Defending champions Golden State have avoided elimination by beating the Los Angeles Lakers, thanks to a blistering performances from Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins.

Curry had 27 points and eight assists while Wiggins added 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists as the Warriors defeated the Lakers 121-106 in Game 5 of the Western Conference semi-finals on Wednesday.

LeBron James had 25 points and nine rebounds for Los Angeles. Anthony Davis added 23 points and nine rebounds but went to the locker room late after appearing to take a hit in the head from Kevon Looney.

Austin Reaves made a 3-pointer with 5:25 to play that cut the Warriors' lead to single digits at 104-95 only for Curry to answer with five straight points, then he hit another big shot after D'Angelo Russell connected from deep.

Draymond Green contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds as Golden State played tough defence that led to better chances on the offensive end - just as coach Steve Kerr challenged his team to do.

Now, it's back to LA for Game 6 on Friday night with the Lakers 5-0 at home this post-season, having won eight consecutive games on their own floor since losing to the Bulls on March 26.

Golden State are trying to rally from a 3-1 series deficit for only the second time in franchise history and will try to win one more to bring Game 7 back to Chase Centre on Sunday.

The Warriors rallied from 3-1 down in the 2016 Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City.

Green and Wiggins took turns on James and Golden State tried to take Davis out of rhythm after he had 23 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and two assists in Game 4.

Curry shot 12 for 24 but just 3 of 11 from long range coming off his third career playoff triple-double in a 104-101 Game 4 loss.

Earlier, Jalen Brunson had 38 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as New York beat Miami 112-103 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals.

The Knicks denied the Heat's first attempt to become just the second No.8 seed to reach the conference finals and sent the series back to Miami for Game 6 on Friday night.

RJ Barrett added 26 points and Julius Randle had 24 for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who stayed alive at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night in hope of reaching the conference finals for the first time since 2000.

They did that by getting by Miami in seven games in the second round, a possibility that still exists.

New York built a 19-point lead in the third quarter, then hung on when the Heat finally got their three-pointers to start falling and cut it to two with under three minutes remaining.

Jimmy Butler had 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for Miami, getting held below 25 points for the first time in this post-season. Bam Adebayo added 18 points and Duncan Robinson had 17.

The 1999 Knicks, for now, remain the only No.8 seed to reach a conference finals in the current playoff format that began in 1984.

They went all the way to the NBA Finals after upsetting the top-seeded Heat in the first round.