throws by Ron Artest, Paul went on to score 15 points and assist on one more basket while the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant would go 0-for-4.

And while Paul was still deferring the platitudes, Jack conceded that Paul’s performance was nonetheless personally enjoyable.

“I know how desperately he wanted to be in the playoffs (again) in his position last year after being in it consecutive seasons,” Jack said. “To miss it because of injury, something you can’t control, adds insult to injury. At least if you can say, ‘I gave it my all, and we didn’t make it.’… Nobody wants to just sit on the sidelines and just idly watch your team go through the struggles they went through.

“Obviously, it’s gratifying. But I hope people don’t think because of the game he had yesterday he’s satisfied with that or any of us are. There’s a lot of work left to be done, and we’ve got to go out there on Wednesday just like it’s 0-0.”

But what Paul did Sunday probably did answer questions surrounding the health of his body and his game, Jack said.

“And doing it at his size and stature is a thing that goes unnoticed at times,” Jack said. “I think some people really don’t understand — and I don’t want it to sound like I’m saying he’s tiny — but how short he is and how difficult it is to finish over those big guys and shoot over guys like Pau Gasol with a seven-foot wingspan, and they’re already 7 feet on top of that.

“He’s giving up maybe a foot and half. Doing some of the things he does, and being able to do it in the lane amongst those trees, is a phenomenal thing. He might have answered a few (questions), but he hasn’t answered all of them yet.”

Less than a week ago, moments after the Hornets’ final regular-season game and a third consecutive loss, Paul wondered if the team would be able to “flip that switch” and reverse its recent stretch of poor play in time for the beginning of the playoffs.

The efforts Sunday indicated the switch had been flipped, the spotlight illuminated, and Paul had stepped, center-stage, into its warm glow.

“I’ve been saying all along, ‘Just get us to the playoffs, and we’ve got a chance,’ ” Paul said. “I just tried to have a different intensity (Sunday), and hopefully, the guys fed off that.”

As the regular season of the National Basketball Association drew to a close this month, some western conference teams seemed to make avoiding the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs about as important as qualifying for those playoffs.

Therefore, when the New Orleans Hornets finished seventh in the conference, they got as much pity for drawing the two-time defending champions as they got applause for rebounding from last year’s woeful season. However, when the ball was tipped Sunday afternoon, the Hornets showed a nationally televised audience that they hadn’t arrived in Los Angeles to die.

The Hornets’ 109-100 victory stunned the sports know-it-alls and the heavily favored Lakers. Hornets point guard Chris Paul led the charge with 33 points, 14 assists, 7 rebounds and 4 steals with only 2 turnovers.

“I just felt good,” No. 3 said after the game.

Clearly.

“They came out extremely motivated and very prepared,” Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant said. “Chris is a handful for anybody to deal with.”

It may have seemed so at times, but Chris Paul didn’t do it by himself. The rest of his teammates committed only one turnover during the entire game, playing essentially error-free ball from start to finish. Rookie coach Monty Williams’ equanimity surely played a part in that. Responding to one player’s early concern that he’d made a mistake, the coach told him, “Don’t worry about a mistake. The last thing we want to worry about is a mistake.”

The three team turnovers committed by the Hornets Sunday tied the record for fewest ever in a NBA playoff game. The Lakers’ big men tower over the undersized Hornets, but still the Hornets outscored them in the paint 52-34. What they lacked in size, the Hornets more than made up for in will.

“It’s a whole another energy, a whole another thing,” Mr. Paul said of the playoffs. It’s an energy that’s fired up the whole New Orleans area. If the team can win the first game, who’s to say it can’t win this series?

No, it won’t be a sweep.

I mean the New Orleans Hornets won’t sweep the Los Angeles Lakers.

Stop laughing.

I know it was only one game, but I came away with the feeling the Hornets might not have won their last game of the season Sunday in Los Angeles.

It wasn’t that they whipped a heavily favored defending champion 109-100 on their home court.

Upsets happen.

