Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA Playoffs Game 1: Western Conference second round action continues tonight from the City of Angeles, as the Los Angeles Lakers host the Houston Rockets in this Western Conference’s Semifinal Series’ Game 1. The opening tipoff for this contested is scheduled for just after 10:30 PM ET (7:30 PM PT) and it can be seen in crystal clear high definition on TNT-Sports right after the Orlando Magic vs. Boston Celtics.
NBA Playoffs, oddsmaking specialists at SportsBook.com have assembled the best Sports Odds for tonight’s contest, as the Los Angeles Lakers [-8] have been listed as the favorites to take game 1 of this best-of-seven series against the visiting Houston Rockets [+8]. 
The Lakers will be well rested for this game, as they defeated the Utah Jazz 4-1 in the opening round, and had to wait for the result of the Portland-Houston series.
Meanwhile, the Rockets had a little bit of a tougher time against a scrappy young Trail Blazers bunch, but were able to get the job done in 6 games nonetheless. The OVER/UNDER for tonight’s Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA Playoffs Game 1 has been set at a combined total of 193½ points scored.
There are numerous reasons why this series will be a special one. But the main reason why this will be a great series to watch is just to see Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest go at it. On Sunday, Bryant missed practice because of a sore throat, but the “Black Mamba” is a gamer like no other, so you can bet he will be ready for tonight’s opener.
"We know when it's game time he's going to come out and be ready to play no matter what's going on,” backup guard Shannon Brown said. "It's definitely going to take more than a sore throat. "He's got to be missing some limbs for him not to come out there and be ready to play the game.”
In the last episode on the Artest-Bryant saga, the reigning MVP lit the entire Rockets squad up with 37 points, most of them after Artest provoked Bryant by trash-talking him in the 4th quarter. "It wasn't much of a battle,” Bryant said that night. "I kicked his (butt) tonight.''
"They really took it to us in the fourth quarter,'' Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "We were in every game at the end of three and the fourth quarter they dominated. They really turned it up a notch. Usually in all four games Kobe really got aggressive. So it's pretty constant… You have to make him work for everything. You're not going to stop him, you're not going to shut him down, but you've got to make him work. That's the advantage we have, throw both guys (Battier and Artest) at him and maybe we can wear him down a little bit.”
