Oklahoma City locks up No. 1 seed for third straight season

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams, right, shoots as Los Angeles Clippers center Brook Lopez defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Inglewood, Calif. (AP)

INGLEWOOD, Calif., April 9 (AP): Chet Holmgren had 30 points and 14 rebounds, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 20 points and 11 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder clinched the NBA's best regular-season record with a 128-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

Jalen Williams scored 18 points for the NBA champion Thunder (64-16), who will have homecourt advantage throughout the postseason in their title defense after holding off San Antonio (61-19), which is on an 18-2 run since February. Oklahoma City has won seven straight and 19 of 20 to earn the West's No. 1 seed for the third straight season.

Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points, and Brook Lopez added 16 for the eighth-place Clippers, who had won seven of nine. Los Angeles is 35-18 since shortly before Christmas, but still must win one of its final two games to extend this once-moribund franchise's streak to 15 consecutive winning seasons.

The Clippers head to Portland on Friday for a crucial game. The winner almost certainly will finish eighth in the Western Conference, while the losers will slip to ninth, where they'll need two wins in the play-in tournament to make the playoffs.