The fight for the 6th seed

[eyeatoma]

You forget Orlando has 3 games remaining. If the only win 1 of the next 3, and we win both our remaining, we end up with the same record. Who has the tie breaker between Orlando and Philly?

Philly won both their games against the magic this year.

The Bucks win games with just Lillard and no Giannis... They struggle the other way around. I imagine the Bucks get at least one of those games. Philly then takes care of business Friday.

Orlando needs to lose out. If we're tied they we get the 7th seed because they win their division. Dumb rule.

[Murray_17]

Orlando needs to lose out. If we're tied they we get the 7th seed because they win their division. Dumb rule.

If we have a triple tie with them and the Pacers, if we tie only with Orlando we get 6th because we have the tiebreaker.

It will be better to get the 6th seed because we avoid the variance of the play in but we should be able to beat the Heat too, their offense is 21th for god sake

[eyeatoma]

Orlando needs to lose out. If we're tied they we get the 7th seed because they win their division. Dumb rule.

If we have a triple tie with them at the Pacers, if we tie only with Orlando we get 6th because we have the tiebreaker.

It will be better to get the 6th seed because we avoid the variance of the play in but we should be able to beat the Heat too, their offense is 21th for god sake

Ah, gotcha.

[kuclas]

Philly won both their games against the magic this year.

The Bucks win games with just Lillard and no Giannis... They struggle the other way around. I imagine the Bucks get at least one of those games. Philly then takes care of business Friday.

Orlando needs to lose out. If we're tied they we get the 7th seed because they win their division. Dumb rule.

I’m confuse. Sixers would lose in a 3 way tie.

But if magic and sixers are the ones tied say 47-35. The first tiebreaker is head to head. And sixers would be 3-0.

[Murray_17]

Also, no chance the Magic lose the last Bucks game. I'm pretty sure the Bucks would give Lillard a rest too at that point

[eyeatoma]

The Bucks win games with just Lillard and no Giannis... They struggle the other way around. I imagine the Bucks get at least one of those games. Philly then takes care of business Friday.

Orlando needs to lose out. If we're tied they we get the 7th seed because they win their division. Dumb rule.

I’m confuse. Sixers would lose in a 3 way tie.

But if magic and sixers are the ones tied say 47-35. The first tiebreaker is head to head. And sixers would be 3-0.

Orlando wins the division in a 3 way tie, and that trumps record apparently.

[blazehound]

Orlando needs to lose out. If we're tied they we get the 7th seed because they win their division. Dumb rule.

I’m confuse. Sixers would lose in a 3 way tie.

But if magic and sixers are the ones tied say 47-35. The first tiebreaker is head to head. And sixers would be 3-0.

Orlando wins the division in a 3 way tie, and that trumps record apparently.

Divisions are completely meaningless in the NBA. That tiebreaker needs to go after this season.

[Mik317]

none of this is going to matter when we lose to the Nets last game lol

[eyeatoma]

none of this is going to matter when we lose to the Nets last game lol

Let's chill with the debby downer schtick at times Mik. Did you jerk off like I suggested last game?

[kuclas]

Orlando needs to lose out. If we're tied they we get the 7th seed because they win their division. Dumb rule.

I’m confuse. Sixers would lose in a 3 way tie.

But if magic and sixers are the ones tied say 47-35. The first tiebreaker is head to head. And sixers would be 3-0.

Orlando wins the division in a 3 way tie, and that trumps record apparently.

So only in a 3 way tie would the sixers not make the 6 seed (assuming they would beat magic Friday )

That would get interesting because if Indiana loses vs Cleveland.

That does setup the situation Sunday where magic , Indiana and sixers will all likely have identical records

Bucks would be in the 2 slot with a knicks lost to Boston

So the bucks would incentive to win vs magic Sunday. If they lose to the magic. They get the sixers/heat.

[76ciology]

none of this is going to matter when we lose to the Nets last game lol

From how the Nets are playing recently. Nets arent playing to win, most of them are just ready for vacation.

[FlyingArrow]

Yep - that looks right. If the Sixers win these last two games, they get out of the play-in unless it's a 3-way tie. If they lose to the Magic, the Sixers are in the play-in. If they beat the Magic but lose to the Nets, they can still end up with a 6 seed, but it would require several other games to all fall the right way.

Looking at all this - the Pacers are almost safe from the play-in. I only see one scenario where they don't make it, but if they do fall to the play-in, they fall all the way to the 8 seed. For that to happen all 7 of the remaining relevant games would have to go exactly the wrong way for the Pacers.

Sixers 2-0:
If Cavs not 0-2:
If Pacers 2-0, then Sixers are 6 seed. (Possibly tied with Magic, but Sixers win tiebreaker.)
If Pacers 0-2, then Sixers are 5 seed. (Possibly tied with Magic, but Sixers win tiebreaker.)
If Pacers 1-1 and Magic 0-2, then Sixers are 6 seed. (Tied with Pacers and lose tiebreaker.)
If Pacers 1-1 and Magic 1-1, then Sixers are 7 seed. (3-way tie with Pacers and Magic. Magic win the tie because they are division winners, and then Sixers lose to Pacers head-to-head.)

