The Sixers Just Had a (Nearly) Perfect Night

The Sixers took care of business against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, as expected. But their game wasn't the only one with major playoff implications for them.

The Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors opened the night as the fifth and sixth seeds in the Eastern Conference, respectively. The seventh-seeded Sixers were 1.5 games behind the Hawks and one game behind the Raptors. They were one game ahead of the Orlando Magic and 1.5 games ahead of both the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat.

The Hawks and Magic were facing one another, so either way, one of those teams was going to win and one was going to lose. The Sixers might have preferred a Hawks loss to a Magic loss since they're ahead of the Magic and hold the season tiebreaker over them, but the Hawks giving the Sixers more separation from the Magic is a solid silver lining.

The Heat took on the Boston Celtics at home and got routed from the jump. The Celtics put their feet on the Heat's throat with a 53-point first quarter and never looked back. The Heat are now 2.5 games behind the Sixers with only a few games left to play, although they do hold the tiebreaker over Philly.

The one presumably sure thing was that the Raptors would take care of business at home against the Sacramento Kings despite being on the second night of a back-to-back. But with both Brandon Ingram and Immanuel Quickley sidelined, the Raptors couldn't keep up with a 28-point, 19-rebound revenge game from Precious Achiuwa. They lost 123-115, which pushed the Raptors into a tie record-wise with the Sixers.

The Sixers and Raptors split the season series two games apiece, and neither one is going to finish as the division leader, so division record is the next tiebreaker. The Sixers hold a massive advantage in that category (9-7 vs. 4-10), so they hold the tiebreaker over Toronto.

That means as of now, heading into the morning of April 2, the Sixers are currently the No. 6 seed in the East.

Can the Sixers hold on to a top-six seed?

The Raptors blew one of their three easiest remaining games based on opponent quality by losing to the Kings. They should pick up a win in Memphis on Friday, but a road trip two days later to Boston isn't likely to end well for them. How they fare in a two-game homestand against Miami next week will go a long way toward determining where both teams end up seeding-wise.

The Hawks also have a gimme on Friday against the Brooklyn Nets before their schedule toughens up. They host the New York Knicks on April 6, head to Cleveland on April 8, welcome the Cavs back in Atlanta two days later and finish the regular season in Miami.

Both the Hawks and Raptors are likely to get to 45 wins at least, although the Raptors' loss against Sacramento could jeopardize that. They need to win their games against Memphis and Brooklyn and grab at least one win in the Boston-Miami-Miami-New York stretch.

The Sixers are now headed into a brutal five-game stretch as well. They start with a home game Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who just got Anthony Edwards back from an injury but just lost Jaden McDaniels. The following night, they face the East-leading Detroit Pistons, albeit without Cade Cunningham.

Then the Sixers begin a three-game road trip, the first stop of which comes against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. Three nights later, they visit Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets, and they follow up the next night with a trip to Indiana. And lest you haven't noticed, Pascal Siakam has randomly decided to play a few games lately and has wreaked havoc every time.

If the Sixers can go 3-2 or better over that stretch, they'll put some real pressure on Atlanta and Toronto to keep on winning as well. That should also all but lock them into at least the 7-8 matchup in the play-in tournament at worst, if not the No. 7 seed outright. That would give them two home games (if needed) to win their way into the playoffs.

Thursday is light in terms of playoff implications for them—the Suns-Hornets game is the only thing that really matters—but Friday is full of trap games for the other middle-tier East teams. Could the Hornets get stung by the Pacers on the second night of a back-to-back? Could Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks trip up the Magic? Will the Raptors lose to their second straight tanking team?

A win against Minnesota on Friday coupled with a few unexpected losses from their competitors could go a long way toward helping the Sixers clinch a guaranteed playoff spot with a top-six seed.

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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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