Golden State Warriors advance to NBA Finals

OAKLAND - Finally, they could celebrate.

The sellout crowd at Oracle Arena came ready to dance in the aisles, having saved up their championship aspirations for, oh, 40 years. But Game 5 of this NBA Western Conference championship series did not feel celebratory. It was difficult. Choppy. Grinding.

Neither the Warriors nor the Houston Rockets played particularly well. Golden State’s Stephen Curry had trouble finding his shot. Houston’s James Harden couldn’t hang on to the ball. The Warriors got into foul trouble and got beat up, too; Klay Thompson left the game with blood trickling from his right ear.

But the Warriors started to pull away with about nine minutes to play, and you could feel the pandemonium build. In the end, the Dubs logged a 104-90 victory, securing the series and advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1975.

And then the yellow streamers and confetti fell from the rafters. The Warriors donned Finals caps and white “Strength in Numbers” T-shirts, exchanged hugs and took turns caressing the basketball-shaped conference championship trophy. Battered and fatigued, the Warriors were moving on.

“I always think of Pat Riley’s great quote: When you’re coaching in the NBA, there’s winning and there’s misery,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr, who played in four NBA Finals and now will experience them in a different role. “And he’s right. Winning feels like a relief more than anything most of the time. But to get to the finals, first time in 40 years for the Warriors, it’s more than relief. It’s joy.”

The Warriors get a full week of rest before facing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers here in Game 1 next Thursday. They may need every minute of it.

Curry hit his head on the court in Game 4 at Houston, and played the first half Wednesday with a sleeve on his right arm, also tweaked in the fall. He ditched the accessory after halftime. Why? “I missed too many shots,” he said.

Curry finished with a game-high 26 points but was only 7 of 21 from the field, and 3 of 11 from the 3-point line. He and Harden had taken turns looking like Hall of Famers for much of this series, but Harden struggled even more than Curry in Game 5. He committed 13 turnovers, an NBA postseason record, and wound up with 14 points on 2-of-11 shooting.

After the game, Kerr credited backup guard Andre Iguodala for his relentless defense on Harden.

“Andre Iguodala might have had the greatest six-point game I’ve ever seen in my life,” Kerr said. “We put him on James a lot tonight. … I thought Andre’s defense on James was absolutely brilliant, and really the key to the whole game.”

Also riding to rescue for the Warriors tonight was backup center Festus Ezeli, who had 12 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes. Ezeli was needed because starter Andrew Bogut got in early foul trouble. Iguodala was pressed into duty because Thompson suffered a similar fate, picking up his fourth and fifth fouls in rapid succession just after halftime. When Thompson finally returned to the floor early in the fourth quarter, he quickly took a knee to the head from the leaping Trevor Ariza of the Rockets.

Thompson lay on the floor for some time, then left for the locker room as blood ran down his neck.

“It was a bizarre night for him,” Kerr said. “Huge first half that really got us going, and then I left him in too long. He got his fourth foul and I thought I’d buy one possession, see if we could get him a shot. And when he picks up his fifth and when I do bring him back, he immediately gets hurt and out for the rest of the night.”

The Warriors’ initial injury report stated that Thompson had nothing worse than the cut. They later distributed an update noting that “after the game he began to not feel well and developed concussion-like symptoms.”

Thompson was the guy who kept Golden State in the game during a sluggish first half. He got things going with a steal and long pass to Harrison Barnes for a layup about a minute into the second quarter, tied the game 22-22 on a 3-pointer, put the Warriors ahead 25-22 on another trey and pulled up for another moments later to make it 30-24.

Perhaps overly amped with history in the making, the Warriors were started slowly. Houston center Dwight Howard played like the eight-time All-Star he is, throwing down dunks and drawing fouls galore in the first quarter as Houston pulled to a 20-12 lead.

It was 22-17 after 12 minutes, tied for the Warriors’ smallest first-quarter output this season. Their shooting percentage of 22.2 (6 of 27) was their lowest of 2014-15.

In the second half, though, it was Golden State that made more plays. The home team was leading 78-70 with about 10 minutes to play when Harrison Barnes took over. He nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner, scored past Howard on the dribble and split the defense for a dunk that made it 87-72, the Warriors’ biggest lead of the night.

Houston cut that to 91-83 with 4:19 remaining but got no closer.

So now the Warriors, who haven’t won an NBA championship in 40 years, face the Cavaliers, who have never claimed one, for the title.

“We’ve got to bring our A game if we’re going to beat a great team and a great player like (LeBron James) four times,” Curry said. “We’re excited about the challenge. He had to win his first one at some point, and nobody on our team has experienced that, so we’re going to be fighting like crazy every night.”

In that sense, Wednesday’s victory was perfect preparation.