The Lakers aren’t going to shut-down Paul, they don’t have the personnel for that, but if the Lakers are to successfully move on to the next round they’ll have to go with their bread and butter on offense against a smaller Hornets team.
Basically the Lakers have to feed the big guys in the paint, not take an alarming amount of perimeter shots, allow Ron Artest (the most consistent Laker in the series thus far) to do work in the post and move the ball to get better looking shots.
It also helps if Gasol were consistent on both ends of the floor. If he wasn’t doing much to secure his second-best player on the team status, he’ll have to make a case for it now more than ever with the possibility of Bryant being out in game five due to a foot injury he sustained Sunday night. Assuming Bryant does end up playing, as is likely the case, it won’t be easy for him to put up the same numbers he’s been averaging during the playoffs—Gasol, Bynum and Sixth Man of the Year Lamar Odom will have to step up their game in a big way.
That means helping contain Paul as a team defensively and doing what works for them on offense. For the Lakers to pull through in this series and (hopefully) in the next few rounds, they’ll have to be more consistent executing their offense. Something they’ve failed to do in all but one game against the Hornets.
In that aspect, perhaps a consistent offense is the one adjustment that’s currently hurting the Lakers more than Paul’s sick crossover move at the moment.