Ask the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs, who lost to the visiting Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday in the Western Conference playoffs.

It was more how the Hornets did it.

They not only won by overcoming a strong performance by the best clutch player in the game, the kind you’d expect from Kobe Bryant, who finished with 34 points.

They won by eating away at the Lakers’ defense with the kind of up-tempo, non-stop aggressiveness that left Coach Phil Jackson’s basketball team in a state of bewilderment.

New Orleans Coach Monty Williams, you might say, won by handing the keys of a finely tuned sports car to Chris Paul, allowing him to drive it, not with reckless abandon, but with a kind of controlled speed that sucked the wind out of the Lakers’ sails.

Considering the absence of David West, what his scoring and inside presence meant to the team, I don’t know if Williams ever came up with a more remarkable coaching job, and if Paul has ever been more remarkable in directing a controlled, fast-paced, aggressive attack from the first quarter to the finish.

When a Hornet came to the bench early in the game, apologizing for a “mistake,’’ Williams’ response spoke for his game plan: “Don’t worry about a mistake. The last thing we want to worry about is a mistake.’’

That was the winning mindset. It was a winner because, despite the take-it-to-’em fire the Hornets displayed, they made only three mistakes — three turnovers in 48 minutes, tying for the lowest total ever in a playoff game.

As for Paul’s brilliance, it was all there in the numbers: 33 points on 11-for-18 shooting, 14 assists, seven rebounds, four steals, two turnovers in 41 minutes.

And, significantly, 17 of the 33 points came in the fourth quarter when the Lakers tied it but could never take the lead.

“I picked my spots in the fourth quarter,’’ Paul said. “I’m usually a pass-first point guard, but they kept looking for me to pass — and that left me open for some shots.’’

For the most part, the Hornets were getting their openings many times by taking advantage of the daylight created by a Lakers’ transition defense that was not exactly moving at warp speed.

During halftime, when Magic Johnson said he was “amazed’’ at the Hornets shooting 58 percent, I could have asked Magic: “Did you see how many times the Lakers were beaten downcourt, for layups, for 5-footers?’’

While some suggested the Hornets’ up-tempo tactics might wear them down, it went the other way. By the final quarter, the Hornets had the look of a much fresher team and a lot of this had to do with a bench that produced a stunning 39 points, highlighted by the work of Jarrett Jack, Willie Green and Aaron Gray, who left late with a sprained right ankle.

“We could not have done it without those guys,’’ Paul said. “Aaron was tremendous. I hope that ankle isn’t as bad as it looked.’’

So, you ask, can the Hornets do it again?

Win another game?

You can ask: Can you expect Pau Gasol — a 7-footer who averaged 19 points during the regular season, who averaged more than 20 in four games against the Hornets — to have another eight-point game?

Of course, as bad-shooting games go, you could also say the same for the Hornets’ Trevor Ariza, and for Marco Bellinelli.

As for the Big Two, nothing Bryant does will surprise you.

And Paul?

He was the best player on the court Sunday. Can he be any better?

In his days with the Hornets, history tells us he has had more than one remarkable performance.

So we wait.

All we know right now is the score: Hornets 1, Lakers 0.

Remarkable.

•••••••

Peter Finney can be reached at pfinney@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3802.

New Orleans Hornets forward Carl Landry has heard all about the Los Angeles Lakers this week, from their substantial size advantage to Kobe Bryant’s drive to win his sixth NBA championship.

Yet, mostly what Landry has heard about his own team from people outside of the franchise is that it doesn’t stand a chance against the Lakers. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series is today at the Staples Center.

As Landry recalled, the same thing was said in 2009 when he was a member of the Houston Rockets and they played the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals. Houston was without injured Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady but extended the series to seven games before losing.

“We had a bunch of second- and third-year guys and everybody counted us out, and that’s fine,’’ Landry recalled. “We have to go out there with the same mentality that we can win this series.’’

