Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant combined for 55 points as the Brooklyn Nets held off a rally from the Indiana Pacers on Sunday to seal seventh place in the Eastern Conference and clinch home advantage for next week’s play-in.

The Nets’ final regular season game looked set to be a blowout for long periods as Brooklyn jumped out to an 18-point lead in the first half.

But a dogged Pacers unit drew level at 89-89 with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter before Brooklyn regrouped to pull clear and run out 134-126 winners.

The win means Brooklyn will face a home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday where a victory will see them enter directly into the playoffs as seventh seeds.

The Nets will head into that showdown buoyed by the recent form of Irving and Durant.

Irving finished with 35 points, seven rebounds and five assists on Sunday, going 15-of-20 from the field.

Durant, meanwhile, completed a triple double of 20 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 16 assists while Brooklyn had six players finish in double figures.

“It’s been an up and down last few weeks for us – winning some games, losing some games,” Durant said afterwards.

“I think we’re finding out who we are as a group and that’s always a good thing.”

Durant is now looking forward eagerly to the business end of the season, starting with Tuesday’s assignment against Cleveland.

“It’s been a long year and this is the perfect time of the year to play our best basketball,” Durant said.

A Brooklyn victory over Cleveland on Tuesday would see the Nets face the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

That crunch showdown – which would pit Irving against his former club – was made possible after the Celtics vaulted over the Milwaukee Bucks into second place in the standings.

The Celtics clinched the second seed after a 139-110 blowout of the Memphis Grizzlies in their final game on Sunday.