The Sixers Had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night

Last Wednesday, just about everything that could have broken in the Sixers' favor did break in the Sixers' favor.

On Monday, the opposite happened.

The Sixers had a golden chance to steal a road win against the San Antonio Spurs when Victor Wembanyama was ruled out for the second half with a rib contusion, but Tyrese Maxey no-showed and Paul George sputtered after a hot start. That loss pushed them back into seventh in the East, a half-game behind the Toronto Raptors (who face the Miami Heat at home on Tuesday).

That wasn't the only unfortunate outcome for the Sixers, though.

The Orlando Magic were facing the East-leading Detroit Pistons on the second night of a back-to-back. Unfortunately, the Pistons have already clinched the East and appear to be shifting into preservation mode until the playoffs. They held out both Tobias Harris and Duncan Robinson, while Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart remain sidelined.

On Orlando's side, Franz Wagner (ankle) missed the game as he ramps back up from the injury that sidelined him for the past few months, but Anthony Black (abdominal) unexpectedly made his return from a 16-game absence despite being ruled out initially. The Magic wound up beating the short-handed Pistons, which put them in a tie with the Sixers and Charlotte Hornets at 43-36.

The Sixers hold the tiebreaker over both Orlando and Charlotte, but they now have zero margin for error moving forward. They might need to win each of their last three games to have a chance at the No. 6 seed.

Are the Sixers play-in bound?

The Hornets are facing the Boston Celtics on the road Tuesday before closing out the season against the Pistons and New York Knicks, both of whom will likely have nothing to play for by that point. The Magic face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday before ending the season on a two-game road trip against the Chicago Bulls and Celtics.

As of now, the Celtics appear to be heading into that game at full strength. If the Hornets lose that game, the Sixers would be guaranteed to finish ahead of them in the standings as long as they win two of their final three games.

The big game on deck for Tuesday is Heat-Raptors, though.

The Heat are 1.5 games behind the Sixers, although they do have the tiebreaker over them. The Sixers have the tiebreaker over the Raptors.

The Heat finish their season with a pair of road games against Toronto, another road game against Washington (the second night of a back-to-back) and a home game against Atlanta. After their two-game homestand against Miami, the Raptors head to New York to take on the Knicks on the second night of a back-to-back, then end the season with Brooklyn on Sunday.

If the Heat beat the Raptors on Tuesday, the Sixers will move back into sixth in the East as long as the Celtics beat the Hornets. If the Raptors win, they'll be a full game ahead of the Sixers.

The Sixers should have no problem taking care of the Zombie Milwaukee Bucks in the final game of the regular season, but they have a tough back-to-back coming up against the Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

The Pacers have been frisky as of late now that Pascal Siakam is back in the fold, so they can only hope that the Pacers hold him out. Joel Embiid presumably won't play in both of those games, so the Sixers need to be strategic about how they deploy him.

What happens with the Raptors, Heat and Hornets on Tuesday could go a long way toward determining how they approach that back-to-back.

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Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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