“I’ve always been an underdog. We’re not just happy to be in the playoffs. We don’t want to go in and win a game. I’m going out there to try and win the series.’’  

The Lakers were expected to contend for their third consecutive NBA championship. On the other hand, the Hornets were not projected to make the playoffs after an offseason of uncertainty that began with Chris Paul questioning the franchise’s commitment to winning.

But here they are — despite their best scorer, David West, being out for the season after tearing his left ACL last month and having reconstructive surgery last week. They are entering as the seventh seed with 46 wins under rookie head coach Monty Williams, but they lost all four regular-season games to the Lakers, by an average of 10.8 points.

The Lakers have won 16 NBA championships. Since their inception in 1988, the Hornets have never advanced beyond the conference semifinals.

“Nobody expected us to be here,’’ Williams said. “The Lakers are the toughest team in the league, so it’s a great test for us. We have to be ready right from the jump.’’

The Hornets’ biggest disadvantage appears to be in the frontcourt, where the Lakers hold a size advantage with 7-footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

Despite getting a bone bruise in his right knee  against the San Antonio Spurs last week, Bynum practiced Friday and is expected to play today. The presence of Gasol and Bynum in the post was a problem for the Hornets in all four games. The Lakers outscored the Hornets by at least 16 points in the lane during each of the first two games.

“We’ve got to make it a track game and make them tired,’’ Paul said. “Every one player has to go to another level for the playoffs.

“You don’t really make a name for yourself in the regular season, it’s the playoffs. I’m just happy we gave ourselves a chance, and now we’ve got to take it. They are not going to give anything to us. We’ve got to execute.’’

Williams wants his players to strike the first blow, then keep it going for the entire game by intensifying their defensive play and pushing the tempo. But a quick up-and-down game could lead to guard Kobe Bryant having a breakout game. In the four regular-season games against the Hornets, Bryant averaged 26.8 points, which included a 32-point performance in February.

“We’ve got to find a different mentality; they beat us every game in the regular season,’’ said forward Trevor Ariza, a former Laker who will be guarding Bryant.

“But the playoffs are a different thing, so we’ve got to bring a different intensity. We have to pay more attention to detail and on getting to our spots.’’

The Hornets were routed in the final three games to close the regular season despite having an opportunity to move up to the sixth seed and avoid having to play the Lakers.

“Chapter 1 of Joshua says be strong and very courageous, and I live by that,’’ Williams said. “I have big-time respect for the Lakers, but we’re going to go in and attack those guys and try to win a game. Everybody else that wants to count us out, I’m glad they are not suited up for us.’’

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson praised the Hornets as a survivor-type team with feisty guys.

“We’re going to have to tend to this one,’’ Jackson said. “I hope it (sweeping season series) doesn’t let us think this is going to be anything easy.’’

The Lakers went 17-1 after the All-Star break before a five-game losing streak, then closed the regular season with two wins to clinch the No. 2 seed.

“Anything can happen in the playoffs,’’ Landry said. “We have to attack on every possession and put our foot on the pedal and never let up. I’m ready.’’

•••••••

John Reid can be reached at jreid@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3407.

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

The Lakers swept the 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 today at Staples Center, or what’s expected to be another long postseason run for the Lakers will be in early trouble.

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 before reaching up and calmly dunking.

“They’re some big boys,” agreed Okafor. “It’s like a fresh start. You can think of those four games as warmups, because they don’t really matter now. 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 consecutive 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.

(Page 2 of 2)

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 consecutive games before back-to-back victories 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.

“Teams definitely know the way to beat us is to get turnovers, get out in transition and run,” said Bryant.

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.”

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

WESTWEGO — The New Orleans Hornets are perhaps the biggest underdogs in the NBA playoffs, but the underdog role is one they’ve grown accustomed to.

Considered a playoff long shot at the start of the season, the Hornets were the biggest surprise of the early part of the season. They were the last team to lose a game, winning their first eight; started 11-1; and a rode a roller-coaster that came to a stop with them in seventh place in the Western Conference.

