(My Sportsbook) - The top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers continue their quest for their 15th NBA championship when they face the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals.

The Lakers are the team to beat in the West and gained the No. 1 seed in the conference by virtue of an impressive 65-17 regular season record.

LA, which lost in six games to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals last season, summarily dismissed an overmatched Utah Jazz team in five games during the West quarterfinals. All-Star Kobe Bryant scored 31 points in Game 5 on Monday and the Lakers weathered a late Utah run to finish the Jazz, 107-96.

Meanwhile, For the first time in the Yao Ming/Tracy McGrady era, the Rockets finally advanced to the second round of the playoffs when Ron Artest scored 27 points and Houston throttled Portland, 92-76, to finish their quarterfinal series in six games on Thursday.

Yao Ming totaled 17 points and 10 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Rockets, who won their first playoff set since 1997, ending a string of six straight first- round exits. Houston accomplished the feat without McGrady, their standout swingman, who is out due to microfracture surgery on his knee.

Before Thursday, Houston hadn't won a playoff series since beating Seattle in seven games in the conference semis in '97. The Rockets also swept Minnesota in the first round that year.

"This is a big step for me," said Yao. "It felt so great when the clock ran down and I still can't believe that came true. Obviously, we need to keep moving forward."

The Lakers swept the Rockets in four games during the regular season but Houston didn't have defensive stalwart Shane Battier in one of the losses and Artest in another.

"Off the court Kobe is a good friend of mine, but when we're on the court we absolutely don't like each other," said Artest. "I expect him to try and kill me and he expects the same thing."

The Lakers and Rockets have quite the playoff history, meeting seven times since 1981. LA has won four of the seven series, including the last two but Houston won the only time the teams matched up in the Western Conference finals, a 4-1 triumph in 1986.

MATCHUPS:

POINT GUARD: Aaron Brooks took over the point for Houston when the team dealt Rafer Alston to Orlando. He was only average during the regular season, netting 11.0 ppg but managing only 3.0 apg, a laughable number for the de facto starter at the point.

Brooks did pick up his game in the playoffs, however, averaging 15.4 points and 4.3 assists per game against the Blazers. Clearly the Oregon product is not a prototypical quarterback but he can fill it up when the jumper is on and shot 13-for-29 from behind the arc against the Blazers providing the Rockets with a much-needed outside threat.

LA's counters with steady veteran Derek Fisher. The playoff-tested Fisher is not a traditional point and doesn't have the athletic ability to push the ball on a consistent basis.

Bryant will actually do most of the ball-handling for the Lakers but Fisher is a solid stand-still jump shooter who will not make a lot of mistakes. He also won't stand out at either end of the floor.

Fisher is not equipped to keep up with an athlete like Brooks, meaning Phil Jackson may have to call on Shannon Brown a little more than he would like.

EDGE: ROCKETS

SHOOTING GUARD:LeBron James deserves the MVP award this season after leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to their best regular season in franchise history but ask around the NBA and most still feel the reigning MVP, Bryant, is still the best all-around player in basketball.

Bryant was his usual stellar self on the offensive end this season, averaging 26.8 points and 4.9 assists per game. His play only improved in the first round versus the Jazz, scoring at a 27.4 clip and adding 5.0 rebounds and 5.4 assists.

Kobe also has the length and athleticism to torture the opposition on the defensive end and amassed 120 steals during the season.

The Rockets counter with a pair of top-tier defenders that will flip between the two and three spots, the volatile Artest and Battier. Artest has played very well since McGrady went down with his season-ending microfracture knee surgery.

Artest has kept his nose clean in Houston and can still be a lock-down defender, but doesn't do it as consistently as he once did. Artest is also no slouch at the offensive end, recording 17.1 ppg this year and 15.7 in the playoffs thus far.

You can bet Rick Adelman will throw both Artest and Battier at Bryant, hoping to give the superstar different looks with two superior defenders but Kobe is Kobe and once dropped 56 on Battier when he was a rookie with the Memphis Grizzlies.

EDGE: LAKERS

CENTER: Yao Ming amassed 19.7 points and 9.9 boards per game this season and is one of the few legitimate low post threats in the NBA. Yao also scored 15.7 ppg on 56.3 percent shooting, added 10.7 rpg and 2.7 bpg in the first round of the playoffs.

