The San Antonio Spurs booked their place in the Western Conference final with a 91-82 Game 7 win over the Hornets in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Monday.
The defending National Basketball Association champions will play the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference final, with Game 1 in Los Angeles tomorrow.
The Spurs held a commanding 71-56 lead going into the fourth quarter but the Hornets cut that deficit to 83-80 on Jannero Pargo's three-pointer with 90 seconds remaining.
San Antonio pulled away again and held on to clinch the best-of-seven series 4-3, after the previous six games had all gone the way of the home team.
Argentine Manu Ginobili led the way for the Spurs with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists while point guard Tony Parker contributed 17 points and Tim Duncan 16.
"It just happened that I made a lot of shots in the first half," Ginobili said in a courtside television interview.
"In the second, I didn't play as good but we played solid and we kept them to 82 points which is great for us. It was great team work."
David West top-scored with 20 points for the Hornets, who posted a franchise-record 56 victories in the regular season.
Playmaker Chris Paul, a first-year All Star, was held to 18 points and eight rebounds. Pargo also finished with 18 points while Tyson Chandler had 13 points and 15 rebounds.
"We did a very good job on him (Paul) and we've got to give Tony (Parker) and Bruce (Bowen) a lot of credit for that," Ginobili added.
"Chris Paul is a heck of a player. He is very smart and good finishing at the paint so it was a tough job. But they did unbelievable work in the last two games."
Although the Spurs have become accustomed to success, with four NBA titles in the last nine seasons, they were delighted to advance to the conference final with a rare road win after coming back from 0-2 and then 2-3 down in the series.