That brought them a best-of-seven, first-round matchup with the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers, who have won the last two NBA titles. The second-seeded Lakers, 57-25. won 11 more games than the Hornets and swept the four regular-season game against New Orleans, prevailing by an average of 10.8 points.

So virtually no one outside of the Hornets’ inner circle expects anything except more of the same when the series begins Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles. Coach Monty Williams conceded that New Orleans might be the most overmatched team in the first round.

“It’s tough enough to win one NBA game,” Williams said after practice Friday. “Now we’re playing against the defending champions and everybody has put us under the guillotine already before we’ve even played a game.

“It’s been like that all season. Nobody has expected anything from this team. That’s why when we win two or three games in a row everybody is surprised. We’re used to it. Nobody expected us to be here.”

The expectations for the Hornets are further diluted by the way they finished the regular season, losing their last three games by an average of 22 points.

“None of that means anything,” guard Chris Paul said. “That’s the thing that I’ve learned in the playoffs. It’s one thing to hear people speculate about what they think this team is going to do, but this league is all about match-ups.”

Match-up-wise, things don’t look too good for New Orleans either. Aside from having to deal with future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, the Hornets have to contend with Los Angeles’ size, a major factor in its back-to-back titles. The Lakers start a pair of 7-footers in Andrew Bynum, who’s expected to play despite a bone bruise in his right knee that he suffered Tuesday, and All-Star Pau Gasol.

New Orleans will counter with 6-10 Emeka Okafor and 6-9 Carl Landry, who was acquired in a trade in February and started the last 10 games after David West, the Hornets’ leading scorer, was lost to a season-ending knee injury.

“You’ve got to use your basketball IQ and never take a possession off,” Landry said. “When the big guys are running down the court trying to get position on the block, you’ve got to make sure you bump them and meet them by the 3-point line and not make the catch on the block as easy. And if they do get it, take some of that 24-second clock down and when they have to take a shot, it’s going to be a rushed shot and a contested shot. Just make it harder on those big guys.”

The Hornets have relied on their clock management and team defense to mask their offensive deficiencies, even before West was hurt. They allowed an average of 94.0 points for the season, but L.A. scored 103, 101, 101, and 102 against them. The Hornets allowed an average of 110 in the last 11 games.

“Obviously we’ve got to turn our defense up,” Paul said. “We’re not all going to grow overnight. We’re not going to get taller. So we’ve got to figure out ways to manage.”

The New Orleans Hornets, who are making their return to the playoffs under first-year coach Monty Williams, will take on the two-time defending NBA champion Lakers in a best-of-seven first-round series that begins Sunday in Los Angeles.

The Lakers swept the regular season series 4-0.

With national pundits already looking ahead to an NBA title game between the Lakers and Chicago Bulls, how do you feel the Hornets will fare?

 

In response to Jimmy Smith’s report on the New Orleans Hornets facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs, nola.com reader 504ever wrote:

“Hornets are going to shock a lot of people with the fight they show in this series.The lakers will NOT just walk thru the Hornets as if we’re just some type of hallway on their stroll for another championship.No sir, these bees are going to swarm like never before, and although the lakers may advance, the will remember that they were in one helluva fight. A lot of you forgetting 2 VERY important facts:1) this is CP3′s return trip to the playoffs,Ariza is playing against a team that told him you aren’t good enough, and this is Mek’s 1st playoff appearance, that alone means those 3 guys are going to play like they have more than something to prove.2) These games will be nationally televised and CP3 ALWAYS plays like a man possessed when the world is watching, and there’s no better team in the league to show off against when the entire world is watching than the lakers. This team lead by Monty Williams will show the type of fight we have never seen them show, oh wait that’s right, they have shown that when the world says they can’t, THEY DO! Anyone remember the 11-1 start against the NBA’s elite, the lakers might win, but it won’t be the cake walk all the national “experts” and the bandwagon “fans” are predicting.

“I’M IN…………GEAUX HORNETS!!!”