The Portland Trail Blazers have beaten the Memphis Grizzlies 126-122 in a fourth consecutive down-to-the-wire finish for a fourth successive win to make the NBA playoffs.
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Damian Lillard scored 31 points, CJ McCollum had 14 of his 29 in the fourth quarter - including a pair of big jumpers over Ja Morant late - as the Blazers clinched the final playoff spot.
Portland's reward is a matchup with the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, starting on Tuesday.
Jusuf Nurkic had 22 points and 21 rebounds for the winners, who got 21 points from Carmelo Anthony.
Morant scored 35 for Memphis, who got a 22-point, 16-rebound day from Jonas Valanciunas and 20 points apiece from Dillon Brooks and Brandon Clarke.
It was the start, and the end, of the Western Conference play-in series - a wrinkle the NBA added to the restarted season because the coronavirus pandemic meant no team would play its allotted 82 games.
Portland finished eighth in the West, Memphis was ninth and the Grizzlies needed to sweep a two-game matchup to advance.
They had a chance, up eight in the final quarter, before Portland did what Portland does in the bubble - find a way at the end.
The Blazers' past four wins have come by a combined 11 points.
Memphis led 94-89 going into the fourth quarter, the last three points in that five-point margin coming on a brilliant recovery by Morant.
The soon-to-be Rookie of the Year attacked the rim, his drive thwarted by the outstretched arms of Blazers 7-footer Hassan Whiteside.
Morant, undeterred, simply ran down the loose ball and tapped it out to the right corner where Clarke connected on a 3-pointer.
Nurkic, playing with a heavy heart because of his grandmother's death, grabbed an offensive rebound and wound up converting a three-point play with 2:39 left to put Portland on top for good.
Australian Associated Press
