Their fans are already chanting "Beat L.A.," but the Phoenix Suns know the next assignment won't be easy.
Rookie Dan Majerle scored nine of his 24 points in a pivotal third period and Tom Chambers had 13 of his 24 in the final 10 minutes as Phoenix beat the Golden State Warriors 116-104 Tuesday night to win their Western Conference semifinal series in five games.
The Suns, winning the last three games to take the best-of-7 series 4-1, advanced to the conference finals against the two-time defending champion Lakers, starting Saturday.
Phoenix has lost all five previous playoff series against the Lakers, getting swept twice.
But as far as Chambers is concerned, that's all in the past.
"We're going at L.A. all out. We're going to play and work hard - whatever it takes," Chambers said. "The Lakers are world champions. We're not going to go in there thinking we're going for a sweep. We know it'll never happen.
"It'll be a very physical series, a lot different than this one. But we just want to go in there and play as hard as we can. If we do, anything is possible."
Golden State, which lost Game 1 130-103 and Game 4 135-99, led 47-36 late in the second quarter and 50-49 at halftime after forcing Phoenix into 12 turnovers and 21-of-51 field-goal shooting.
But the Suns went ahead to stay at 71-70 on Chambers' 15-foot jumper with 3:34 left in the third period.
Majerle, known more for his defense, came off the bench and hit a dunk with 1:26 remaining and a 3-point goal with 27 seconds to go for a 79-74 lead after three quarters.
The Suns opened the fourth period with five consecutive points, capped by Majerle's three-point play, and stretched the lead to 96-83 on Tyrone Corbin's steal and stuff with 7:36 to play.
Knicks 121, Bulls 114
At New York, Patrick Ewing snapped out of a slump with 32 points, including nine in the final 1:38, and New York held on to beat Chicago and stay alive in the playoffs.
The Bulls still lead the best-of-7 series 3-2 and will advance to the Eastern Conference finals against Detroit with a victory in Chicago Friday night or back at Madison Square Garden Sunday.
Ewing, who made 56.7 percent of his shots in the regular season while scoring 22.7 points per game, was averaging 17.9 on 45 percent shooting in the playoffs before Tuesday's game, during which he was 12-for-20 from the field.
The Bulls, who held the Knicks to 93 and 88 points in the previous two games, trailed only 63-61 in the first minute of the third quarter. But the Knicks outscored Chicago 31-16 the rest of the period to lead 94-77 going into the final 12 minutes.
Rod Strickland gave the Knicks their biggest lead, 96-77, to start the fourth period before Michael Jordan led a Chicago rally, scoring 17 of his 38 points in the quarter.
Chicago closed the gap to 110-105 with 2:50 left, but Ewing responded with a baseline jumper for a seven-point lead with 1:38 to go.
After baskets by John Paxson and Jordan made it 112-109, Ewing scored on a turnaround and a breakaway layup, making it 116-109 with 33 seconds left.