James Harden and Russell Westbrook
Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) shake hands after a game at Toyota Center. Reuters/Troy Taormina - USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Rockets (55-27) have advanced to the Western Conference semi-finals of the 2017 NBA Playoffs after completing a 4-1 series victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday. After stealing Game 3 on the road Sunday, the Rockets closed out the Thunder in front of their home fans with a comfortable 105-99 victory.

Rockets star James Harden finished with a tally of 34 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals but had a poor shooting night, making only 2/13 shots from deep and going 8/25 overall. Russell Westbrook, the other MVP candidate, also struggled to shoot the ball from long distance, connecting on 5/18 shots from deep besides making 15 of his 34 field goal attempts. Despite their Game 5 struggles, both Harden and Westbrook played like MVPs during the series. While Westbrook finished with an average of 35 points, 12 rebounds and 11.3 assists per game, Harden finished with a tally of 33 points, 7.8 assists and 6 rebounds in the series.

While Westbrook didn't get the desired help from teammates, Harden benefitted from Lou Williams' 22 points (7-14 FG, 2-6 3Pt) and 5 rebounds off the bench. Nene (14 points, 7 rebounds) and Patrick Beverly (15 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists) also made useful contributions as the Rockets out-scored the Thunder by a 33-22 margin in the fourth quarter to run away with the game. In what was a see-saw affair, the Rockets had claimed a 51-44 first-half lead before a third quarter explosion from Westbrook gave the Thunder a 77-72 advantage going into the fourth quarter. However, Westbrook made just 2 of 11 fourth-quarter shots as none of his other Thunder teammates were in shooting rhythm.

The Rockets will now face the Golden State Warriors (67-15) in the second-round of the 2017 NBA Playoffs. The other semi-finals will feature a clash between the winners of the San Antonio Spurs vs. Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers vs. Utah Jazz series. The Spurs claimed a 3-2 series lead Tuesday with a 116-103 home victory. The Jazz are favoured to come out of the other first-round series after Clippers lost All-Star forward Blake Griffin to a season-ending toe injury.

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