(My Sportsbook) - The top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers continue their quest for an NBA championship tonight when they kick off the Western Conference semifinals by welcoming the Houston Rockets to Staples Center.

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 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.

The Rockets are expected to throw both Battier and Artest, two superlative defenders, at Bryant in an effort to the slow the superstar down.

"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."

Houston will also get a little help with Bryant from fate, at least early in the series. The All-Star missed practice Sunday with a sore throat and will be playing Game 1 at something less than 100 percent.

Meanwhile, LA center Andrew Bynum, who played poorly against Utah and averaged just 15 minutes per contest in the series, is expected to be a key cog in combating the presence of Yao.

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.