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Lakers return home to face Rockets

Apr 2, 2009 - 11:43 PM By Matt Becker Stats Senior Writer

Houston (48-27) at LA Lakers (59-16), 10:30 p.m. EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- While the Los Angeles Lakers have already clinched home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs, the Houston Rockets are trying to host a first-round series, and their next few games could determine if they get one of the top four seeds.

Houston looks to bounce back from a tough loss and avoid being swept in the season series to the Lakers for the first time in seven years when they open a difficult portion of their schedule Friday night at Staples Center.

The Rockets are fourth in the highly competitive West, where the second through seventh seeds are separated by just a few games. Staying in the top four won't be easy for Houston, which faces Portland on Sunday and Orlando on Tuesday.

The Rockets, who have already clinched a playoff berth, boast one of the league's top scoring defenses (94.8), but didn't look sound in Wednesday's 114-109 loss to Phoenix. The fast-paced Suns shot 54.3 percent from the field and scored 18 fast-break points.

"We did everything we talked about not doing," Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "We allowed them to run the court, if they missed they got the offensive boards back. It was all the stuff we talked about that you can't allow them to do."

Slowing down the Lakers (59-16) won't be easy, either.

Los Angeles is averaging 106.0 points on 51.2 percent shooting in winning the first three meetings of the season with Houston. The Lakers have had little trouble in those games, outscoring the Rockets by an average of 13.3 points.

After losing their first season series to Houston since 1996-97 last season, the Lakers are trying to sweep the Rockets for the first time since winning all four games in 2001-02.

Kobe Bryant is averaging 31.0 points against the Rockets and the Lakers' defense has done a stellar job of shutting down Houston's top scoring threats. Yao Ming is averaging 15.7 points in the three meetings, while Ron Artest has scored 19 points on 6-of-27 shooting in two games.

Artest had 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting Wednesday after tallying 26 on 10-of-38 shooting in his previous two games combined.

Bryant rebounded from a couple of rough shooting nights during Wednesday's 104-98 victory over Milwaukee. The 11-time All-Star finished with 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting after averaging 18.7 points on 34.8 percent shooting (23-of-66) in his previous three games.

The Lakers, who had lost back-to-back games prior to beating the Bucks, wrapped up their seven-game road trip with five wins.

"It was a good trip," Bryant said. "We had two tough games, but we bounced back from that and didn't let those losses get past two."

The Lakers now play five of their final seven games at home, where they've won eight of nine. Los Angeles, which has not played at Staples Center since a 114-106 victory over Golden State on March 19, has also won eight consecutive home games over West opponents since a 116-105 loss to New Orleans on January 6.

The Lakers, who are in the race with East-leading Cleveland for the league's best record, are within one victory of reaching the 60-win mark for the first time since the 1999-2000 team went 67-15.