LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Kobe Bryant scored a  game-high 26 points as the Los Angeles Lakers crushed the  Houston Rockets 118-78 Tuesday to grab a 3-2 lead in their  Western Conference semi-final series.

Stung by their 99-87 loss two days earlier against a  Rockets team without injured All-Star Yao Ming, the rampant  Lakers never looked back after erasing an early deficit in the  opening quarter at the STAPLES Center.

Spanish forward Pau Gasol contributed a double-double with  16 points and 13 rebounds and Andrew Bynum added 14 while four  other Lakers players weighed in with at least 10 points.

Guard Aaron Brooks top-scored for the Rockets with 14  points but the dangerous Ron Artest was limited to just nine by  a smothering Lakers defense.

The best-of-seven series moves back to Houston for  today’s Game Six.

“I said to the team that was really a terrific effort, a  great win,”

Lakers coach Phil Jackson told reporters. “But it  doesn’t do anything but just mean that we brought home the  seventh game and guaranteed ourselves homecourt advantage in  this series.”