NEW ORLEANS — The Utah Jazz traveled to the franchise's birthplace to get its most impressive road victory of the season and do something the club never did in its five seasons in New Orleans: clinch a playoff berth.

Ronnie Brewer scored 23 points, and Utah earned a spot in the postseason while completing a convincing season sweep of the New Orleans Hornets with a 108-94 victory last night.

"It's a great way to start this road trip, give us a lot of confidence and realize that if we play like that every night, we can beat anybody," said Jazz guard Deron Williams, who had 21 points and 11 assists.

The Jazz led by 30 in the first half and snapped a three-game skid with their first road victory against a winning team in the Western Conference this season. It could be that the Jazz simply match up well with the Hornets, having beaten New Orleans by double digits in all three meetings this season.

"Maybe it's in our head as a team — maybe we don't think we can beat them," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "That's my conclusion after tonight. We've got to be a much more physical team."

David West had 23 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans, which could have clinched a playoff spot with a victory, but instead lost its second straight game. Chris Paul had 19 points and 12 assists, but also had four turnovers and was limited by foul trouble.

"That's a tough team," Paul said of Utah. "We need to figure out a way to beat them. We don't match up well with them, obviously."

Utah (47-30), seventh in the Western Conference, pulled within a half-game of New Orleans (47-29) for the sixth spot. However, because ninth-place Phoenix (42-35) lost yesterday, the Jazz can finish no worse than tied for eighth and would win any tiebreaker.

"We're happy to be in the playoffs, but we're not happy to be an eight seed," Williams said.

MAVS 140, SUNS 116:

Jason Kidd had 19 points and a season-high 20 assists as host Dallas dealt Phoenix a loss that may have all but ended its chances for a playoff spot. Kidd's 14th assist gave him 10,142 for his career, passing Magic Johnson for No. 3 on the NBA's list. Leandro Barbosa had 24 points for the Suns, who must finish 5-0 and have the Mavs go 0-5 to switch spots for the final playoff berth.

CAVS 101, SPURS 81:

LeBron James scored 38 points, Mo Williams and Delonte West added 22 apiece and host Cleveland avoided its first three-game losing streak. Tony Parker scored 24 for San Antonio but got no help from Manu Ginobili (four points) or Tim Duncan (six points), who didn't score after the 2:56 mark of the first quarter.

LAKERS 88, CLIPPERS 85:

Lamar Odom had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Kobe Bryant added 18 points and the Lakers barely won their 61st game of the season. Eric Gordon scored 24 points, and Zach Randolph added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers.

PISTONS 104, BOBCATS 97:

Will Bynum scored a career-high 32 points, including a franchise-record 26 in the fourth quarter, as host Detroit crept closer to locking up the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. D.J. Augustin led Charlotte with 22 points.

KNICKS 112, RAPTORS 103:

Wilson Chandler scored 17 points, David Lee added 16 points and 10 rebounds and visiting New York eliminated Toronto from playoff contention. Chris Bosh had 31 points and 14 rebounds for the Raptors, whose season-high six-game winning streak came to an end.

NUGGETS 110, TIMBERWOLVES 87:

Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points and visiting Denver easily won its seventh in a row to extend its lead to two games over San Antonio for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Sebastian Telfair led Minnesota with 18 points.

ROCKETS 102, BLAZERS 88:

Yao Ming had 21 points and 12 rebounds as host Houston prevailed just hours after getting its first playoff berth since 2003 when Dallas beat Phoenix. LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points and nine rebounds for Portland.

NETS 96, 76ERS 67:

Vince Carter scored 15 points and host New Jersey kept its playoff hopes alive by handing Philadelphia its worst loss of the season. Sixth man Lou Williams had 14 points to lead the Sixers, who looked drained a day after clinching a second straight playoff berth.

PACERS 117, THUNDER 99:

Danny Granger scored 24 points, Troy Murphy added 22 points and nine rebounds, and visiting Indiana kept its slim playoff hopes alive. Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City with 25 points.

WARRIORS 105, KINGS 100:

Kelenna Azubuike had 30 points and a career-high 15 rebounds as visiting Golden State won with just seven healthy players in uniform. Bobby Jackson led Sacramento with 17 points.