HOUSTON — Chris Paul scored a playoff career-high 41 points with eight 3-pointers and the Houston Rockets defeated the Utah Jazz, 112-102, in Game 5 on Tuesday night to advance to face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference finals.
It will be Houston's second trip to the conference finals in four years and the first ever for Paul. The point guard has been criticized for failing to get past the second round in his nine previous trips to the postseason.
Houston will meet Golden State after the Warriors finished off the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday.
Utah's star rookie Donovan Mitchell shot 9 of 17 from the field and had 24 points for Utah before leaving with about seven minutes left with an apparent left leg injury.
Mitchell was injured when James Harden stole the ball from him and capped an 11-5 Rockets' run with a dunk that gave Houston a 92-87 lead. Mitchell grabbed his left leg on the play. He had to be helped to the bench and was quickly taken to the locker room with the help of two people.
Paul, a nine-time All-Star in his first season with Houston after an off-season trade from the Los Angeles Clippers, also had 10 assists and seven rebounds.
Houston made 18 3-pointers in the game to give the team 10 or more 3-pointers in a playoff-record 16 straight games.
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