I don't think anyone will deny that the Lakers have way more talent than the Hornets. I don't think many would even argue that besides the point guard position, every starter for the Lakers is more talented than the Hornets' counterpart. Chris Paul is the only player that can tear down the Lakers. He did it in Game 1 and he did it in the first half last night. But for some reason Paul left it up to the rest of his teammates to try and get back in the game and that strategy failed.

At first Paul was getting into the teeth of the defense. He'd drive to the hoop and kick off of often triple-teams to wide-open teammates. But Carl Landry, Marco Belinelli and Trevor Ariza all missed open shots (Belinelli missed a handful of open looks). That's when Paul took the game into his own hands. If his teammates weren't going to help him he would do it himself. The Hornets ran pick and rolls and that left Paul open to hit the mid-range jumpers and he knocked down nearly every one of them. He was hitting the exact same shots his teammates couldn't. Paul was 8-for-10 for 18 points at the half.

Paul finished with only 22 points. He had just 4 points in the second half and took only 3 shots. What adjustments did the Lakers make to fluster him? None. They didn't shut down Paul. He shut down himself.

Maybe he realized he couldn't do it all by himself and he needed to get his teammates involved. It looked like the Hornets were trying to establish a post presence and get Emeka Okafor involved. It worked occasionally but who really thinks Okafor is going to consistently score on Andrew Bynum?

CP3 was too willing to give up the ball. Instead of splitting double teams he'd pass out of them. Instead of challenging Fisher he'd pass it to someone on the perimeter that had no intention of shooting. When he did look to be aggressive good things happened. He was fouled a few times and three times he wound up one-on-one with Bynum due to switches (he knocked down two shots and for some reason didn't take a third and passed out of it). This game wasn't out of reach until midway through the fourth and yet it never looked like Paul had that killer instinct that most superstars get in those situations. The Hornets needed the Chris Paul that scored 33 points and 14 assists in Game 1 and instead got a point guard content to pass it around the perimeter.

The quick story is that the Lakers regained the series lead thanks to a revitalized Pau Gasol. Gasol had 17 points and 10 rebounds but he actually had a pretty poor game. He was just 2 for 4 for 4 points in the first half, got lucky on a 3-pointer in the fourth and got a few easy putbacks. It's certainly progress but he's still having trouble against Carl Landry. Kobe Bryant was the star for LA, driving to the bucket in the first half to the tune of 15 points. Then he knocked down three 3-pointers in the 3rd while the Lakers couldn't get anything going inside to maintain a comfortable lead.

But it was the play of Paul that sealed the deal. When he watches game film he should be appalled at what he finds. He is the leader of the Hornets and he has to carry that team. That doesn't mean he has to take half the shots but it does mean he has to have the ball half the time. He is the only one on that team that can consistently make plays. Without him being aggressive this series will be over in 5 games.