Wade wins scoring title on bench
Dwyane Wade wrapped up his first NBA scoring title on the bench, sitting out the Miami Heat's last game on the final night of the regular season.
His closest competitor, LeBron James, also took Wednesday off.
Wade finished the regular season with a 30.2 average to James' 28.4. Both stars sat out their team's regular-season finales to rest up for the playoffs, which start this weekend.
Miami, the No. 5 seed, will begin the postseason at Atlanta.
Cleveland is the top seed in the Eastern Conference and will play Detroit in the first round of the playoffs.
Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant was third in the scoring race at 26.8 points per game.
Dwight Howard of the Magic was the NBA's leading rebounder at 13.9 per game. Howard and the Southeast Division champion Magic are the No. 3 seed in the East and will face the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs.
The 76ers locked up the No. 6 seed by beating Cleveland 111-110 in overtime on the final night, while the Bulls were losing at home 109-98 to the Toronto Raptors.
The Bulls will face the second-seeded, defending champion Boston Celtics in the first-round of the playoffs.
Chris Paul of the Hornets led the league in assists at 11.0.
All but one of the Western Conference playoff matchups were set on the final night.
The San Antonio Spurs won the Southwest Division and earned the No. 3 seed with a 105-98 overtime victory against Paul and the Hornets. The loss dropped the Hornets into the No. 7 seed and a first-round matchup against Northwest Division champion Denver. The Nuggets had already locked up the division when they took the floor against Portland, which won 104-76.
The Trail Blazers needed a win to earn the fourth seed and home-court advantage in a first-round series against Houston.
Houston had a chance to be seeded as high as second in the West, but lost 95-84 to the Dallas Mavericks and fell all the way to No. 5 when Portland won.
The sixth-seeded Mavericks will play the Spurs in the first round.
The top-seeded Lakers meet No. 8 Utah in the other Western Conference series.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)