The LA Clippers cruised past the visiting Denver
Nuggets, 117-105, on Tuesday night, for a franchise-record 57th win of the season.
The victory - aided by 24 points from Blake Griffin and 21 points and 10 assists from Chris Paul - kept the Clippers alive for the No.2 seed in the Western Conference play-off race, currently held by Oklahoma City.
Los Angeles would need to win at Portland on Wednesday and have the Thunder lose to Detroit in the season finale to ascend to the second spot.
However, unless a decision is overturned, the Clippers are expected to be without Griffin, who will serve a mandatory one-game league suspension after getting hit with his 16th technical foul of the season.
If they aren't successful, the Clippers would finish as the No.3 seed and would host the No.6 Golden State Warriors in the opening round this weekend.
JJ Redick fired in 18 points off the bench while DeAndre Jordan had 13 with 16 rebounds for the Clippers (57-24), who led throughout en route to their 20th win in the last 24 outings.
Kenneth Faried netted 21 points, Aaron Brooks had 19 while Russian centre Timofey Mozgov finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for lottery-bound Denver, which had won its previous three contests.
The Clippers opened the game on a 13-0 run en route to a 63-46 half-time cushion.
Denver drew within 91-86 with 8mins 42secs left to play, but the Clippers responded by going on an 8-1 run.
Elsewhere Tim Hardaway Jr tossed in 16 points, Cole Aldrich added 13 with as many rebounds, and the visiting New York Knicks clipped the Brooklyn Nets, 109-98, to win the season series 3-1 in the battle of the Big Apple.
The Knicks were minus their injured top scorer Carmelo Anthony, who is averaging 27 points per game.
He sat out the contest and will miss Wednesday's finale, after an MRI exam revealed a torn labrum in his right shoulder. However, surgery will not be required.
Amar'e Stoudemire, JR Smith and Shannon Brown had 14 points apiece for the lottery-bound Knicks (36-45), whose third straight win prevented the Nets from locking up the No.5 play-off seed in the Eastern Conference.
Marcus Thornton topped the Nets (44-37) with 24 points and fellow-reserve Mason Plumlee added 16 with nine boards.
