April 12, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
The Sixers won two of their three regular-season matchups with the Orlando Magic.
As expected headed into Sunday's regular-season finale, the Sixers finished the 2025-26 campaign with a 45-37 record. But after a catastrophic loss to the Boston Celtics' deepest reserves, the Orlando Magic have given the Sixers a gift. The Sixers leapfrogged Orlando on the last day of the season, notching the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers will now host the Magic in the first game of the Play-In Tournament, with the game tipping off at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The winner will be moving on and facing the Celtics in a seven-game series in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
If the Sixers lose to Orlando, they will then play host to the winner of a game between the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat. The winner of that battle would reach the playoff bracket and do battle with the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, while the loser would be eliminated.
If the Sixers make the playoffs, Game 1 of their first-round series will be Sunday.
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) April 13, 2026
If they beat Orlando, Sixers-Celtics Game 1 in Boston at 1:00PM ET on ABC.
If they lose to Orlando but beat the winner of Miami-Charlotte, Sixers-Pistons Game 1 in Detroit at 6:30PM ET on NBC.
The Sixers won their season series against Orlando, 2-1, with 12-point wins in Philadelphia in October and Orlando in January sandwiching a 41-point home loss the Sixers suffered at the hands of the Magic in November.
Built around Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane, Orlando's identity has been tied to its excellent defense for a few years now. But it took multiple steps back this season, with the Magic finishing the year around the middle of the pack in defensive efficiency. Orlando's offense is also roughly average, but for their standards that is a major improvement. They have been unreliable all season long, best exemplified by their head-scratching defeat on Sunday.
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