The best? Probably not, but certainly better than Utah fans have seen in a long time.

The Jazz clinched their first trip to the Western Conference finals since 1998 by beating Golden State 100-87 tonight, winning the series 4-1 by finally slowing down the galloping pace that had gotten the Warriors this far.

Utah dominated the rebounds 59-35 and outslugged the Warriors in another physical game that had plenty of collisions and a few tantrums.

"That's the way close-out games should be. They're going to let you play. They're going to let you earn it. And we earned it," said Utah's Carlos Boozer, who had 21 points and 14 rebounds.

Andrei Kirilenko also scored 21 and had 15 boards and three steals. Derek Fisher, the elder statesman for the young Jazz, scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.

Utah ended Golden State's surprising run through the playoffs and got the Jazz back to where they haven't been since the days of John Stockton and Karl Malone, whose numbers now hang from the rafters at the EnergySolutions Arena.

Stockton and Malone were still in their prime the last time the Jazz made it this far in the playoffs, when they won back-to-back Western Conference titles in 1997 and 1998. With Stockton's No. 12 and The Mailman's No. 32 hanging above them, the new Jazz improved to 6-0 at home in the playoffs.

"I don't think anybody really knew, including ourselves, how good our team could be," Fisher said.

Utah held Golden State to 14 points in the fourth quarter and unraveled the Warriors, who had knocked out top-seeded Dallas in the opening round but were badly outmatched in much of this series.

Still, the Warriors were in it until the Jazz started making their free throws in the final minutes.

"We were there the last four or five minutes of the game and had a shot. And that's where they showed their dominance," Golden State coach Don Nelson said. "I thought they were just fantastic in this series."

Baron Davis led Golden State with 21 points and eight assists. The Warriors needed a stellar run through March and April just to make it to the playoffs, then as the No. 8 seed had one of the biggest upsets in postseason history by knocking off the Mavericks.

The Warriors finally ran out of energy and patience at the end of Game 5.