By John Hollinger
ESPN.com
NEW ORLEANS -- It was the perfect metaphor for the Lakers' perfect start: a dagger 3-pointer by Kobe Bryant, with James Posey right in his grill, that staved off a New Orleans comeback and gave the Lakers a 93-86 win over the Hornets.
The win pushed the Lakers to 7-0, and with Atlanta's loss in Boston it made them the league's sole undefeated team. It's a status they may hang on to for a while -- seven of L.A.'s next eight games are in the friendly confines of Staples Center, starting with Friday's contest against Detroit.
And although Bryant denied flashing back to the Finals while draining the shot over Posey, it symbolized the motivation for L.A.'s awe-inspiring start. The Lakers were exposed as soft, mentally and physically, in that six-game defeat to Boston last year, and their start has been a response to that discovery. What better way to cap it than by nailing a shot over the former Boston defensive stopper who so frustrated the Lakers in last season's Finals?
For that matter, an earlier Posey-related episode helped symbolize L.A.'s newfound toughness. It all started when Chris Paul used a first-quarter stoppage in play to take exception to a blow from Pau Gasol underneath; Gasol, notorious as a shrinking violet in such situations, made sure to respond. When Posey -- who hadn't even checked into the game yet -- came off the bench to intervene, Gasol would have none of it, and each earned a tech for his troubles. It never got physical, but it showed L.A.'s resolve.
"[Paul and I] were just talking," said Gasol, "James came in, and I was just trying to go back to the bench because there was a timeout. [But] you gotta do what you gotta do out there."
Just to make sure where they stood, Andrew Bynum did get physical with Posey later -- earning a technical foul for shoving him after a Hornets score when the two were fighting for position underneath. While we don't typically celebrate technical fouls, this play was indicative of an edge to the Lakers that was missing last season.
However, this win was impressive for much more than just a few displays of machismo. Most notably, the Lakers' defense suffocated the Hornets for three quarters, holding them to just 30 points in the first half.
That's impressive in any environment, but to do so on tired legs in a back-to-back game, in a hostile venue, against a contender that had four days of rest and had circled the date on the calendar when the schedule came out ... folks, that was simply awesome. Especially since, as Phil Jackson pointed out before the game, early-season back-to-backs tend to be more difficult since not everyone has their sea legs yet.
L.A.'s defense is the main reason it is the unquestioned top dog in the NBA hierarchy at the moment, and Wednesday's first three quarters showed the biggest difference from last season: Bynum. It's not just that he's back -- it's that he's in shape, active and engaged. He was, in my estimation, far better defensively than he'd been before the injury last season.
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