EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — It’s official. The Lakers will be part of the playoffs.

They clinched seventh place in the Western Conference by beating the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in tournament, 110-106, Tuesday in New Orleans.

It got a little scary for them when an 18-point lead was whittled down in the final minutes, but D’Angelo Russell drilled a huge 3-pointer and the Lakers made all six of their free throws down the stretch to put away a stubborn New Orleans team.

For their efforts, the Lakers get a rematch with Denver in a first-round series starting Saturday in Denver. The defending champions have defeated the Lakers in eight consecutive games, including a four-game sweep in the West finals last year.

For now, though, the Lakers were happy to beat New Orleans.

“They kept swinging. We kept fighting back. Meet force with force,” Lakers Coach Darvin Ham said. “It revealed a lot about us and what we’re made of.”

How tough did the Lakers get? LeBron James took two charges in the second half, including one from physically imposing power forward Zion Williamson.

James and teammate Anthony Davis looked for other ways to impact the game after making only 12 of 36 shots combined.

“The rest of the guys picked us up,” said James, who finished with 23 points. “Obviously a big-time shot by [Russell].”

Ah yes. The big play by Russell.

The Lakers clung to a one-point lead when Austin Reaves found Russell alone in the right corner. Russell, who briefly lost his starting job back in December, calmly drilled a 3-pointer to put the Lakers up 104-100 with 50.3 seconds left.

Redemption? Sure thing.

“I just wanted to make shots. That’s what I do, just continue to try to be a high-percentage shot-maker for the team,” Russell told Spectrum SportsNet after scoring 21 points.

The Pelicans were definitely hurt when Williamson left the game after scoring on a runner with 3:13 to play. He had 40 points at the time and grimaced when he landed after tying the score at 95-95. The Pelicans called it a lower body injury after the game, declining to go into specifics.

“If we have him for a few more minutes, maybe we have a chance to pull this thing out,” Pelicans Coach Willie Green said.

New Orleans couldn’t get any production from their other two stars. C.J. McCollum had nine points on ragged four-for-15 shooting while Brandon Ingram had a mere 11 points on four-for-12 shooting.

Davis complimented the Lakers’ “trust factor” on defense.

“We’re just playing hard defensively. We’re talking, we’re communicating with each other. We’re protecting each other,” Davis said. “We’ve got to keep it going against a very tough offense in Denver. Obviously, they have a lot of threats on that team, so it’s not going to be easy.”

Reserve guard Gabe Vincent had his best game with the Lakers, making two 3-pointers off the bench and adding a 3-point play the old-fashioned way to finish with nine points. He played only 11 regular-season games because of persistent knee pain.

It wasn’t easy for the Lakers. Seemingly nothing has been simple this season. But the Lakers lived to see another day.

Perhaps Davis put it best.

“It was just tough,” he said. “But we got it done.”