All Pistons firing going into postseason

The Detroit Pistons are back in a familiar place. The postseason. The Pistons clinched a playoff birth for the eighth straight season with a 100-93 victory over the Nets on Friday night.

It was a true team effort as the Pistons got 46 points from their bench and Will Bynum and Rasheed Wallace contributed 35 points combined.

"We're getting better and better every game,'' said Bynum, who led the Pistons with 20 points. "They said that whichever team is playing the best going into the playoffs is pretty dangerous. Hopefully, we can be that team.''

New Jersey (32-47) lost for the eighth time in 10 games as coach Lawrence Frank went with a young lineup for much of the game. Rookie Ryan Anderson led the Nets with 20 points, one short of his career high, and fellow first-year players Chris Douglas-Roberts and Brook Lopez had 16 each.

Detroit (39-40) will be in the postseason for the eighth straight year, but still needs two wins in its final three games to finish with a .500 record. However, all the spots are sealed up in the East and the Pistons no longer have to worry about the Bobcats, who were eliminated Friday.

The question that still remains is, how long will these Pistons stay in the postseason if they face a hot Cavaliers team in the first round?

Cleveland 102, Philadelphia 92
Atlanta 122, Indiana 118
Boston 105, Miami 98
Washington 100, Toronto 98
Memphis 106, Phoenix 89
Detroit 100, New Jersey 93
Oklahoma City 84, Charlotte 81
New York 105, Orlando 95
Dallas 100, New Orleans 92
San Antonio 105, Utah 99
Portland 106, L.A. Lakers 98
L.A. Clippers 109, Sacramento 78
Houston 113, Golden State 109

• LeBron James, Cavaliers, had 27 points and 10 assists, and Cleveland beat the 76ers 102-92.

• Paul Pierce, Celtics, scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half, including the go-ahead free throws with 97 seconds left to lead Boston to a 105-98 victory over Miami.

• Josh Smith, Hawks, scored 30 points to help Atlanta clinch the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 122-118 victory over Indiana.

• Caron Butler, Wizards, made a jumper at the buzzer to give Washington a 100-98 victory over Toronto. He finished with 21 points.

• Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks, each scored 25 points and Dallas held off a late rally for a 100-92 victory over New Orleans that ties the teams for the sixth seed in the Western Conference.

• Tony Parker, Spurs, scored 31 points and San Antonio shook off their funk long enough to bury the Jazz further back in the playoff race with a 105-99 victory.

• Brandon Roy, Trail Blazers, had 24 points and eight assists, and Portland held off the Lakers 106-98.

The Cavaliers beat the 76ers 102-92 to clinch the No. 1 playoff seed and home-court advantage in the conference. No team has played better at home this season than the Cavs. They're 38-1 at Quicken Loans Arena, with the only loss coming against the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 8.

Chris Paul had 42 points, one shy of his career high, with nine rebounds and seven assists, but New Orleans los to Dallas 100-92. ... Miami's Dwyane Wade scored 21 of his 31 points in the second half, adding nine assists, in a 105-98 loss to Boston. ... Dwight Howard had 16 points and 14 rebounds for Orlando in a 105-95 loss to New York. ... Chris sh had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto in a 100-98 loss to Washington.

The Hawks earned home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 122-118 win over Indiana. The Hawks won their third straight, all against sub-.500 teams, and are assured of home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since winning a best-of-five series against Detroit in 1999.

Oklahoma City had its eighth straight sellout and its 18th of the season, an 84-81 victory over Charlotte. The Thunder went 3-15 in those games.

The Memphis Grizzlies ended a 10-game losing streak against the Phoenix Suns with a 106-89 victory. ... The Los Angeles Clippers halted a six-game skid with a 109-78 victory over Sacramento.

NBA TV host Steve Smith made history and tweeted on live television from the NBA TV set during last night's games. You can follow him and all your favorite NBA TV host at www.twitter.com/nbatv.

"Words cannot describe how I feel. Even last year, making the playoffs, people were counting us out, saying we weren't even going to even make the playoffs this year, but we proved them wrong." --Atlanta's Josh Smith on the Hawks' clinching the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 122-118 victory over Indiana. Smith is the only holdover from a team that managed just 13 wins in 2004-05.

The Associated Press contributed to this reports.