Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors: Live Score and Analysis for Game 5

Stephen Curry scored 26 points, Harrison Barnes added 24 and the Golden State Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets, 104-90, in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night to advance to the NBA Finals.

It wasn't as easy as the final score indicated.

The Warriors got off to a dreadful start offensively, and by the end of the first quarter, the Rockets held a 22-17 lead.

However, Houston's inability to take advantage of Golden State's early struggles came back to bite it.

The Warriors proceeded to drop 35 points in the second period to take a 52-46 lead into halftime. The two teams played evenly in the third quarter, and Golden State took a 74-68 lead into the fourth.

That was when Harrison Barnes took over.

The Warriors swingman scored 13 points in the final period, going on a 7-0 run by himself at one point and scoring nine straight Golden State points.

Thanks to Barnes' heroics, the Warriors were able to stretch their lead to 15 midway through the fourth period.

Still, the Rockets continued to battle as they have all postseason, trimming the lead to eight. Golden State also had a scare during the final 12 minutes when Klay Thompson took a knee to the side of the head by Trevor Ariza and was forced to exit the game. Fortunately, he suffered only a right ear laceration.

Regardless, the Warriors were able to keep James Harden and co. at bay.

Harden had what was probably the worst outing of his career, scoring 13 points off 2-of-11 shooting and registering an NBA playoff record 13 turnovers.

Dwight Howard led Houston with 18 points and 16 rebounds.

The Warriors shot 41 percent from the floor, going 9-of-29 from three-point range.

The Rockets shot only 35 percent and went just 5-of-24 from beyond the arc.

Golden State will face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals

Game 1 is on June 4 at Oracle Arena. Catch the action at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.