NBA ROUNDUP: LA Clippers seal the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket

Norman Powell scored 29 points, Russell Westbrook had 25 as the Los Angeles Clippers rallied to secure the No. 5 seed in the NBA’s Western Conference playoff bracket after a 119-114 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

The teams will meet again in the first round of the playoffs. The Suns are the No. 4 seed and will host the Clippers in Game 1.

The Clippers trailed by 10 points late in the third quarter, eventually cutting the margin to 86-82 going into the fourth. Kawhi Leonard finished with 25 points, including 12 in the fourth.

The Suns had just nine available players and sat four of their five starters, including Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Deandre Ayton. 

Saben Lee scored a career-high 25 points and finished with nine assists for the Suns.

Norman Powell scored 29 points as the Los Angeles Clippers rallied to secure the No. 5 seed

RAPTORS 121, BUCKS 105

Gary Trent Jr. scored 23 points, Precious Achiuwa had 14 points and 13 rebounds as the Toronto Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks 121-105 on Sunday in a matchup of short-handed teams whose postseason fates already were sealed.

Bobby Portis Jr. scored 16 points for the Bucks, Jae Crowder had 13 and Meyers Leonard had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Lindell Wiggington scored 17 points, and Goran Dragic and Thanasis Antetokounmpo each had 14 for Milwaukee, which finished the regular season 58-24.

Malachi Flynn scored a season-high 20 points for the Raptors, who finished 41-41 for the second time in team history.

NUGGETS 109, KINGS 95

Bruce Brown had a team-high 21 points and six assists, Zeke Nnaji added 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench, as the short-handed Denver rallied from a 17-point first-quarter deficit to end a three-game skid.

The Nuggets played without their top four scorers – Nikola Jokic (right calf tightness), Jamal Murray (right thumb sprain), Michael Porter Jr. (left heel injury) and Aaron Gordon (right shoulder inflammation). The Kings came out with their traditional starting lineup, but after taking a 67-59 lead into halftime, De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Harrison Barnes, three of the team´s top four scorers, didn’t play for the rest of the afternoon.

The Kings, who came into the game as the NBA’s highest-scoring team, shot just 35 percent in the final three quarters. Despite sitting for the final 24 minutes, Barnes finished with a team-high 17 points.

Bruce Brown had a team-high 21 points and six assists as the Denver Nuggets won on Sunday

THUNDER 115, GRIZZLIES 100

Tre Mann scored 24 points and career highs of 12 rebounds and 12 assists, notching his first career triple-double, as Oklahoma City defeated Memphis in the regular-season finale.

Jared Butler scored a career-high 25 points and Olivier Sarr added 22 points and a career-best 15 rebounds for the Thunder, who finished with a 40-42 record after going 24-58 last season.

Kenneth Lofton Jr. scored a career-high 42 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for Memphis. Ziaire Williams added career-bests of 24 points and nine assists for the Grizzlies.

Both teams were locked into their seeds in the Western Conference before the tip – Memphis at No. 2 and Oklahoma City at No. 10 – so key players for both teams sat out. Memphis’ Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Dillon Brooks and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Josh Giddey and Lu Dort were among those who did not play.

WARRIORS 157, TRAIL BLAZERS 101

Golden State set an NBA record by scoring 55 points in the first quarter and secured the sixth seed in the Western Conference.

Klay Thompson, who scored 20 points, became the third player in NBA history to hit at least 300 3-pointers in a single season. Teammate Stephen Curry, who did it four times, and James Harden are the other two players.

Curry led the Warriors with 26 points and hit five three-pointers to go along with five rebounds. Moses Moody added 25 points off the bench, while Jordan Poole had 21 points and four rebounds for Golden State.

Skylar Mays led Portland with 21 points along with 11 assists. Shaedon Sharpe had 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Jeenathan Williams added 17 points in the Blazers’ final game of the season.

Klay Thompson became third player in NBA history to hit at least 300 3-pointers in a season

CELTICS 120, HAWKS 114

Payton Pritchard finished with his first career triple-double with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists as Boston beat Atlanta in a matchup of mostly reserves.

Boston went 25 of 54 on 3-point attempts. Pritchard connected on 9 of 16, Mike Muscala went 4-for-7 on 3s and finished with 27 points and Sam Hauser was 8 of 14 on 3s with 26 points.

Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando led the Hawks with 19 points apiece.

Locked into the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed, the Hawks will be at the Miami Heat on Tuesday in a play-in game. Boston, the East’s No. 2 seed, will face the winner of the Heat-Hawks series in the opening round.

BULLS 103, PISTONS 81

Zach LaVine scored 17 points and DeMar DeRozan added 16 to help Chicago end the regular season with a win over Detroit.

Chicago plays in Toronto on Wednesday in an elimination game in the NBA’s play-in tournament.

Killian Hayes had 26 points and Jaden Ivey scored 16 for the Pistons, who finished an NBA-worst 17-65.

