Van Exel Spurs Lakers’ Advance : NBA playoffs: He scores 34 points and leads rally as L.A. sends Seattle to its second first-round shocker in a row, 114-110.

The Lakers have decided to let Nick Van Exel rest today. They won’t make him carry them two nights in a row.

Instead, the mode of transport is airplane, though they will be flying high with emotion anyway. The destination is San Antonio, home of the Spurs and Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals Saturday afternoon. The ticket was punched Thursday night at the Forum, where the Lakers knocked out the Seattle SuperSonics, 114-110, to win the first-round series, 3-1.

The crowd of 17,505, the eighth consecutive home sellout, couldn’t have been much louder down the stretch. Van Exel couldn’t have been much better: 34 points, nine assists and six rebounds while playing all 48 minutes for the third consecutive game. He also made seven of 13 three-pointers, setting franchise playoff records for both.

The only question at the end of the night, after the Lakers had advanced past the first round for the first time since 1991 and the SuperSonics had opened the playoffs with a loss to a lower-seeded team for the second year in a row, was whether it was the best game of Van Exel’s two-year career.

After averaging 24.8 points and shooting 50% overall and 42.4% on three-pointers in the series, he said yes. Anthony Peeler, who had 16 points, wasn’t positive, but he had the best perspective.

“He had a lot of them earlier this year,” Peeler said, “but this one counts the most.”

It counts tenfold because of the circumstances: Game 4, the Lakers not wanting to have to go back to Tacoma for a deciding game Saturday, the pressure of the playoffs while having three very good defenders--Gary Payton, Nate McMillan and Vincent Askew--thrown at him the same night.

So what happened?

Van Exel committed two turnovers, giving him eight in the four games.

He had 16 of his 20 first-half points in the second quarter while making four of six from behind the arc.

He called most of the plays down the stretch as the Lakers hammered the ball inside, got to the line, and made six of their last eight free throws to seal the victory.

“He engineered the game,” Coach Del Harris said. “It was his ballgame all night.”

Said Van Exel: “This has to be the best. Putting a team like Seattle out of the playoffs is great.”

The Lakers trailed by as many as 12 points, that coming in the second quarter, and were down by eight, 90-82, after the third. They headed into the huddle. That’s when they made their stand.

“Coach told us, ‘This is it,’ ” said Vlade Divac, who had 23 points and 11 rebounds. “ ‘Twelve minutes to put it all on them. Leave it out on the court.’ And we did.”

It was, fittingly, a three-pointer by Van Exel that finally got the Lakers a fourth-quarter tie. The lead came two possessions later, when Eddie Jones made a three-pointer of his own to make it 99-98 with 7:48 remaining.

The next 6 1/2 minutes included five lead changes and three ties, neither team moving ahead by more than three points. It was 108-108 with a minute left.

With 31.8 seconds to go, Shawn Kemp, who had 26 points and 18 rebounds, went over Elden Campbell’s back trying for a rebound, sending Campbell to the line. He swished both attempts for a two-point Laker lead.

Timeout, SuperSonics. They got one shot at the tie, Sam Perkins’ 15-footer with about 24 seconds left and Divac providing tight coverage. When it missed, Cedric Ceballos got the rebound and was fouled by Gary Payton with 20.8 seconds remaining.

Ceballos made the first free throw, which was followed by a Seattle 20-second timeout. After the brief break, he converted the second try, providing the 112-108 cushion that the SuperSonics would never challenge again.

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Laker Notes

Game 2 against the Spurs is probably Monday night at the Alamodome before the series moves back to the Forum for the next two games. . . . Sedale Threatt is done for the season after re-injuring a strained abdominal muscle in Game 1. “I can’t go into next season with it,” Threatt said, “and I’ve already got two months of healing ahead.” . . . The Lakers made 32 of 50 free throws.

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Playoffs at a Glance

LAKERS vs. SEATTLE

* Game 1: Seattle 96, Lakers 71

* Game 2: Lakers 84, Seattle 82

* Game 3: Lakers 105, Seattle 101

* Game 4: Lakers 114, Seattle 110

(Lakers win series, 3-1)