Editor's Note: Lakers Have Clear Advantage

The Lakers will play the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of the Western Conference semi-finals tomorrow, looking to remove Yao Ming and his buddies from playoff contention. If there was ever a case where the second series was easier than the first, the Lakers have found it. They swept Houston in the season 4-0, and nearly hold the advantage over the Rockets in every category. Houston won't contain Kobe Bryant, and they have openly said they have no plans to. Yao Ming is big, but he's slow and will have trouble if he can be successfully double-teamed by Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Ron Artest cares more about getting into Kobe's head than the actual game. The Lakers' main concern will be the perimeter defense. Houston has the fire power to rain three-pointers down all game with guys like Aaron Brooks, Shane Battier, Von Wafer, and Luis Scola. The pressure will be on Derek Fisher, Shannon Brown, and Sasha Vujacic to protect the arc. Other than that, this series appears to be a piece of cake.