NBA: Denver 124, Dallas 110

DENVER, May 14 (UPI) -- Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups teamed for 58 points in a hot shooting performance Wednesday, giving Denver a series-ending 124-110 win over Dallas.

The Nuggets won the contentious series 4-1 and advanced to the Western Conference finals, where they will meet either the Los Angeles Lakers or Houston Rockets.

Los Angeles will attempt to finish off the Rockets in Houston on Thursday.

Anthony scored 30 points and Billups had 11 assists to go with his 28 points. J.R. Smith added 18.

The Nuggets shot 60 percent while Anthony and Billups combined to hit 23-of-37 attempts from the field.

Denver took a 14-point halftime lead and, although the Mavericks reduced their deficit to less than 10 late in the contest, never threatened to fight all the way back.

Dirk Nowitzki, embroiled in personal problems involving a women who was arrested at his home last week, scored 32 points to lead Dallas.

The teams met nine times in the regular season and playoffs this year and Denver won eight of those games.

Denver will be attempting to reach the NBA finals for the first time in franchise history. The Nuggets' only other trip to the conference finals came in 1985, when they lost in five games to the Lakers.

Denver dropped three of its four meetings with both the Lakers and Rockets during the 2008-09 campaign.