OAKLAND, May 9, 2018 (News Wires) - Stephen Curry sparked a third-quarter surge as the Golden State Warriors wrapped up a series victory over the New Orleans Pelicans late on Tuesday, to advance to the NBA Western Conference finals. Curry finished with 28 points as the reigning NBA champions ran out as 113-104 winners to complete a 4-1 series victory and set up a showdown with the top-seeded Houston Rockets. Kevin Durant had 24 points while Klay Thompson added 23 points. Draymond Green had 19 points with 14 rebounds and 9 assists. New Orleans, who had prevented a clean sweep with a victory in Game 4 on Sunday, had produced a battling first half performance to trail by only 59-56 at the break. But with Curry to the fore, the Warriors exploded with a devastating burst of scoring early in the third period that the Pelicans had no response to. Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Curry were all involved, and suddenly Golden State had taken a double-digit lead. Curry found his touch from long range to drain a couple of majestic three-pointers, including one effort which dropped in to make it 81-60. With the home crowd at the Oracle Arena roaring them on, it looked as if the only question would be the size of the Golden State victory margin. The Warriors had stretched their lead to 26 points at one stage of the third, and closed out the quarter leading by 20 at 95-75. Golden State started the fourth quarter in the same fashion, and had quickly extended their lead to 105-82. There was a late scare for Steve Kerr's side however as the Pelicans staged a late rally, stitching together an 18-2 spurt to close within seven points at 107-100 with 1:43 left. Draymond Green helped steady the ship however with a fadeaway and a driving layup to restore the Warriors double-digit cushion. The Warriors will face Houston in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals next Monday, May 14. In Houston, Chris Paul unleashed 41 points to lead Houston into the NBA Western Conference finals late on Tuesday, May 8, with a series-clinching 112-102 victory over the Utah Jazz. Paul's haul included 20 points in the fourth quarter as the top-seeded Rockets completed a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven series at Houston's Toyota Center. The Rockets will now face either the Golden State Warriors or New Orleans Pelicans for a place in the NBA Finals. The Warriors can set up their date with the Rockets with victory over the Pelicans later Tuesday. Houston however were made to work hard for their win by Utah, who were forced to play the closing stages of the game without young star Donovan Mitchell, who hobbled off injured. Utah had inched into an 80-75 lead early in the fourth quarter before Paul and P.J. Tucker hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Houston back in front at 81-80. Gerald Green impressed off the bench with a triple before going coast to coast with a running dunk to push the score to 86-82. Utah battled desperately to stay in touch however, even though James Harden's dunk with just over 7 minutes left gave the Rockets a five-point lead at 92-87. Eventually though it fell to Paul to break the Utah resistance, reeling off 4 triples in a row before a brilliant pull-up jumper put Houston 107-98 ahead with just under two minutes to play. Harden stole a defensive rebound in the final minute and Paul fed Tucker, who drained the three-pointer to help put Utah 110-100 ahead with 35 seconds left.
