1. VERSATILITY and BALANCE - The Lakers' personnel, along with the diversity of the triangle offense, allow them to give the Spurs different looks. They can beat you with pick-n-roll play. They can go inside-ouside with a combination of shooters like Vladimir Radmanovic, Sasha Vujacic, and Derek Fisher. They can post up either Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, and even Luke Walton. They can run-n-gun on transition with athletes like Jordan Farmar and Trevor Ariza. And above all, they've got the unstoppable Bryant doing whatever it takes to will his team to win, be it penetrate and dish, get to the foul line at will, create on the open floor for his teammates, or knock down three-point shots to deflate the Spurs at crucial moments of the game.

Meanwhile, the Lakers already know what the Spurs are going to come with - screen rolls with Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan. High post entry passes to Duncan, who will look to drop off passes to Fabricio Oberto or Kurt Thomas down low. And iso's for Ginobili at the top of the key. Bruce Bowen waiting on the wing for wide-open three-point attempts after Duncan gets doubled and defenses are scrambling to recover. The problem for San Antonio is that the Lakers are good enough that they won't have to double team Duncan, thereby nullifying his outside shooters.

2. ATTACK MODE- Because of Bryant's leadership, the Lakers will continue to attack and penetrate the Spurs' interior defense like there's no tomorrow. Even The Machine will take it to the rack when defenders run out on him at the three-point line. Odom will get to the line at will and put the Spurs' power forwards in early foul trouble just like he did to Andrei Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer. Gasol will take it to Duncan in order to get him into foul trouble. Gasol will even pull Duncan out of the lane because Pau can hit the mid range shot that the triangle offense will give him. And we can't forget about the high-flying Ariza, who just adds another dimension to the Lakers' fast break attack. Either way, whether it's a slow down tempo or in transition, the Lakers will constantly attack the Spurs from all angles. Most importantly, they have the personnel to do it.

3. DICTATING TEMPO-  The Lakers are excellent at accomplishing this because they have Bryant, who can get calls at any time. The Lakers will jump out to early leads in Games 1 & 2 and if they blow out the Spurs in both of these games, it will be very difficult for San Antonio to recover. The Lakers are more experienced than most would think. This nucleus, save for Gasol, has been together for three postseasons in a row and have tasted failure. They've grown and matured, learned how to play with toughness, and above all developed the hunger needed in order to take each and every possession like it's the last one. They learned this lesson after being up 2-0 on Utah. They woke up and finished them off. Killer instinct. And if the Lakers go up 2-0 against the Spurs and win these games easily, the defending champions won't have the firepower to overcome this Laker juggernaut.

4. THE MVP-  No team, no player, no double-team, no triple-team can contain the incomparable Bryant. He can do it all and he is the only player in this league that can singlehandedly will his team to win a series. In the modern era of the NBA, a great offensive player on a great team will always defeat a great defensive player on a great defensive team. Once Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker feel the wrath of Kobe's fire, the Spurs will be mentally defeated just like they were in '04 after Fisher hit that shot with .4 left. San Antonio never recovered. The Spurs, overall, have been the best and most consistent elite team in the NBA this decade and I have the utmost respect for their franchise. But unfortunately, they have run right smack into a well-oiled machine called the Los Angeles Lakers. And L.A. has homecourt advantage.

You give Mamba homecourt and you've just given the greatest player this generation has ever seen another piece of ammunition in his arsenal.

Guess what ladies and gentlemen? THE ASSAULT CONTINUES...

If Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs want to make a series out of this, he obviously has some adjustments to make.

The Spurs were slow in defensive rotations in the second half of their 101-82 loss to the Hornets, causing David West to pick them apart at the seams. The All-Star power forward scored in all ways imaginable. Mid range jump shots. Left handed hook shots. Dribble Drives. Turnaround 17-footers with a hand in his face. And-ones. West, and not Chris Paul, was the key to the whole game.

Had the Spurs doubled West early in each of the Hornets' possessions, it would have forced Paul, who had an off night shooting, to make other decisions. Decisions that may not have panned out for New Orleans. Keep in mind that San Antonio was up by 11 early on. So how come they could not maintain the lead?

Because while West was warming up, they did nothing to make sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic take tough shots. Stojakovic had open looks all night. The defending champions need to stick Bruce Bowen on Peja because it's the threat of Peja that opens up the entire game for CP3 and the rest of the team.

Popovich erred by putting Bowen on CP3. You can't treat New Orleans like the Suns. The tactic worked on Steve Nash because Nash is not as great as everyone thinks. Nash is soft and he gets rattled easily in the playoffs. So it's a tremendous advantage to put a physical player like Bowen on him. But on a player like Paul, it won't matter because Paul is too quick and too good a player to let Bowen frustrate him.

Pop should stick with the basics. Let your best counter weapon Tony Parker guard CP3. Parker is quick enough on his feet to keep up with him. Plus Parker makes CP3 work on the defensive end. He scored 23 on him so that should tell you something. You keep Bruce on Peja so he can be physical with him and wear him down. That's how the Lakers kept beating Sacramento between 2000-2003 when Peja was in his prime. L.A. used Rick Fox to outmuscle him, frustrate him, and take him out of his comfort zone. San Antonio should do the same.

Then you take the same tactic that NO is using on Tim Duncan and use it on West. Double him with Kurt Thomas/Fabricio Oberto and Manu Ginobili, who is good at stripping the ball. You can afford to use Manu to sag off of Morris Peterson or Bonzi Wells because I don't think either of those guys can be consistent enough to be a threat all series. This allows Duncan to stay on Tyson Chandler, thus preventing any CP3-to-Tyson alleyoops.

And once Duncan starts to find his groove, Chandler will be neutralized and will probably be in foul trouble. At the same time, Chandler won't be putting up numbers like he did on Saturday. Because West was basically going nuts, Tyson pulled down a quiet 15 boards.

Let Chris Paul score 35 because he won't beat you by himself unlike the great Kobe Bryant can. Paul scored 32 against the Lakers in January at New Orleans and the Lakers blew them out by 29! West shot 7-17, Peja shot 4-11 and they combined to score only 28 points. This is how you beat the Hornets. You have to wear down the Hornets physically. You have to make West and Peja work for tough shots. You have to make the Hornets defend, and you have to get them in the penalty early in the quarter. 

If the defending champions want to have the right to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, they have to take a page out of the Lakers' scouting report in order to make their series against New Orleans a competitive one.

Otherwise, Coach Byron Scott is going to make a trip back to his hometown in a couple of weeks.