Every team but Philadelphia played on the final night of the NBA season, and even the 76ers had to pay attention to see where they would open the postseason.
Allen Iverson and his crew got bad news: The Charlotte Hornets won, thus clinching the fourth seed in the East and homecourt advantage against the 76ers in the first round."It is gratifying to me that my guys stuck with me and never quit," Charlotte coach Paul Silas said after his team beat Miami 83-73. "We all had to be strong, and it turned out to be a great year. We still have work to do, but we're going to enjoy this for a while."
The San Antonio Spurs also were playing with homecourt advantage at stake, and they gained it for their first-round series against Phoenix by coming back from a big deficit to defeat the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 103-98 in overtime.
Also, Detroit locked up the seventh seed in the East by defeating Chicago 112-91.
HORNETS 83, HEAT 73: At Charlotte, the Hornets denied Pat Riley his 1,000th career coaching victory.
"Ask me about it next year," he said. "I wanted to win the game the same way I want to win every game."
SPURS 103, LAKERS 98 (OT): David Robinson scored six points in overtime, and San Antonio overcame a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Four Spurs reserves scored in double figures, including Antonio Daniels with 11 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to boost the Spurs' comeback.
PISTONS 112, BULLS 91: Chicago stayed close for most of the first half, but Detroit got nine points from Jerry Stackhouse in the second to lead 57-47 at halftime.
Detroit continued to pull away throughout the third quarter thanks to eight points by reserve center Mikki Moore. The host Pistons led 87-73 at period's end, and by as many as 23 in the fourth.
GRIZZLIES 96, ROCKETS 92: At Houston, Charles Barkley ended his 16-year career the way he wanted to.
Determined to go out standing up, the Rockets forward had two points, one rebound, one assist and a blocked shot in six minutes.
SUNS 99, WARRIORS 88: Cliff Robinson scored 23 points as Phoenix won easily at Golden State and completed a sweep of the season series.
MAGIC 106, RAPTORS 100: Ron Mercer scored 27 points and Darrell Armstrong had 22 as Orlando ended its season with a home victory over the playoff-bound Raptors.
PACERS 111, HAWKS 92: At Indianapolis, Jalen Rose scored 19 points, Travis Best scored 14 and Reggie Miller 13 as eight Pacers reached double figures.
MAVERICKS 113, TIMBERWOLVES 107: At Minneapolis, Steve Nash had 22 points and 10 assists as Dallas won for the 11th time in 13 games.
BUCKS 110, WIZARDS 105: At Milwaukee, Scott Williams had 19 points and Vinny Del Negro scored eight of his 16 in the final four minutes as the Bucks finished the regular season with their third straight win.
CLIPPERS 114, SUPERSONICS 106: Rookie Lamar Odom scored a career-high 33 points as the Clippers ended the NBA's longest losing streak this season at 17 games by winning at Seattle.
NUGGETS 96, TRAIL BLAZERS 95: At Portland, Nick Van Exel sank a 21-foot jumper with 1.7 seconds left as Denver completed a strong finish to a poor season. Denver won its fourth straight and eighth in 13 games after a 1-11 stretch.
CELTICS 112, KNICKS 85: At Boston, the Celtics got 19 points from Paul Pierce to end their season with five wins in their last six games after a 10-game losing streak.
CAVALIERS 111, NETS 108: Lamond Murray hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 11.9 seconds to play as visiting Cleveland scored the final six points in what was likely Don Casey's final game as the Nets' coach.