The good news: with a win tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Cleveland Cavaliers will post their 40th home victory and tie the 1985-86 Boston Celtics for the best home record in NBA history at 40-1.

The bad news: LeBron James will sit out the season finale with the top seed in the Eastern Conference already in the bag. It’s a smart decision to avoid risking an injury to a player who means everything to the team’s fate in the playoffs. Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Joe Smith also will sit.

Recent performance suggests that the Cavs are a good bet to claim win No. 40 on the home court, but they will be missing four players who have combined to average 65.6 points per game for them this season. The Cavs have won the least five meetings between the two clubs, going back to a 92-86 home loss to the Sixers on Dec. 15, 2007. They have claimed all three meetings this season, though they received 27, 28 and 29 points from James in the three victories.

As for the Sixers, they are in the midst of a six-game losing streak after dropping a 100-98 decision to the Celtics last night. They blew a double-digit lead in the third quarter against the East’s No. 2 seed, which played without Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and lacked the urgency to win. The Sixers are 6-14 in the second of back-to-back games this season.

“We should have won the game,” said guard Andre Iguodala, who had a team-high 25 points. “They used a second unit for the majority of the game.”

The losing streak and Monday night’s defeat have put a damper on the Sixers’ push for playoff position. Prior to their skid, they had a chance to clinch the East’s fourth or fifth seed. If the Sixers lose their seventh straight -- and their sixth in a row to the Cavaliers, who also will call on the equivalent of a second unit tonight -- they risk facing the Celtics in the first round as the sixth seed. Philadelphia is 0-4 against Boston this season, and has lost seven of the last eight matchups between them.