This Season’s Matchups L.A. and Houston met four times this regular season, with the Lakers winning with ease at STAPLES Center and using second half pushes to win twice in Texas. The first Texas duel featured a final-minute dagger three from Kobe Bryant, and the second Bryant’s 18 fourth quarter points as Houston struggled to score down the stretch. Click below to open our Lakers.com Gameday page for each game. Lakers 93, Rockets 91 - April 3 @ STAPLES: Pau Gasol had 23 points and 10 rebounds, Kobe Bryant added 20 points, and the Lakers picked up their 60th victory by pulling away from the Rockets in the second half. Lakers 102, Rockets 96 – March 11 @ Toyota Center: Kobe Bryant scored 18 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, winning a contentious duel with Ron Artest, and L.A. ended Houston's 12-game home-court winning streak with a 102-96 win. Lakers 102, Rockets 96 – Jan. 13 @ Toyota Center: Kobe Bryant sank a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left and scored 33 points, and the Lakers beat the undermanned Houston Rockets 105-100 on Tuesday night. Bryant had 13 points in the fourth quarter, finally getting the better of Houston's Von Wafer, who scored a career-high 23 points in place of the injured Tracy McGrady. Lakers 111, Rockets 82 – Nov. 9 @ STAPLES: Kobe Bryant scored 23 points, Pau Gasol added 20 points and 15 rebounds, and the unbeaten Lakers routed the Houston Rockets 111-82 on Sunday night. Lakers Courtside Connection Scouting Reports

Beating the Jazz 4-1 in a first-round series that concluded on Monday, the Lakers had to wait three more days to learn that they'd be welcoming the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets, who handled Portland 4-2 to advance. Their reward is a Lakers' team that beat the bunch from Texas all four times in the regular season, in large part by dominating fourth quarters that were predictably keyed by Kobe Bryant.

Surely there's no denying that L.A. is the deeper, longer and overall more talented team, but perhaps the most important element to this series will be mental: Was getting out of the first round for the first time in 12 years the peak for the Rockets? Yao Ming had never been out of the first round since being drafted No. 1 overall in 2002; do he and his teammates have the heart to ask for more? Indeed, just as Portland's inclusion in the first round rendered a hometown parade, the Rockets will be celebrating with a send off to L.A., so the question begs: Have they done enough? In Round 2, it's not Roy and Aldridge but Bryant and Gasol, not Outlaw and Fernandez but Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. Whether or not Houston could do it, do the Rockets think that they can?.

The counter argument: The Rockets play such tough defense that they're not very susceptible to mental lapses. Therefore, it doesn't matter that they might be content having emerged from the first round, because they're still going to play hard. At the same time, while the Rockets generally played close games in the regular season, the loss of Tracy McGrady was the loss of their closer.

In the same tune, while Shane Battier and Ron Artest provide the league's best combination of perimeter defenders to throw at Kobe Bryant, the MVP still put up 28.3 points on 53 percent shooting in the regular season, and even if Bryant's shooting percentage drops, will the Rockets have the needed energy and skill at the offensive end? In summation, the Lakers have given no indication that they have anything but full respect for a gritty Rockets team to whom we'll devote some facts and analysis; while the Rockets could be happy just to get to Round 2, the Lakers are as hungry as can be for a four-course meal, and to them, Houston's only the second helping.

To preview the matchup more specifically, we took a look at those four regular season games; got a scouting report from Lakers advance scout Rasheed Hazzard; broke down the opposing players by position; and spoke with Rockets.com's Jason Friedman about the state of the Rockets.

Dot Com Back & Forth
Rockets.com’s Jason Friedman joined us to break down the second round matchup between the Lakers and Rockets, covering Houston’s first round triumph over Portland, how Yao and Co. must deal with L.A.’s length and depth, Houston’s mental state heading into L.A. and why he’s being forced to shave his head Von Wafer style.

