NEW YORK, (Reuters):

THE PHOENIX Suns eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers from the playoffs with a 119-110 home win in game five of their Western Conference best-of-seven series, on Wednesday night.

The Suns advanced to the semi-finals and a match-up with the San Antonio Spurs, who sealed a 4-1 series victory over the Denver Nuggets. Game one is in Phoenix, on Sunday.

"We're playing solid basketball," said Amare Stoudemire, who had 27 points and 16 rebounds.

No bold predictions

"The way we're playing now, we've got a chance to beat pretty much any team. But there's not bold predictions for the next round because the Spurs are a heck of a team."

The Suns, who got 17 points and 10 assists from Steve Nash and 26 points from Shawn Marion, raced to a 15-point lead in the second quarter and were up 78-64 with 6:34 left in the game.

The Lakers scored the next seven points and eventually came within five points of the Suns before Stoudemire made five free throws and a jump shot in the final three minutes.

It was the second straight season the Suns have eliminated the Lakers from the playoffs. Last season they did it by rallying from a 3-1 deficit.

Kobe Bryant scored 34 points for the Lakers and Lamar Odom had 33 and 10 rebounds.

Franchise-record

Meanwhile, Michael Finley hit a franchise-record eight three-pointers and scored 26 points as the San Antonio Spurs eliminated the Denver Nuggets in five games with a 93-78 win.

Tim Duncan added 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson each scored 21 points for the Nuggets, but had an offnight shooting - Anthony went eight-of-20 and Iverson six-of-22.

Defensive player of the Year Marcus Camby had 19 rebounds and five blocks for the Nuggets.