THE MATCHUPS STARTERS

The Lakers rely on the inside-outside force of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, the best tandem in the game. O’Neal is more than Vlade Divac can handle, so Divac occasionally finds himself in foul trouble, despite his fall-over-backward tactics. Horace Grant has done decent work against Chris Webber. The critical matchup for the Lakers is Rick Fox on Peja Stojakovic, and a big one for the Kings is Doug Christie on Bryant. Derek Fisher is capable of pushing the Lakers beyond their usual slow-down offense, though not with same hell-bent style of Jason Williams. If O’Neal and Bryant are playing well together, none of the other matchups matter. EDGE: Lakers.

BENCH

Center Scot Pollard brings energy, minutes, fouls and a so-so jump shot to a rotation with Divac, and Bobby Jackson is a good defender whom Fisher calls one of the best guards he has seen on the offensive boards. Jon Barry is a three-point threat. Hidayet Turkoglu played only 56 minutes in the four-game, first-round victory against Phoenix, but hoisted 15 shots. He missed 14 of them. Ron Harper is expected to return after sitting out 37 games because of a knee injury that eventually required surgery. He is expected to help out on Stojakovic. Robert Horry, who has a knack for making crucial, late shots, also will spell Grant on Webber. EDGE: Kings.

OFFENSE

The ponderous Lakers averaged 100.6 points in the regular season and 103.7 in a three-game sweep of Portland in the first round. The transition-bent Kings averaged an NBA-best 101.7 points and then averaged 98 in a four-game victory against Phoenix. They outscored the Lakers in four regular-season games even though Webber made only 37% of his field-goal attempts and Stojakovic shot 37.1%. The problem for the Lakers was Christie, who averaged 18.5 points a game against them, six more than his season average. O’Neal and Bryant combined to average nearly 60 points a game against the Kings, and no other player averaged as many as 10. EDGE: Kings.

DEFENSE

The Lakers at least talk about defense, which has improved since Fisher returned to the backcourt after 62 games on the injured list. O’Neal and Bryant were on the defensive all-second team, an accomplishment because the Lakers gave up more points a game (97.2) than any playoff qualifier. Christie also was on the second defensive team, and has helped get the Kings thinking about defense and what it could do for their transition offense. It will be an entirely different series for O’Neal, who’ll move from the heft of Arvydas Sabonis to the finesse of Divac and Pollard. EDGE: Lakers.

COACHING

Phil Jackson has a playoff record of 129-49. He has won seven NBA titles, the latest last season, with a team that hadn’t won in 12 years and a superstar who hadn’t won in seven. Rick Adelman’s playoff record is 43-40. He just won his first series since the 1991-92 season, when his Portland Trail Blazers eventually lost to Jackson’s Chicago Bulls in the NBA finals. Adelman recently earned Jackson’s praise for making the King pieces fit, including finding time for Turkoglu. Still, this is Jackson’s time of year. EDGE: Lakers.

KEY TO THE SERIES

The Kings believe they can win and the Lakers haven’t played in a week, which should make for an interesting Game 1. Still, if O’Neal and Bryant are on their games, and they were in the Portland series, the Kings have little chance. They’re good, but they can’t match a complete game by the Lakers. An early loss could stagger the Lakers, who have seen little adversity in the past month. Their last loss was on April 1. THE PICK: Lakers, 4-2.

THE SERIES

Best of seven

* Today: at Lakers, noon, Channel 4

* Tuesday: at Lakers, 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net, TBS

* Friday: at Sacramento, 7:30 p.m., Channel 9, TNT

* May 13: at Sacramento, 2:30 p.m., Channel 4

* May 15: *at Lakers, TBD, Fox Sports Net, TBS

* May 17: *at Sacramento, TBD, Channel 9, TNT

* May 19: *at Lakers, TBD, Channel 4

* if necessary; all times Pacific