Slow at the start of the series and strong at the end, the San Antonio Spurs beat the Golden State Warriors 94-82 on Thursday to clinch a 4-2 victory and progress to the NBA Western Conference finals.

Miami and Memphis are headed to the NBA conference finals after beating Chicago and Oklahoma City respectively on Wednesday to complete 4-1 series victories.

The Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies both took 2-1 leads in their NBA conference semifinal series with victories on Saturday, as two of the league's more modest teams got the better of the New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder respectively.

The Miami Heat recorded its most lopsided playoff win in franchise history and inflicted the heaviest such defeat on Chicago by beating the Bulls 115-78 on Wednesday, squaring their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series 1-1.

New York's Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points — 16 during a 30-2 onslaught in the second half — to lead the Knicks to a 105-79 win over the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday, squaring their NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series at 1-1.

The Chicago Bulls stunned the Miami Heat 93-86 on Monday to take Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

New York, Oklahoma City, Indiana and Memphis all won their first-round NBA playoff series with Game 6 victories on Friday, leaving only one spot up for grabs in the Conference semifinals.

Golden State's Andrew Bogut put in the best performance of his injury-riddled season to lead the Warriors to a 92-88 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, clinching their NBA playoff series 4-2.

Collins, a 34-year-old free agent who has played for six NBA teams over the past 12 seasons, went public with his sexuality in an essay published on Sports Illustrated magazine's website.

Obama, a huge basketball fan and keen amateur player, was responsible for ending the ban on gays openly serving in the military, and last year said he believed gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry.