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Cavaliers look to set mark vs. 76ers

Apr 15, 2009 - 4:34 AM By Brett Huston Stats Writer

Philadelphia (40-40) at Cleveland (66-15), 8 p.m. EDT

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers have accomplished their last meaningful goal of the regular season, clinching the league's best record and home court throughout the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

For the Cavaliers, though, there's one more milestone to chase.

Cleveland can match the best home mark in NBA history with a victory in its regular-season finale Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, but it's the free-falling Philadelphia 76ers who are in more dire need of a win.

The Cavaliers (66-15) clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 102-92 victory at Philadelphia (40-41) on Friday, but still needed two wins to ensure they'd have the league's best record and home-court advantage should they meet the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA finals.

Cleveland throttled defending champion Boston by 31 points at home on Sunday to move its record at Quicken Loans Arena to 39-1, then wrapped up the NBA's best record with a 117-109 win at Indiana the following night.

"It's one step, however, it's a big step," said LeBron James, who finished with 37 points - the 14th time he's scored at least that many this season. "When you consider all the great teams, all the great players, all the great coaches and all the great systems that are in the NBA, for us to finish with the best record is a tremendous feat. And that is something the franchise should be proud of."

The Cavaliers' lone motivation before they embark on what they hope will be a lengthy playoff run is to match the 1985-86 Celtics for the best home record in league history. With nothing more to be gained in the standings, however, James and other key players like guard Mo Williams and center Zydrunas Ilgauskas don't figure to see much time - if any.

"We've got to do what's best for the ring," James said. "We've got home-court advantage already. We're not fighting for breaking a record anymore. We're fighting for that ring."

Philadelphia, meanwhile, is trying to avoid a first-round matchup with the Celtics. The 76ers locked up a playoff berth with a 95-90 win against Detroit on April 4, and looked like they'd have a chance to earn the fourth or fifth seed in the East.

Instead, they've lost their past six games, and unless they can beat Cleveland and Toronto wins at Chicago, they'll face Boston in the first round.

Philadelphia had a chance to get back on track Tuesday facing a Celtics team that was missing Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and had nothing to play for. Instead, the Sixers blew a double-digit lead in the third quarter and lost 100-98 despite the return of starter Thaddeus Young.

"We should have won the game," said guard Andre Iguodala, who had a team-high 25 points. "They used a second unit for the majority of the game."

The Sixers are 0-4 against the Celtics and 0-3 against the Magic.

Young had missed the past seven games with a sprained right ankle but had 18 points in his return to the lineup. Prior to the game in which he suffered the injury, Young had averaged 23.6 in his previous seven contests.

Young is averaging 8.0 points in two losses to Cleveland.

The Cavaliers have won all three meetings with the Sixers this season behind 28.0 points per game from James, and Cleveland has taken five straight in the series overall.

Philadelphia is 6-14 in the second game of back-to-back situations.