The Closers: Jazz keep cool, eliminate Golden State in 5 games

The Golden State Warriors lost their composure, and ultimately a series. The Jazz kept theirs, retaining the right to march on in the NBA playoffs.

"Wow," ecstatic power forward Carlos Boozer said. "The party's gonna keep rollin'."

That is because Utah outlasted Golden State in Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal series, getting clutch play in particular from forward Andrei Kirilenko and playoff veteran Derek Fisher for a 100-87 victory on Tuesday night at sold-out EnergySolutions Arena.

With Kirilenko contributing a 21-point, 15-rebound double-double and Fisher scoring another 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field that included 4-of-5 from 3-point range, the Jazz won their first closeout opportunity of the second round.

They took the best-of-seven series 4-1, earning an invitation to the Western Conference finals — with Fisher largely to thank for getting them through the door.

"Fisher's been hitting big shots all year, so we go to him down the stretch," Jazz forward Paul Millsap said. "See what happens?"

The Warriors saw Fisher score 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter — critical on a night starting point guard Deron Williams struggled with his shooting and finished a miserable 1-for-11 from the field.

Next up for the Jazz, who also were lifted by a 21-point, 14-board double-double from Boozer and a 14-point, 10-rebound effort from center Mehmet Okur: Either San Antonio or Phoenix in the conference finals, starting on the road either Sunday or Tuesday.

Pick your poison.

The Jazz beat the Spurs in two of four meetings this season, but have lost 16 straight in San Antonio — and are 0-9 all-time at AT&T Center. The Jazz also went 3-1 against the Suns this season — but doing so required overcoming deficits of 15 points and 16 points in a pair of November games.

"We have to stay down on earth," shooting guard Gordan Giricek said, "and wait and see who we're gonna play against."

That issue, then, is for another day.

Tuesday was all about the No. 4 seed Jazz outlasting the eighth-seeded Warriors, who stuck around until the fourth quarter — but eventually collapsed along with their fairy-tale season.

Utah took the lead for good when Kirilenko tipped in a failed trey try by Williams to make it 85-83 with six minutes and four seconds to go, and that was the beginning of the end for Golden State.

The frustrated Warriors — physical throughout the series, and occasionally downright dirty — went through one stretch in which they came up dry on all but one of nine late-game possessions.

The Jazz, though, kept their cool.