Los Angeles - The Los Angeles Lakers were uncertain who they would be facing in their opening round playoff series starting on the weekend. But by the end of the night they knew.

Andrew Bynum scored 22 points, Spaniard Pau Gasol had 20 with nine rebounds and the Lakers closed out their regular-season by drumming the visiting Utah Jazz 125-112 on Tuesday night.

"It's been an amazing season," Gasol said. "We're ready for the playoffs, we're looking forward to it and now we have to work hard."

As a result of equaling the third best mark in franchise history, the Lakers (65-17) will meet the Jazz from Sunday onwards in a match- up between the top seed and number eight in the Western Conference.

"It was a good game for both teams, going against each other," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "Dire warning is be careful what you ask for."

Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom had 16 points apiece, while Sasha Vujacic added 15 for the Lakers, who improved to 16-3 alltime against the Jazz at Staples Centre.

Though the Lakers took the season series, 2-1, they must deal with the physical play the Jazz bring. However, they like the challenge.

"It's good for us to play against a team who is that physical to see how we do," Bryant said. "I think it's the best thing for us."

Odom said: "Their style of play, you could call it confrontational. We've got to prepare ourselves to play well on the road, take care of the ball and play physical."

Deron Williams had 25 points and 13 assists while Russian Andrei Kirilenko added 20 for Utah, which is 33-8 at home this season, but 15-26 on the road.

"It's going to be a tough series. There's no way around it, it's just they're the best team in the West," Williams said. "But you know I feel like we can beat them. We just have to steal one here. We haven't been a good road team but you know we have to do it."

Los Angeles led 56-55 at halftime, even though foul-plagued Bryant had just four points in his brief 10-minute stint. However, the reigning league MVP raised his tally to 13 in the third period and the hosts carried a 91-83 cushion into the final frame.

The Lakers started the period, hitting their first five shots in a 13-2 run to blow open the game.

Backup guard Jordan Farmar triggered the surge with a three-pointer, and Gasol followed with a pair of layups. Bryant and Vujacic drained threes, and the gap quickly swelled to 104-85 with 9:20 left en route to the runaway victory.

"They got hot," Williams added. "I looked up and did a double- take. It was a 10-point game, and then it was 20. They can score points in a hurry."

Elsewhere: Atlanta Hawks 81, Miami Heat 79 Flip Murray scored 17 points, including two key free throws with 16 seconds remaining, and the Hawks beat the Heat.

Both teams rested starters ahead of this weekend's Eastern Conference opening-round playoff clash between the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively.

Atlanta (47-34) played Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby sparingly. Miami (42-39), meanwhile, held out league-top scorer Dwyane Wade, Jermaine O'Neal and injured Udonis Haslem.

Rookie Michael Beasley led Miami (42-39) with 23 points and 13 rebounds in only 24 minutes.

Boston Celtics 100, Philadelphia 76ers 98 Paul Pierce hit the eventual game-winning winning jumper with 2:06 minutes left, and the short-handed Celtics sent the slumping Sixers to their sixth straight loss.

The contest may have served as an Eastern Conference first round playoff match-up this weekend.

Though Boston clinched the second seed, the Sixers are in seventh spot. However, they could finish sixth and avoid the reigning NBA Champions with a win at Cleveland and if Chicago lose at home to Toronto in Wednesday's regular-season finale.

Pierce scored 31 points with seven three-pointers, and Tony Allen added 18 for Boston (61-20), which rested Kevin Garnett while fellow All-Star Ray Allen served a one-game league suspension.

Andre Iguodala led Philadelphia (40-41) with 25 points, but missed a pair of game-winning shots in the final 18 seconds. Thaddeus Young scored 18 after missing the last seven games with an ankle sprain.