Scouting Report
Lakers Advance Scout Rasheed Hazzard knows exactly what to order in various restaurants around Houston and Portland after spending the better part of two weeks there, so we sat down to pick his brain in podcast form.

Position-by-Position Breakdown
Here’s a look at the matchups from point guard to the bench.

Rockets: When Rafer Alston was traded to the Orlando Magic on the heels of Tracy McGrady’s season-ending knee injury, some thought the move signified Houston mailing in their season’s hopes. What became clear as the season wore on - and most emphatically in Houston’s 108-81 Game 1 victory at Portland’s Rose Garden - is that Aaron Brooks gives the Rockets something Skip To My Lou really couldn’t: explosive scoring ability sparked by paint creeping. Brooks went off for 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including five threes, and added seven assists as he picked apart the Blazers. He added 23 points in Game 2 and finished the series with a 15.3 average, plus 4.3 assists in 31.3 minutes. The player that Houston acquired in that Magic deal, Kyle Lowry, struggled with his shooting (7-of-23, 30.4 percent) but served as a tough-minded sparkplug that averaged 4.8 points, 1.7 assists and most impressively, 3.3 rebounds in 19.3 minutes.

Lakers In just under 30 minutes against the Jazz, Derek Fisher averaged 9.4 points on 43.8 percent from the field with 3.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 1.2 turnovers. He shot just 31.3 percent from three-point land (5-of-16), but made 82.4 percent of his free throws (14-of-17). Fisher should be given credit for playing smart, prevent defense on the oft-unguardable Deron Williams, but will face a tough task once again due to Brooks’ speed. At the same time, the smallish Brooks (6-0) will have a tough time keeping Fisher from getting his jump shot off, and certainly won’t be able to switch onto Kobe Bryant or Trevor Ariza for fear of getting posted up. Shannon Brown was too good in the Utah series not to see some action, and could be a good counter for the physical Lowry, while Jordan Farmar’s jets may be called upon to keep up with the Brooks rocket. Advantage: Lakers – This one was almost a push, but Brooks was largely ineffective offensively against the Lakers in his two regular season starts (averaging only eight points on 5-of-14 shooting), and should be taken advantage of on defense by the wily Fisher.

Rockets: Battier averaged 8.5 points, 6.0 boards and 2.3 assists while shooting 38.9 percent from three against the Blazers in Round 1. He also contributed 1.17 steals and 0.83 blocks and at times had success defensively against Brandon Roy and Travis Outlaw/Rudy Fernandez. However, despite the Michael Lewis article on his outstanding defense on Bryant, Battier had little to no luck even containing Kobe in the regular season. Last season’s MVP averaged 28.3 points on 53 percent shooting, including two fantastic performances in the Toyota Center, whether Battier or Ron Artest was taking his turn. Von Wafer comes off Houston’s bench to do one thing: shoot the ball. He’s been effective, too, and the Lakers must be aware not to give him too much space while also focusing on exposing the former Laker defensively.

Lakers: Stepping up his minutes to the tune of 40.8 per game, Bryant averaged 27.4 points, 5.6 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 2.4 steals on 47 percent shooting from the field. He made only 3-of-13 three pointers before hitting 3-of-4 in Game 5, and connected on 35-of-39 (89.7 percent) of his free throws. Bryant also stepped up defensively, and was clearly the MVP of the series. We mentioned how effective he was against the Rockets in the regular season, and don’t suspect the sight of Artest or Battier to do anything but fire him up. His backup, Sasha Vujacic, made five threes in L.A.’s final two wins against Utah, can be depended upon to play clutch minutes at either end of the floor and will force Houston to stretch its defense. Advantage:: No one’s getting an advantage over Bryant, who seems to particularly relish going against Shane Battier and Ron Artest.

