The Lakers will join the Celtics in a Finals matchup of the league's marquee franchises after the Lakers raced past the Suns Saturday night in Phoenix 111-103. L.A. won the Western Conference finals 4-2.
"The challenge is to win a championship," said Kobe Bryant, who scored a game-high 37. "The Celtics are in the way."
The Suns, after two rousing wins in Arizona and a heart-breaking loss in Los Angeles, couldn't quite hang with the Lakers in Game 6.
The weirdest twist of the game was that the Suns invited the mercurial Ron Artest to shoot.
He obliged. Only he surprised everyone by knocking down his perimeter shots. Artest shot 10-for-16 (4-for-7 on 3-pointers) for 25 points.
"The Lord was with him tonight," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "The basketball gods were on his side."
Bryant shot 12-for-25, hitting clutch jumpers down the stretch, and knocked down 8-for-10 from the line. "We played great defense on him," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "He made tough shot after tough shot.
"I've always thought he was the best player in basketball. I don't think it's even close."
Artest was the wild card, though. His fourth 3-pointer made it 81-67. Moments later, the Lakers led 85-67; the outcome seemed inevitable.
But the Lakers' Sasha Vujacic committed 
a flagrant foul on fellow Slovenian Goran Dragic. That re-energized a crowd that started out raucous then grew sleepy when the Lakers started to pull away.
On the sideline, Bryant gave Vujacic a heated tongue-lashing. On the floor, Dragic then hit two free throws and two driving layups. That propelled a furious Suns' comeback.
"I thought they were dead in the water at that particular time," Jackson acknowledged.
But, "They were ignited by an incidental play. They jumped into the fray."
With the crowd standing and roaring, the Suns pulled to within 99-96 on a Steve Nash drive with 2:19 left.
Then Bryant knocked down a 21-footer, and -- a short time later, with the Lakers leading 105-100 in the final 40 seconds -- Bryant launched an off-balance 22-footer with the Suns Jared Dudley blanketing him.
He nailed it to seal the Lakers' trip to The Finals. Gentry groaned. Bryant patted him on the rear end.
Artest's stunning sharp-shooting was the biggest reason the Lakers were able to shoot over the Suns' defense, which alternated between zone and man-to-man.
The Lakers hit 10-for-24 on 3-pointers (42 percent) while the Suns shot a modest 9-for-26 (35 percent). The taller Lakers also outrebounded the Suns 41-31.
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