Half: Lakers 51, Hornets 42

NEW ORLEANS — The Lakers finally began to expose the New Orleans Hornets as a one-man team in the first half of Game 3 of their first-round playoff series tonight. Chris Paul had a team-leading 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting, but the Lakers could live with the fact that he had only three assists and three rebounds. The Lakers dominated the paint in the first half, scoring 34 points from point-blank range. Kobe Bryant had 15 points, Andrew Bynum scored 14 and grabbed nine rebounds. Pau Gasol had only four points and four rebounds, but he didn’t seem to be pressing as much as he was in the first two games.