Yao can also run the offense from the high-post and has a deft passing touch for such a big man. Adelman would also like Yao to develop a more physical presence on the defensive end but that ship has sailed.

The Lakers will need a lot more from Andrew Bynum in this series. Bynum was flat out bad against the Jazz, playing just 77 minutes and averaging 5.0 ppg. That was fine against a team with no legitimate low-post threat in the middle since Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are both incredibly gifted players that held down the pivot with ease.

Asking Gasol or Odom to do that against Yao would be folly so Jackson will have to turn back to Bynum, a legitimate center that can pound you inside and dominate the boards with sheer size when he's right.

Bynum was productive down the stretch of the regular season after his return from missing 32 games with a torn MCL, but his timing was never there and Jackson lost confidence in him against Utah.

EDGE: ROCKETS

SMALL FORWARD: Battier is one the best pure on-ball defenders in basketball when right and he is now healthy, leading the Rockets with 235 minutes played against Portland in the first round. Battier will do most of his scoring by cleaning up the garbage and is also a decent rebounder but his real impact is as a terrific lockdown defender.

Adelman will throw both Artest and Battier at Bryant, hoping to wear the All- Star down.

Trevor Ariza is probably the Lakers most underrated player. A hard-nosed defender and capable scorer, Ariza's improved play has given Phil Jackson the ability to bring the gifted Odom off the bench or use him in place of Bynum. Against the Jazz, Trevor averaged 12.0 points a game on 61.1 percent shooting and was second on the team in assists to Bryant at 4.2 a game.

EDGE: EVEN

POWER FORWARD: Luis Scola is one of the most underrated players in all of basketball. The Argentine star will never give up and will make things difficult for Gasol with his energy level, tough interior defense and rebounding prowess. Scola actually leads the Rockets in scoring (16.2) and was second in rebounding (6.7) during the first round of the playoffs.

Gasol, meanwhile, is an incredible skilled big man that has settled in nicely as the second offensive option behind Bryant in LA. The Spanish star netted 18.9 ppg and pulled down 9.6 rpg during the regular season and has kept things consistent in the first round of the postseason at 18.4 ppg and 9.0 rpg . An extremely gifted offensive player, Gasol is not the toughest player on the block and is really helped by the presence of a productive Bynum.

EDGE: LAKERS

BENCH: The Rockets will try to match the Lakers' firepower with guards Kyle Lowry and Von Wafer along with forwards Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes.

Wafer and Landry offer the most offense while Lowry will spell Brooks. Hayes, meanwhile, offers energy and an ability to rebound.

Lowry is a capable defender but not much of a shooter while Wafer, a former Laker, can fill it up. Against the Blazers he nailed 45.5 percent of his shots from behind the arc and he has two 20-point games against LA in the regular season.

Landry is a strong, athletic undersized power forward that likes to bang the glass and cash in on garbage points and Hayes may also get some minutes in the front court despite his diminutive stature. The Rockets tend to go small with Yao on the bench, especially with Dikembe Mutombo out with a career-ending injury.

Jackson has the aforementioned Odom along with Brown, Sasha Vujacic and forward Luke Walton.

Odom was arguably the MVP of the Jazz series, averaging 17.8 points and 11 rebounds along with 1.6 blocks a game. After starting two games against Utah, he's expected to return to the bench with Yao looming.

Brown is a strong defender with an improving outside shot while Vujacic struggled mightily in the first round with his jumper. The Lakers, meanwhile, are nursing Walton back to health after a deltoid tear and he's expected to play in the series. Walton is a tough inferior defender and will be needed for minutes against Artest.

Center DJ Mbenga has great size, strength and athleticism and may get minutes against Yao despite a complete lack of offensive skills.

EDGE: LAKERS

PREDICTION: The Rockets figure to have the edge at center and point guard but they simply can't compete with the offense of LA's big three.

Bryant, Gasol and Odom are all capable of taking over a game and Houston, with Scola as its high scorer in the postseason, just can't match that firepower.

The only way the Rockets win this series is if Yao dominates to the tune of 20 and 10 every night and the Lakers have too many options to throw at the Chinese star.

LAKERS in 6.