Houston: If not for Yao Ming, Artest is probably the MVP of the 4-2 first round win over Portland. It wasn’t so much the numbers (15.7 points, 4.3 assists, 3.2 boards) but the defensive toughness and energy Artest brought for 37 minutes a game that helped instill a certain toughness in his teammates. Artest is definitely at his best when he’s not taking threes, but that didn’t stop him from jacking up 36 of them – he made only 10 (27.8 percent), and the Lakers will be more than happy to let him fire away. If Artest isn’t in the three spot, it’s usually Shane Battier, as backup Brent Barry doesn’t see many minutes. Advantage:: Rockets – Artest is one of the NBA’s best all-around players, but only has a slight edge due to L.A.’s far superior depth on the wing.

Lakers Trevor Ariza was entirely terrific at STAPLES in round one, shooting the lights out to the tune of 77 percent of his FGA’s, including 8-of-11 threes. For the series, he averaged 12 points, 4.2 assists, 4.0 boards and 1.0 steals in 31.8 minutes per game on 61 percent shooting both from the field and from three in the series. He was tough defensively as well, though he gives up some muscle to the 260-pound Artest. Ariza’s tweaked ankle is a non-issue, and he’s expected to get small forward help from Luke Walton, who’s also recovering from an ankle injury. If Walton can’t go right away, the Lakers will probably use Vujacic at the two guard and slide Bryant over to small forward, or keep Bryant in with Lamar Odom on the wing.

Houston: With all the focus Portland paid to Yao, almost always doubling him with Scola’s man, the Argentinean forward had a plethora of open shots in the series. He very effectively made 56.9 percent of them for 16.2 points, plus 6.7 rebounds in a solid performance. He certainly can’t be ignored, and the Lakers will need Andrew Bynum to do his job on Yao so that Gasol doesn’t have to help off Scola too much. The Rockets do have solid depth at this position, with the energetic and effective Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes coming off the bench for spot duty, but neither is near the player that Lamar Odom is. His return to the pine immediately gives L.A. a fantastic bench, and while his 18 and 11 per night vs. Utah may drop with more Bynum minutes, Odom’s production-per-minute never seems to fall.

Lakers: Gasol was good for 18.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks on 58.6 percent from the field against the Jazz, though he hit only 64.9 percent of his foul shots in 38.6 minutes per game. Perhaps no one benefitted more from L.A.’s six-day break than Gasol, who’d been putting a ton of miles on his long legs since last season’s Finals run and his Spanish National Team’s Olympic experience. Gasol once again has a major offensive mismatch against any Rockets post player, and should be milked throughout the series. Getting some more defensive help from his friend ‘Drew will help, as will the NBA’s best all-around “bench” player Lamar Odom. Advantage: Lakers – The All-Star Gasol would get the nod anyway, but Odom locks it up.

Rockets: Yao finally got out of the first round, and he did it without Tracy McGrady, playing well despite Portland’s total focus on him to the tune of 15.8 points, 10.7 boards, 1.2 blocks and 56.3 percent shooting from the field. Yao also hit 23-of-25 free throws, a rarity for a center, but at times struggled to get the ball, particularly late in games. He’ll be going against Andrew Bynum and, at times, Pau Gasol, and surely wants to keep Bynum from re-discovering his game. Yao can shoot over even the tallest of centers, and may opt to bring Bynum a few feet away from the hoop and utilize pump fakes to get to the foul line. Advantage: Rockets - Yao Ming remains the NBA's best offensive center, and played much better defensively against the Blazers THAN he had in playoffs past. However, Portland's two centers don't score much if at all, and the Bynum-Gasol combo should surely test Yao to a greater degree.

Lakers The biggest question mark for the Lakers in the second round, Bynum played only 15.4 minutes per game, including a total of 14 minutes in Utah, to average 5.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks. By all accounts, he had a solid week of practice, and is quite eager to get into a more familiar big-on-big matchup with Yao Ming after going against smallish players like Paul Millsap and Carlos Boozer that made him somewhat uncomfortable on the floor.