76ers end season with 16 straight wins, clinch 3rd seed

The Process has paid its first handsome dividend.

The Philadelphia 76ers clinched the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs Wednesday with a resounding 130-95 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in their regular-season finale - while ending the campaign on a franchise-record 16-game winning streak.

The Sixers completed their 2017-18 schedule with a 52-30 mark, their best record since Allen Iverson led them to the NBA Finals in 2000-01.

The season-ending flourish also spares the team from landing on the same side of the Eastern Conference bracket as LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for a potential second-round series.

The Cavs therefore finish fourth in the conference, meaning they would play the top-seeded Toronto Raptors in the second round should they both advance.

The 76ers have shaped up as yet another Philadelphia feel-good story in the wake of the Eagles' Super Bowl victory and Villanova's NCAA championship. The Sixers are only two years removed from a 10-72 season that netted them Ben Simmons with the first pick in the 2016 draft.