For the Oklahoma City Thunder Adidas Vladimir Tarasenko Jersey , clinching night was reminiscent of their season.

Really bad start.

Really good finish.

Paul George scored 27 points, Russell Westbrook got his 25th triple-double of the season and the Thunder ran wild in the fourth quarter on the way to wrapping up a Western Conference playoff berth with a 115-93 win over the Miami Heat on Monday night.

”Half the league gets a chance to play in the postseason,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. ”You don’t want to take things for granted. They should feel good about creating an opportunity to play after the regular season’s over, but the thing I said to them after the game was we want to continue to play well, we want to continue to build, we want to continue to get better.”

That’s what Oklahoma City did all season. They started 8-12, are 39-22 since and got road wins over Houston and Miami in a three-day span to clinch the berth.

”We’re headed in the right direction,” said George, who walked off a winner in Miami for the third time in 21 appearances. ”This is what we wanted. We wanted to come out of this road trip 2-0 and we did that.”

Westbrook finished with 23 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists for the Thunder, who missed their first 10 shots and were down by 18 in the opening minutes before outscoring the Heat 39-12 in the fourth.

It was the third-worst scoring margin for any quarter in Heat history, and the worst ever in a game at Miami.

The Heat were called for 10 fouls in the fourth against three for the Thunder http://www.raidersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-p.j.-hall-jersey , and Oklahoma City shot 15 free throws in the final quarter – one more than Miami shot in the entire game.

”We had a lot of good things going, and then I think it was a combination of them marching to the free-throw line and us not executing on the other end,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Jerami Grant scored 17 points and Carmelo Anthony added 11 for Oklahoma City, which made 14 3-pointers. Anthony will be playing in postseason games for the first time since 2013, after four consecutive futile seasons with the Knicks.

”Feels good to be back in the postseason and the mindset of not looking forward to another vacation,” Anthony said.

Josh Richardson scored 18 points and Hassan Whiteside added 16 for the Heat, who fell one spot to No. 7 in the East for now. Miami’s playoff seed won’t be decided until the season finales Wednesday.

Justise Winslow and Tyler Johnson each scored 12 for Miami, and James Johnson added 11.

”We haven’t done things the easy way,” Heat guard Wayne Ellington said. ”I guess we like the challenge.”

TIP-INS

Thunder: Westbrook needs 16 rebounds in the Thunder finale Wednesday to average a triple-double for the second straight season. He’s also the second player with 2,000 points and 800 assists in back-to-back years. The other is Oscar Robertson, who did it five times. … Alex Abrines was held out of the second half with concussion symptoms.

Heat: Miami outscored Oklahoma City 58-32 in the paint. … The Heat shot 5 for 22 from 3-point range. … James Johnson got poked in the eye and Richardson banged a knee late, but both suggested after the game that they’ll be fine.

QUOTABLE

”We know we can beat anybody when we’re playing our best Cheap Logan Paulsen Jersey ,” Westbrook said postgame.

WADE HONORED

Heat guard Dwyane Wade was presented with the NBA Cares Community Assist Award for March, recognizing his response to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Wade and his wife Gabrielle Union donated $200,000 toward getting students to the ”March for Our Lives” event in Washington last month. ”I came back to this city at a time when I was needed, when my voice was needed,” Wade said.

TITLE WINNERS

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski sat midcourt with Heat CEO Nick Arison, his former manager with the Blue Devils. Coach K was one of three accomplished college coaches at the game; Rick Pitino was also there, near Donovan – who played guard on Providence’s 1987 Final Four team (coached by Pitino), and a two-time NCAA title winner at Florida before going to Oklahoma City.

UP NEXT

Thunder: Host Memphis on Wednesday.

Heat: Host Toronto on Wednesday.

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Chris Paul didn’t want to talk about his postseason failures, not after Houston’s win Tuesday over Utah finally got him into the Western Conference finals.

”For us it was just … they were in the way,” Paul said. ”So we were just trying to get another win.”