Pistons head coach Dwane Casey stepped down after the team’s season ended with the NBA’s worst record at 17-65. 

Zach LaVine #8 of the Chicago Bulls drives to the basket in regular season finale vs. Pistons

76ERS 134, NETS 105

Shake Milton scored 20 points and chased Cam Thomas all over the floor in the fourth quarter to keep him at 46, as Philadelphia beat Brooklyn. The teams face each other next weekend to begin the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Mikal Bridges was the only starter for either team to play, and he did so for just four seconds. It was his 83rd game starting this season, extending his streak to 392 straight to begin his career. Then he committed a foul and left the game.

LAKERS 128, JAZZ 117

LeBron James hit eight 3-pointers while scoring 36 points, Anthony Davis had 16 points and 13 rebounds, as the Los Angeles Lakers surged into the postseason as the seventh seed in the Western Conference.

D’Angelo Russell had 17 points for the Lakers, who won nine of their last 11 games and went 18-9 after revamping their roster at the trade deadline. Los Angeles will host Minnesota in a play-in game on Tuesday night.

Kris Dunn had 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists while Kelly Olynyk scored 23 points for the Jazz, who wrapped up their first non-playoff season in seven years with their ninth loss in 11 games. Simone Fontecchio added 20 points for Utah.

LeBron James finished regular season in style and he and his teammates face Minnesota next

TIMBERWOLVES 113, PELICANS 108

Anthony Edwards had 26 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and four blocks to lead Minnesota past the Pelicans in the play-in tournament seeding after losing a pair of starters to anger management problems.

Rudy Gobert threw a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson late in the second quarter and was dismissed for the rest of the game, after Jaden McDaniels hurt his right hand by hitting a wall in frustration. But Taurean Prince pitched in 18 points off the bench and the Timberwolves rallied from a 14-point deficit.

Minnesota finished in eighth place and will travel to Los Angeles to play the surging seventh-place Lakers in the play-in tournament on Tuesday night.

Brandon Ingram finished with 42 points and 12 rebounds for the Pelicans. C.J. McCollum added 23 points and Trey Murphy III scored 20 points.

New Orleans fell to ninth place and will host 10th-place Oklahoma City in an elimination game on Wednesday night.

HORNETS 106, CAVALIERS 95

Mark Williams had 22 points and 10 rebounds and fellow rookie Bryce McGowens scored 22 points as Charlotte rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the playoff-bound Cleveland.

Theo Maledon had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists for Charlotte, which finished with the fourth-worst record in the NBA at 27-55 and did not advance to the postseason for the seventh year in a row.

All-Star Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland were not in uniform for the fourth-seeded Cavaliers. Sam Merrill scored 17 points and Danny Green and Raul Neto each had 13. Cleveland blew an 11-point lead and finished the regular season 51-31. The Cavs play the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.

Bryce McGowens scored 22 points as Charlotte rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Cleveland

HEAT 123, MAGIC 110

Udonis Haslem scored 24 points in his final regular-season game, Duncan Robinson added 20 and Miami tuned up for its game against the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament by beating Orlando.

It was Haslem’s highest-scoring game since he had 28 points on Nov. 14, 2009. He is retiring and checked out for the final time with 58.9 seconds left. Miami got a franchise-record 111 points off its bench.

Kevon Harris scored 22 for Orlando, while Caleb Houstan added 21 and Chuma Okeke scored 14.

PACERS 141, KNICKS 136

Bennedict Mathurin scored 26 points and was one of seven Pacers who had double-digit points in Indiana’s win over New York.

The Pacers completed the regular season with three wins in their final 10 games to finish the season 35-47.

Obi Toppin scored a game-high 34 for New York, which finished the regular season with a 47-35 record, and the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. They will meet fourth seed Cleveland in the first round. Immanuel Quickley added 30 points for the Knicks.

Immanuel Quickley registered 30 points while filling in for Jalen Brunson against the Pacers

SPURS 138, MAVERICKS 117

Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 23 points, as San Antonio sent Dallas into an offseason of uncertainty with a victory over the Mavericks in a meaningless, reserve-filled finale.

Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and four other regulars were out for Dallas, which is being investigated by the NBA for similar roster decisions two days earlier against Chicago. The Mavericks still had a shot at the final Western Conference play-in spot before blowing an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Bulls.

The Spurs sat nine players, but they’ve been out of contention for months and were already locked in to the best draft lottery odds at 14 percent, along with Detroit and Houston, in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.

Dominick Barlow scored 21 points, and Malaki Branham added 20 for the Spurs. Rookie Jaden Hardy led Dallas with 25 points.

ROCKETS 114, WIZARDS 109

Jabari Smith Jr. scored 20 points for Houston, which went on a 12-0 run late in the fourth quarter to top Washington. Neither team will be in the playoffs.

The Rockets won four of their last five games to finish 22-60. Washington played without Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma down the stretch and lost five of its last six to finish 35-47.

Jordan Goodwin led Washington with 22 points, Quenton Jackson added 19 and Corey Kispert scored 18.