Stephen Curry and Golden State turned all those Houston bricks into a road back to the NBA finals. Kevin Durant scored 34 points, Curry sparked another third-quarter turnaround, and the Warriors earned a fourth straight trip to the NBA finals by beating the Houston Rockets 101-92 in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals on Monday night.

The defending champions trailed by as many as 15 in the first half after falling behind 17 in Game 6.

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Curry, who finished with 27 points, scored 14 of Golden State’s 33 points in the third quarter as Houston’s shooting didn’t just go cold, it froze. The Rockets missed all 14 three-point attempts in that quarter as part of 27 misses from long range, a record for the NBA playoffs.

“This is a situation we’ve never been in before ... to win a Game 7 on the road, keep our composure for the whole series,” Curry said after the game. “All those hurdles and obstacles, we got over them, so it’s an unbelievable feeling, man. Winning a championship is hard, so this is a testament to that.”

James Harden had 32 points as the top-seeded Rockets’ bid to return to the finals for the first time since 1995 fell short without Chris Paul, who was nursing a hamstring injury. The Rockets fell apart in the second half again after doing so in Game 6. The Warriors outscored Houston 122-63 in the second-half of the final two games.

“It’s amazing how long the NBA game is,” the Warriors coach, Steve Kerr, said. “Forty-eight minutes, it lasts a long time and there’s so many opportunities to get yourself going as a team. And with our team, there’s just so much firepower, we’re going to get going.”

Golden State scored 33 points in the third quarter for the second straight game while Houston managed just 15 points on Monday night after they scored 16 in the third in Game 6.

The Warriors will host LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 on Thursday night in the fourth straight match-up between the teams. The Warriors got the better of the Cavs in the 2015 and 2017 finals, while Cleveland won in 2016. Few would bet against the Warriors to retain their title, with the Cavaliers relying heavily on LeBron James to pose a challenge to Golden State.