MKRob Sports

One-half of the Kobe-LeBron dream matchup is set.

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are in the NBA finals for the second straight year and record 30th time overall.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will need to win two more wins to join them. Otherwise, it will be Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic on the league’s biggest stage.

Not as sexy for Madison Ave., but certainly intriguing.

Bryant and the Lakers dispatched Carmelo Anthony and the pesky Denver Nuggets with a 119-92 victory in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals on Friday night.

“We saved our best game for last here, or maybe we caught our opponent a little bit off stride,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who gets a shot at his record 10th title.

Bryant had 35 points and 10 assists and got plenty of scoring help from Trevor Ariza, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom as the Lakers shot 57.3 percent from the field to avoid having to play a Game 7 back at the Staples Center.

They will finally get some much-needed rest after playing every other day for a grueling two weeks.

These Lakers, who are seeking their 15th title, are a more grizzled group – but also more bruised and battered – than the one that fell to Boston in the finals last year.

“Now we’re in a place where we didn’t get the job accomplished last year,” Bryant said. “Hopefully we will this time.”

Instead of cruising through the West this time, the Lakers survived an arduous seven-game semifinal series against Houston and another test against Denver.

“It’s been a physical march all the way back to the finals, every series has been tough,” Bryant said.

The Magic lead 3-2 and can clinch the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night at home in Game 6 and prevent that Kobe-LeBron matchup that has basketball fans and corporate sponsors atwitter.

The finals begin Thursday, at Los Angeles if Orlando wins, and at Cleveland if the Cavaliers prevail.

Anthony led the Nuggets with 25 points and J.R. Smith added 24, but Denver trailed for all but a few seconds and never mounted a serious charge after halftime, although they kept hitting 3-pointers, finishing 8 of 19 from beyond the arc.

This was the Nuggets’ eighth consecutive loss in a playoff elimination game.