WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Baron Davis, Jamaal Magloire and the New Orleans Hornets were determined not to suffer another loss heading into the playoffs.
Davis scored 26 points and fellow All-Star Magloire added 23 and 14 rebounds as the visiting Hornets routed the Washington Wizards, 94-78.
Having lost seven of 10 games, New Orleans (41-41) won its season finale to post its 12th consecutive season at .500 or better and clinched the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference when the Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Toronto Raptors.
In the first round, the Hornets will face the fourth-seeded Miami Heat.
"The playoffs mean a lot to us," Davis said. "We have a golden opportunity to do something special. We just have to play consistent basketball. I really think that we have a team to do it in a best-of-seven series."
Magloire, who helped the Hornets grab a 48-39 rebounding advantage, posted his sixth 20-point, 10-rebound performance in their last seven games.
"This team is at it's best when we dribble penetrate, find angles to the basket and make passes," Magloire said. "Tonight we just wanted to have a strong showing and make sure we finished the season .500. I think we're playoff-ready. I believe that we can play against anybody."
The Hornets have a few days to get guard Darrell Armstrong and forward P.J. Brown healthy. Armstrong rested his sprained right ankle Wednesday and Brown played only 10 minutes on his tender right ankle.
"Offensively, we are trying to find a wrinkle or two that we might add to our mix that might help us," Hornets coach Tim Floyd said. "Physically, we want to be right. The fact that we are playing Sunday, we'll have another day for P.J. and Darrell to heal." Magloire got the Hornets going with 13 points in the first quarter on 5-for-5 shooting.
"He remains consistent, which is a real positive," Floyd said of Magloire, who averaged 21.5 points and 11.8 rebounds down the stretch. "We saw the benefit of penetration with Jamaal's ability to get angles to the rim, dunks at the rim, every time Baron or Shammond (Williams) penetrated. I hope we can carry some of that into the playoffs."
Etan Thomas scored 16 points for the Wizards (25-57), who tied the Los Angeles Clippers and NFL's Arizona Cardinals for the most seasons at .500 or worse since 1988 with 14. Rookie Jarvis Hayes had 15 points and Jared Jeffries added 13 and 11 rebounds for Washington, which will miss the playoffs for a seventh straight season.
"There has been growth and individual development," Wizards first-year coach Eddie Jordan said. "There is a team concept. I think we are familiar with each other. They know the discipline I look forward to and how I react to it, so that is a good start for next year."
The Hornets blew open the game with a 12-2 run midway through the second quarter, which was capped by Stacey Augmon's layup that opened a 41-26 lead with 5:49 remaining in the half. Augmon scored all six of his points during the run. Davis' 3-pointer gave New Orleans an 88-65 lead with 6:10 left in the game. From there, the Hornets made only two unneeded buckets.
"The most important thing is that we won two games on the road to end the season," Floyd said. "We were a team that struggled on the road prior to our win at Portland. We're a team that needed to finish with some confidence.
"We certainly hope we're playoff-ready. You don't really know until you get out there, but I do know that we have playoff experience, and that's got to be a positive. A lot of our guys really look forward to playing in the playoffs."
