The Toronto Raptors rolled past the Brooklyn Nets 136-101 and landed the Eastern Conference fifth seed on Sunday as the final pieces of the NBA post-season puzzle fell into place on the last day of the regular season.

RJ Barrett scored 26 points, Brandon Ingram added 25 and Scottie Barnes delivered a triple-double of 18 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists to help the 2019 champion Raptors return to the playoffs for the first time since 2022.

"That was our aspiration for the year," Barnes said. "It's a big relief."

The Raptors came into Sunday at sixth in the East and rose to fifth with the victory along with defeats for the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks.

Toronto will open the playoffs against fourth-seeded Cleveland, who beat the Washington Wizards 130-117.

The Miami Heat warmed up for the play-in tournament with a 143-117 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 26 points off the bench and Bam Adebayo scored 25 points with 10 rebounds for the Heat, who finished 10th in the East and will face the Charlotte Hornets, who secured the ninth seed with a 110-96 victory over the third-seeded New York Knicks.

The Hawks slipped from fifth to sixth, still avoiding the play-in that will see the seventh- through 10th-placed teams battle for the last two playoff berths in each conference.

With the playoffs beckoning, Hawks coach Quinn Snyder rested a host of players including Nickeil Alexander-Walker, CJ McCollum and Jalen Johnson, and the Raptors edged in front of them on head-to-head tiebreaker.

Every team was in action and 10 seeds were still in play on Sunday, but coaches still opted to rest dozens of players in preparation for the post-season.

Second-seeded Boston held out eight regulars, including Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Baylor Scheirman scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Celtics to a 113-108 victory over Orlando that saw the Magic finish with the eighth seed in the East to book a road play-in road game against the Philadelphia 76ers, who beat the Milwaukee Bucks 126-106.

Eastern conference top seeds Detroit polished off the regular season with a 133-121 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

Detroit notched their third straight win and totalled 60 for the season for the first time since the 2005-06 campaign.

In the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets – fuelled by 23 first-half points from Nikola Jokic – beat the San Antonio Spurs 128-118, notching their 12th straight victory to clinch the third seed.

The three-time NBA Most Valuable Player had to play at least 15 minutes to be eligible for end-of-season awards, including MVP.

The Serbian big man played just over 18, propelling the Nuggets to a 70-56 halftime lead that they wouldn't relinquish against a Spurs team whose own MVP contender Victor Wembanyama sat out with a rib injury.

The Nuggets will face the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.

The Los Angeles Lakers settled for fourth despite a 131-107 victory and will face the Houston Rockets.

That series will pit Lakers superstar LeBron James against old rival Kevin Durant, but James could well be without the support of NBA leading scorer Luka Doncic, who is battling to recover from a hamstring strain.

"We're going to prepare and we're going to fight and we're going to go try and win the series," Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

The Portland Trail Blazers secured the eighth seed with a 122-110 victory over the Sacramento Kings and will face seventh-seeded Phoenix in the play-in.

The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, already assured of the West's top seed and best record in the league, fell 135-103 to the Suns. (AFP)


Edited by Tony Sabine