His Rockets teammates saw it a little differently. They were eager to talk about Paul’s dominant performance, including a playoff career-high 41 points Youth Nate Solder Jersey , in a 112-102 victory in Game 5 that eliminated the Jazz.

”He went out there and took over the game,” James Harden said. ”(To have) an opportunity for him that he’s never had before. He went to go get it. He put us all on his back and said listen: `I got us.”’

Paul made eight 3-pointers and had 10 assists and seven rebounds without a turnover. He’s the first player in playoff history to have at least 40 points and 10 assists without a turnover since turnovers became an official statistic in 1977-78, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

”The performance that Chris put out there – if he didn’t make it out this time, something’s wrong,” coach Mike D’Antoni said.

It will be Houston’s second trip to the Western Conference finals in four years and the first ever for Paul. The point guard, who is in his 13th NBA season, has been panned for failing to get past the second round in his nine previous trips to the playoffs.

While he wouldn’t talk about finally getting over the second-round hump, he had no problem discussing how much he’s enjoying this season.

”It’s just fun,” he said. ”It’s not about the points or anything like that. It’s about the process.”

Houston will meet Golden State in the conference finals beginning Monday night at home.

Paul is a nine-time All-Star in his first season with Houston after an offseason trade from the Los Angeles Clippers. His previous career-best in the playoffs was 35 points, which he accomplished three times.

Star rookie Donovan Mitchell had 22 of his 24 points for Utah in the third quarter before leaving with about seven minutes left with an apparent left leg injury. The team didn’t provide an update on his condition after the game, but he was wearing a walking boot on his left foot.

”Unhappy with the results, but happy with everybody as a whole Lions Game Jerseys ,” Mitchell said.

Houston returns to the conference finals for the first time since 2015. It’s the second straight season the Jazz lost in this round after being swept by Golden State last season.

The top-seeded Rockets led by eight points after a 3-pointer by Paul with about six minutes left. The Jazz scored the next seven points, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Royce O’Neale, before Paul made eight quick points to push Houston’s lead to 105-96 with about three minutes left.

Joe Ingles made a basket for Utah before Paul added another basket to make it 107-98. The crowd began chanting ”CP3” repeatedly as Paul dribbled down the court on the next possession.

The Jazz were without Ricky Rubio and Dante Exum because of hamstring injuries. Rubio has missed the entire series with his injury, and Exum was injured in the third quarter of Game 5.

P.J. Tucker scored a playoff career-best 19 points, and Harden added 18 points on a night he was ”under the weather,” according to D’Antoni.

Mitchell’s huge third quarter left the Jazz up by 3 to begin the fourth. Derrick Favors made a layup for Utah to start the final quarter before Paul and Tucker hit consecutive 3-pointers to put Houston back on top 81-80 with about 10 minutes left.

Utah regained the lead on a basket by O’Neale before Houston used an 11-5 spurt, with the first five points from Gerald Green, to take a 92-87 lead with about seven minutes left. Harden capped the run with a dunk after stealing the ball from Mitchell. Mitchell was injured on that play and grabbed his left leg. He had to be helped to the bench and was quickly taken to the locker room with the help of two people.

TIP-INS

Jazz: Alec Burks scored 22 points off the bench. … Rudy Gobert finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. … Mitchell finished 9 of 17 on field goals. … O’Neale had 17 points.

Rockets: Houston made 18 3-pointers to give the team 10 or more 3-pointers in an NBA playoff-record 16 straight games. … Clint Capela finished with five blocks. … The Rockets had 10 steals on Tuesday for their fourth game in the series with 10 or more.

THEY SAID IT

Mitchell on what coach Quin Snyder’s message was to the team after the loss: ”I was so upset I wasn’t listening. I’m not going to lie to you.”

WHAT A PRESENT

D’Antoni turned 67 on Tuesday and said this game was the best present he’s ever received.

”Without a doubt,” he said. ”Especially at this age.”

UP NEXT

Houston will host the first two games of the conference finals against Golden State or New Orleans.

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