More Than MVP's: Breaking Down New Orleans Hornets vs. Los Angeles Lakers

Chris Paul and Kobe Bryant will be going at it Friday night at 10:30.  But there will be more than those two players going at it.

This is a battle of two of the best teams in the NBA.

The Hornets also boast players like Tyrus Thomas and David West, while the Lakers bring out Gasol and plenty of good supporting players.

But all the focus will be based on the Paul vs. Bryant aspect of the game.

So what are the other match ups going to look like?

At Center: Tyson Chandler vs. Pau Gasol

Pau Gasol holds the edge in PPG (11.7 vs. 18.9), but Tyson Chandler is arguably the second best rebounder in the NBA.

Also, Chandler's size is an advantage over Gasol.

This is a key position, and if either Bryant or Gasol can't knock down the shots, the winner of this match-up will be critical.

The edge goes to nobody in this battle because both players are tremendous. 

At Power Forward: David West vs. Lamar Odom

West may be down in rebounds, but the stats don't tell the whole story. 

Because he has to battle with Chandler for the boards, I think that West wins the heads-up match-up at getting rebounds.

West is also a more potent scorer than Odom, scoring five more points per game than Odom does.

Odom is slightly taller, and that could give him a slight edge, I think that West is a better player than Odom.

The edge goes to West in this battle. 

At Small Forward: Peja Stojakovic vs. Vladimir Radmonavic

The most important battle is between these two, both of whom have hard names to spell.  Spell check wants to kill me right now.

But back to the action: Both of these players can knock down threes with consistency, but Stojakovic is a more experienced and all around better player than Radmonavic.

The edge goes to Stojakovic in this battle.

At Shooting Guard: Morris Peterson vs. Kobe Bryant

Morris Peterson is about to be dominated.  It's not his fault; he is facing an MVP candidate and a great offensive player who can also defend.

It doesn't help that Peterson only averages 8 PPG, 2.7 RPG, and 0.9 APG (albeit in only 23.7 MPG)

Kobe, on the other hand, takes into this game 28.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 5.4 APG.

Kobe obviously holds the edge in this battle.

At Point Guard: Chris Paul vs. Derek Fisher

Fisher is anything but inadequate.  The thing is, he is facing Chris Paul.  And that means only one thing: Fisher is about to look silly the same way Peterson is going to look silly.

Paul is going to either make any shot he wants (nothing against Fisher, Paul pretty much does this every game) or he will find and hit the open man for an easy shot. (Again, pretty much routine at this time.)

Paul has emerged late as an MVP candidate, and has now overtaken LeBron as the one who might just keep Kobe from ever winning the prestigious award.

Paul obviously holds the edge in this battle.

So, that is the position by position break down for the starters.

For those who want to yell at me if I get any of these starters wrong, look at the lineups I got for the Hornets and Lakers first.  These are established websites and I trust the info.

So leave comments as to who you think the MVP should be, who you think will win the game, and, as always, letting me know what I did wrong.  (But be civil, unlike the Raiders fans I have been dealing with.)

I'm Joe W.