LOS ANGELES -- There was a certain sense of cosmic justice in the Los Angeles Clippers securing home-court advantage in the playoffs by beating the Sacramento Kings 115-95 to close their regular season on Wednesday.

It was just 17 days ago the Clippers melted down in the closing minutes at home against the Kings.

In the previous meeting with Sacramento, Los Angeles blew an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter and looked like a team adrift after Willie Cauley-Stein hit the game-winner with two seconds left to give the Kings a 98-97 win.

But there was no such letdown this time.

The Clippers (51-31) pulled away in the second half for their seventh consecutive victory since the March 26 fiasco. In doing so, they locked down the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, giving them home-court advantage in their opening-round series against the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz, who defeated the Spurs on Wednesday, 101-97, finished with an identical record to the Clippers. But since Los Angeles took the season series, 3-1, it will host Game 1 of the series with Utah on Saturday night.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers, for his part, tried to downplay the significance of meeting the Kings in the season finale.

"I don't know if it was or it wasn't a motivating factor," Rivers said. "We were playing well before it. We gave one away, It happens.

"My guys were down after the game, they weren't happy with it, but they moved past it. We're motivated beyond that, our goals are so much bigger than that, but I was pleased with how they bounced back from it."

A sense of urgency percolated up and down the roster Wednesday night for the Clippers.

Six Clippers, including all five starters, reached double figures in scoring. DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick led the team with 18 points apiece, with Jordan adding a game-high 17 rebounds.

For his part, while Clippers point guard Chris Paul acknowledged the turnaround since the memorable loss, he is more focused on how the team is playing heading into its sixth straight postseason.

Los Angeles went through a tumultuous season that included injuries to both Paul and star power forward Blake Griffin. But the Clippers enter the postseason mostly healthy and with the league's longest active win streak as they look to atone for last year's first-round upset loss to Portland that occurred after Paul broke his hand in Game 4.

"All our losses are tough," said Paul, who had 17 points and nine assists. "That one (to the Kings) particularly so. But all we've done since then is focus on ourselves and not worry about anyone else and control what we can, and we're confident going in there against a good Utah team."

The Clippers took the lead for good late in the first quarter but allowed the Kings to hang around into the early part of the third. It was 61-59 when Langston Galloway hit a 3-pointer with 8:22 left but three minutes later, the Clippers built a 72-61 lead and began pulling away.

The Kings (32-50) had little to play for but pride, but they kept the Clippers honest and made them sweat.

Cauley-Stein had 19 points and 14 rebounds, while Arron Afflalo added 18 points. Buddy Hield had 16, Ben McLemore added 15 and Galloway contributed 14.

"Guys have really hung in there," Sacramento coach Dave Joerger said. "What's validation for it? For Game 82, the Clippers had their starting group on the floor with five minutes to go, for whatever reason. But they had to because we pushed them to it. Really proud of our guys."

NOTES: The Clippers have a regular-season record of 273-137 over the past five regular seasons, and along with the Spurs are the only teams to win at least 50 games per season in that span. Los Angeles, however, has not advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs during that time. ... G J.J. Redick's 3-point with 5:17 left in the third quarter was his 201st three of the season, setting a Clippers franchise record ... The Kings have missed the playoffs for 11 consecutive seasons, and Wednesday's loss ensured their seventh season with at least 50 losses out of the past nine. ... Wednesday marked the final regular-season game for F Paul Pierce, who entered the game to a thunderous ovation with 2:22 remaining in the fourth. He did not score.