New Philadelphia got its doors blown off in Milwaukee Sunday night. There was a brief run to make it a game, then the Bucks pulled ahead once again and never looked back.

The Sixers finish 2-2 against Giannis and company in the regular season, winning on the road at Fiserv Forum in March. You feel alright about how they match up with Milwaukee in games that actually matter, but you won’t get those unless the Sixers win two playoff rounds, because they’re pretty much locked into the three seed right now:

Remaining schedules:

  • Bucks: at Wizards, vs. Bulls, vs. Grizzlies, at Raptors
  • Celtics: at Sixers, vs. Raptors, vs. Raptors, vs. Hawks
  • Sixers: vs. Celtics, vs. Heat, at Hawks, at Nets
  • Cavs: at Magic, at Magic, vs. Hornets

The best Cleveland can do is 52-30, and the worst the Sixers can do is 51-31, so all Philly needs to do is win one of four to get to 52-30. That awards them the tiebreaker by virtue of a 2-1 regular series win against the Cavs.


Further down the standings, Brooklyn is holding the six seed and two games up on Miami, so both of those teams have something to play for. And Atlanta is jostling for play-in seeding, so that’s something to consider, in addition to the fact that the Sixers can also finish ahead of Denver, which would award home court in the Finals if they can make it there. It’s a big if.

But there’s still plenty to consider down the stretch. If they clinch the three seed, how many games do Embiid and Harden sit? Does that kill Joel’s chance of winning MVP? The play-in tournament is April 11th to 14th, then the first round begins on April 15th, so there will be five full days off between the Brooklyn finale and start of the postseason.