Lakers reach semis after thriller

Los Angeles: The Los Angeles Lakers beat Denver 96-87 on Saturday to edge the Nuggets 4-3 in their first round series and reach the Western Conference semi-finals where they will face the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Pau Gasol finished with 23 points and 17 rebounds while Andrew Bynum had 16 points and 18 rebounds for the Lakers, who are 15-1 all-time in game seven home encounters.

"We had a sense of urgency tonight," said Gasol. "I wanted to bring a better effort than I did in game six. I came out tonight and played to the fullest until the end."

Steve Blake scored 19 points and Kobe Bryant had a modest 17 points and eight assists for the Lakers. It was the first game in the series that Bryant did not lead the Lakers in scoring.

"We stayed together, we continued to fight and share the ball," said Lakers coach Mike Brown. "Our two bigs [Gasol and Bynum] were terrific. [Bynum] was all over the place."

Third-seeded Los Angeles also got 15 points from Metta World Peace — formerly known as Ron Artest — in his return from a seven-game suspension.

Rest week

The Lakers advance to play the second-seeded Thunder, who have had more than a week of rest after they swept the defending champion Dallas Mavericks in four games. Game one of the second round series is on Monday. Unlike Bryant and Gasol, who have plenty of experience in game sevens, no player on the Nuggets' roster had ever taken part in a series decider before.

Al Harrington and Ty Lawson each scored 24 points for Denver, who fell just short of their first-ever postseason series victory over the Lakers.