[Globe and Mail] Lakers centre Bynum anticipating showdown with Yao

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — After his teammates had left the court, Los Angeles Lakers centre Andrew Bynum was still there, shooting jumpers with assistant coach Kurt Rambis at the team's practice facility on Wednesday morning.

Bynum's mission?

Rebound from a mediocre performance during the first round of the NBA playoffs and prepare for a likely matchup against the Rockets' Yao Ming.

Although the Lakers are still awaiting the winner of the Houston-Portland series, Bynum believes it will be the Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals. Houston holds a 3-2 lead in the series with Game 6 at home Thursday night.

"I expect to play more just because of Yao Ming being out there," said Bynum, who averaged 5.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in five games against Utah in the first round. "That's who I'm thinking we're going to play.

"They have the lead and they have two games to win one."

After disposing of Utah, the Lakers took Tuesday off and had another light day on Wednesday. Players watched film and received treatment before leaving, though some including Bynum stayed behind to play three-on-three.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson missed the session to attend to personal matters while Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza left the facility early.

Bynum started the first three games against the Jazz before being relegated to a reserve role the last two.

After missing 32 games during the regular season with a torn MCL in his right knee, Bynum said he is still adjusting to moving with a heavy brace and trying to find his rhythm again.

Lakers assistant coach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — who has worked closely with the 21-year-old Bynum, now in his third season in the league — believes Bynum will be fine.

"He wants to excel," Abdul-Jabbar said. "He's looking to dominate the game and sometimes you have to be patient.

"He's figuring it out. By he end of the playoffs, people won't be talking about these issues."

Though Bynum is certain the Lakers will play Houston, whom the Lakers swept during the regular season, forward Pau Gasol said he was "absolutely not" thinking about Houston.

"First, they have to finish this series off," Gasol said. "I think that game tomorrow will be really hard on them.

"They're playing big, big minutes, all their starters, so let's see how they hold up and if they're able to pull off that win at home. Which probably they will, but it's not 100 per cent."

To veteran guard Derek Fisher, who has won three NBA championships with the Lakers, it doesn't matter who the team plays.

Houston is the more experienced squad that relies heavily on the 7-6 Yao and has gotten great play out of 6-9 Luis Scola, while Portland is more athletic and led by dynamic two-time all-star and former rookie of the year Brandon Roy.

The Lakers looked dominant at times against Utah before letting the Jazz cut into double-digit leads in three games that made the final outcome more difficult than they should have been, but Fisher is confident he and his teammates won't make the same mistakes again.

Despite sweeping the regular season series against Houston and splitting the series against Portland with each team winning both home games, Fisher has no preference on who the Lakers play next because he feels his team controls its own destiny.

"The things that we've done to build the type of leads that we've built against anybody, those are the things that we're capable of doing for longer periods of time and not allowing that slippage," Fisher said.

"In my opinion, it's not a matter of who we're playing against. If we're able to hold our focus and our intensity, it doesn't matter."