Los Angeles - The Cleveland Cavaliers are officially the new beast of the East, but they want to be the best of the best heading into the playoffs. LeBron James had 27 points with 10 assists, Wally Szczerbiak and Moe Williams scored 18 apiece, and the Cavaliers clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference on Friday night, with a 102-92 road victory over the slumping Philadelphia 76ers.

By winning their first-ever East banner, the Cavaliers secured home-court advantage throughout the conference playoffs, where they own a sparkling 38-1 mark at Quicken Loans Arena.

"To clinch home-court in the playoffs is a great feeling," said James, the frontrunner for league MVP. "One thing you try to do is maintain momentum and focus. We have done that all the way since the beginning of October when it was time to get ready for the regular season.

"It's a big achievement and it's going to be huge in the playoffs," added long-time Cavs' centre Zydrunas Ilgauskas. "Nobody gave it to us, we worked hard for it and we deserved it."

However, happy as they may be, the Cavaliers want more. They currently lead the LA Lakers by 1.5 games for the NBA's best-record, and clinching the top spot overall would mean home-court advantage throughout the entire post-season.

"We haven't done anything in the big speck of things." Ilgauskas explained, "Right now, we play these last three games out, and hopefully we can get home-court advantage throughout the whole playoffs and then go back to work.

"We know there are a lot of tough games ahead of us, so there's nothing to celebrate yet."

Andre Iguodala had 26 points, while Andre Miller and Lou Williams added 17 apiece for Philadelphia (40-39) which remained one-game behind fifth place Miami for playoff positioning in the East despite its fourth straight loss.

Elsewhere: Portland Trail Blazers 106, LA Lakers 98

Brandon Roy scored 24 points and the Trail Blazers' eighth straight victory over the visiting Lakers at the Rose Garden, kept them in a fourth-place tie with San Antonio in the Western Conference playoff picture.

Kobe Bryant scored 32 points, but missed a potential game-tying three-pointer and threw the ball away in the final minute as the Lakers (63-17) had their five-game winning streak snapped.

Houston Rockets 113, Golden State Warriors 109

Argentine-native Luis Scola scored a career-high 28 points, 42- year-old Dikembe Mutombo added 10 along with 15 rebounds in place of Yao Ming (sore right foot) as the Rockets kept a one-half game lead over Portland and San Antonio for the third seed in the West.

San Antonio Spurs 105, Utah Jazz 99

"French Flash" Tony Parker scored 11 of his 31 points in the final quarter, and the Spurs beat the Jazz for the 20th straight time, to remain one-half game behind Houston for the Southwest Division lead.

Deron Williams had 25 points with 10 assists for Utah, which dropped into the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot, following its fifth loss in six games.

Dallas Mavericks 100, New Orleans Hornets 92

German wunderkind Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard scored 25 points apiece as the Mavericks overcame Chris Paul's 42, to pull into a sixth-place tie with the visiting Hornets in the West.

Memphis Grizzlies 106, Phoenix Suns 89

Rudy Gay and rookie O. J. Mayo scored 20 points apiece, and the Grizzlies ended a 10-game slide against the playoff-eliminated Suns, who committed 22 turnovers.

Boston Celtics 105, Miami Heat 98

Paul Pierce scored 28 points, including the go-ahead free throws with 1:37 left, and the Celtics beat the Heat for their sixth straight victory.

Dwyane Wade had 31 points for visiting Miami (41-38) which maintained the fifth-seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race. (dpa)

New York Knicks 105, Orlando Magic 95

Al Harrington scored 27 points, Wilson Chandler had 22 and the Knicks dealt the Magic a crushing blow to securing the second-seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Hedo Turkoglu scored 24, Dwight Howard had 16 with 14 rebounds for Orlando (58-21) which dropped two games behind Boston with three remaining.

Atlanta Hawks 122, Indiana Pacers 118

Josh Smith scored 30 points, Joe Johnson added 24 as the Hawks clinched the fourth seed and home-court advantage in the first-round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Danny Granger had 35 points for visiting Indiana, which was eliminated from playoff contention.

Detroit Pistons 100, New Jersey Nets 93

Will Bynum scored 20 points, Rasheed Wallace had 15 and the host Pistons clinched their eighth consecutive Eastern Conference playoff berth.

Oklahoma City Thunder 84, Charlotte Bobcats 81

Kevin Durant had 20, Nenad Krstic added 19 and the Thunder eliminated the visiting Bobcats from playoff contention.

Washington Wizards 100, Toronto Raptors 98

Caron Butler's jumper at the buzzer capped a 21-point effort and gave the Wizards the road victory over the Raptors in a match-up of lottery-bound clubs.

LA Clippers 109, Sacramento Kings 78

Brian Skinner scored a season-high 21 points, Eric Gordon added 20, and the host Clippers ended a six-game slide, while sending the league-worst Kings to their seventh straight setback in a battle of Western Conference bottom-feeders. (dpa)