First seed, Los Angeles Lakers, takes on fifth seed, Houston Rockets.

The Rockets are a a different animal.  They have 2-pronged defensive monsters in Ron Artest and Shane Battier.  And if you go past either of them?  You only have to get by 7-6 behemoth Yao Ming.

Tell that to Kobe Bryant.

Defensively, the Rockets are a beast.  They have two very well-known perimeter defenders and one legitimate shotblocker.  Don’t forget their scrapper, Luis Scola.  He’s an offensive rebounding demon.

The Lakers’ sleepwalking days are over.  They cannot afford to dilly dally with a defensive veteran team like the Houston Rockets.

Offensively, they have nothing to worry about except Yao Ming, Ron Artest, Luis Scola and Von Wafer.  Yes, Von Wafer.  Yao Ming is a skyscraper.  He doesn’t need introductions.  If you don’t double him, he’ll score from the low block and he has a sweet mid-range jumper.

Ron Artest is not that of an offensive threat.  I believe if you just give him enough room to make him decide to take the mid-range, or the three, then crowd him enough to miss the shot, you should be good.

Luis Scola will score from leftovers – second chance points or from just merely leaving him.  Keep an eye on him when going for rebounds.

Von Wafer is a nobody… but he likes to light up the Lakers.  He’s like a woman scorned when facing the Lakers.  Just play him honestly and play him like you would play Scola.

Andrew Bynum should play a lot more minutes in this series because of Yao Ming.  He can’t beat Yao one on one but he can beat up Yao just enough for Yao to be a non-factor in the closing minutes.  The key here is make Yao run.  When the Lakers play Yao, they usually make him run.  Pau Gasol and the pre-injury Bynum are excellent runners.  If they do what they kept on doing during the regular season series, they should be fine.

Historically, Pau has had a hard time performing against the Rockets.  This could be attributed mainly to Yao Ming, who is taller by six inches at 7-6.  Nonetheless, he should make Yao Ming work by mixing it up – going hard to the hoop or making the mid-range jumper.

The x-factors in this series are Luis Scola, Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza.  If these guys contribute, their respective teams will win the series.

It’s funny how Ron Artest is trying to get into Kobe’s head, proclaiming Brandon Roy as the best player he ever had to defend.  I can hear Kobe thinking, “Awww, I’m not going to be led into that trap.”  Ron Artest fired the first psychological salvo, taking a page out of Phil Jackson‘s book.  Really funny.

Will Phil Jackson fire back?  He’s the master of psychological ploys in the NBA.

I predict the Lakers will sweep this series.  Tough as the Rockets are, the Lakers are just too deep.  Moreover, the experience the Lakers gained in the first round should make them tougher.