Kobe Bryant limped off the court after severely spraining his ankle towards the end of Game 4. He did interviews on training tables with crutches next to him. He gingerly got onto the team bus. He said he wouldn't get an MRI and would be ready for Game 5. He slowly walked onto the court as if each step was painful right before the tip. Then, with about 3:30 remaining in the 2nd quarter he threw down probably his best dunk of the season over Emeka Okafor. Yeah - Kobe was just fine. He loves drama and building his legacy and everyone fed right into it. What other explanation can there be? How can someone go from being on crutches just a day earlier to elevating higher than they had all season? Either Kobe played us all for fools or I want whatever those trainers are giving him.

The dunk cut the Hornets lead to two points and on the next possession, Bryant knifed his way to the bucket to tie the game and the Lakers never trailed after that point. But while Kobe would like the focus to be on him, this win was more about the Lakers all-around effort and taking advantage of their size.

The Hornets got off to a scorching start hitting on 13 of 16 shots in the first quarter. They were finally able to help Chris Paul out by hitting the open jumpers. They knocked down 9 of 11 open shots in the first half including five 3-pointers. But the Lakers didn't panic (in a good way this time) and buckled down on defense.

The bench really ignited the Lakers to step up their intensity. At the beginning of the 2nd quarter they went on a 10-0 run with Bryant on the bench. Lamar Odom, Shannon Brown, Matt Barnes and Steve Blake were a combined 8 of 25 but they had 18 rebounds and forced the Hornets into bad shots and turnovers.

Turnovers has been one of the key stats when looking at this series. In the Hornets' two wins they turned it over 3 times and 10 times. In the two losses they turned it over 16 times and 14 times. Last night they coughed it up 17 times.

While the Hornets were giving up possessions the Lakers were getting extra ones. They corralled 15 offensive rebounds and outscored the Hornets 26-2 in second chance points. They kept feeding Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum and they both were very efficient last night. The Lakers should always have an edge in second chance points with the two 7-footers and Odom but to dominate 26-2 it has to be about effort. The Lakers wore down the Hornets outscoring them in every quarter after the first.

I said Chris Paul would have to have a couple more phenomenal games like he had in Game 1 and Game 4 for the Hornets to have a chance in this series. He was not phenomenal last night. He was simply great and that's not enough. He went 6 for 12 for 20 points and 12 assists. But they need more than that from him. Just like in Game 3 he became timid in the second half. He knocked down some jumpers but rarely got to the rim. Some of this is the Lakers doing in playing better defense but much of it was Paul not forcing the issue. If I'm Monty Williams I tell Paul he has to try to take about 20 shots a game. Even if he doesn't it should at least get him in the mindset that he needs to be a scorer and be aggressive. He needs to put the Hornets on his back for two straight games or he can start planning his summer vacation.