Thunder grab top seed in West, LeBron's Lakers one win from NBA playoffs

LOS ANGELES: The unexpected Oklahoma City Thunder clinched the Western Conference top seed ahead of the defending champion Denver Nuggets as the NBA regular season wrapped up on Sunday (Apr 14).

The youthful Thunder rolled past the playoff-bound Dallas Mavericks - who rested Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving among others - 135-86 to emerge from the trio of teams who went into the final day of action tied atop the West.

It marked the first time that three teams entered their final games with identical records, all with a shot at the number one seed in a conference.

Thanks to the Thunder's edge in their head-to-head record, the Nuggets' 126-111 victory over the Grizzlies in Memphis wasn't enough and the Minnesota Timberwolves, who also had a chance, fell 125-106 to the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns snatched the sixth and final automatic playoff berth and will face the No. 3 Timberwolves again in the first round.

In New Orleans, superstar LeBron James scored 28 points with 11 rebounds and 17 assists in his 112th career triple-double to propel the Los Angeles Lakers to a 124-108 victory over the Pelicans and eighth place in the West.

The defeat dropped the Pelicans out of sixth place and they'll host the Lakers in the play-in tournament on Tuesday, with the winner advancing to the playoffs as the seventh seed.

James added five steals and Anthony Davis had 30 points and 11 rebounds against his former team. Davis gave Lakers fans a scare when he hobbled out in pain late in the fourth quarter, but coach Darvin Ham said he believed it was muscle spasms and not an injury that might sideline Davis in the post-season.

James' triple-double was his fifth this season and his playmaking helped spearhead a dominant performance in the paint, where Los