If Cavs are 0-2, they are also tied with Sixers:
If Pacers 2-0 and Magic 0-2, then Sixers are 5 seed. (Sixers win tiebreaker over Cavs.)
If Pacers 2-0 and Magic 1-1, then Sixers are 6 seed. (Magic win 3-way tie as division winners. Sixers win tiebreaker over Cavs based on conference record.)
If Pacers 1-1 and Magic 0-2, then Sixers are 5 seed. (3-way tie with Pacers and Cavs***. Pacers win the 3-way tie to take the 4 seed. Sixers beat Cavs based on conference record to take the 5 seed.)
If Pacers 1-1 and Magic 1-1, then Sixers are 6 seed. (4-way tie with the Pacers, Magic, and Cavs. Magic win 4-way tie for 4 seed because they are division winners. 3-way tie with Pacers and Cavs resolves as above. Pacers, then Sixers, then Cavs.)

Sixers 1-1 (beat Magic, lose to Nets):
If Magic 1-1, then Sixers are 7/8 seed.
If Magic 0-2, Pacers 1-1 or better, and either Heat 0-2 or Heat 1-1, then Sixers are 6 seed. (Tied with Magic and win tiebreaker.)
If Magic 0-2, Pacers 0-2, and either Heat 0-2 or Heat 1-1, then Sixers are 7 seed. (Same tie as above, where it's first Magic, then Pacers, then Sixers.)
If Magic 0-2 Heat 2-0, and Pacers not 0-2, then it's a 3-way tie with the Magic and the Heat.* Pacers aren't in the tie and are the 5 seed. Heat get 6 seed, Sixers get 7 seed, Magic get 8 seed.
If Magic 0-2, Heat 2-0, and Pacers 0-2, then it's a 4-way tie with Pacers/Sixers/Heat/Magic.** Heat are 5 seed, Sixers are 6 seed, Magic are 7 seed, Pacers are 8 seed.

Sixers 1-1 (lose to Magic): Sixers are 7/8 seed (can't beat Magic or Pacers)

Sixers 0-2: Sixers are 7/8 seed (can't beat Magic or Pacers)

===

* 3-way tiebreaker with Heat and Magic. Division leaders go first. Heat and Magic tie for division lead, and Heat win the tiebreaker to win the division. Then Sixers win the tiebreaker versus the Magic.
Heat 2-1 vs Sixers, 3-1 vs Magic. 5-2 overall.
Sixers 3-0 vs Magic, 1-2 vs Heat. 4-2 overall.
Magic 0-3 vs Sixers, 1-3 vs Heat. 1-6 overall.

** 4-way tiebreaker with Pacers, Heat and Magic. Division leaders go first. Heat and Magic tie for division lead, and Heat win the tiebreaker to win the division and the 5 seed. Now that the Magic aren't division winners, Sixers win the 3-way tie among the Magic, Pacers, and Sixers. (Note that they lose this exact same tie is the scenario above where the Magic are the division winners.) Then Magic beat the Pacers in the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Heat 2-1 vs Sixers, 3-1 vs Magic, 1-2 vs Pacers.
Sixers 3-0 vs Magic, 1-2 vs Heat, 1-2 vs Pacers.
Magic 0-3 vs Sixers, 1-3 vs Heat, 2-1 vs Pacers.
Pacers 2-1 vs Sixers, 1-2 vs Magic, 2-1 vs Heat.

Sixers 3-0 vs Magic, 1-2 vs Pacers. 4-2 overall.
Magic 0-3 vs Sixers, 2-1 vs Pacers. 2-4 overall.
Pacers 2-1 vs Sixers, 1-2 vs Magic. 3-3 overall.

*** 3-way tiebreaker with Pacers and Cavs. No division leader.
Sixers 1-2 vs Pacers, 2-2 vs Cavs. 3-4 overall.
Pacers 2-1 vs Sixers, 3-1 vs Cavs. 5-2 overall.
Cavs 2-2 vs Sixers, 1-3 vs Pacers. 3-5 overall.

===
EDIT: If the Cavaliers go 0-2, they could also end up in a tie with the Sixers. That's another way the Sixers could end up in a 3-way tie that they lose. I hadn't included those possibilities. In a 2-way tie, the Sixers would beat the Cavs. H-2-H, it was 2-2. Neither is a division winner, and they are not in the same division, so it goes to conference record. Cavs currently have a better conference record, but if we end up tied it's because Sixers go 2-0 while Cavs go 0-2, at which point the Sixers would win the tiebreaker.

[eyeatoma]

Here is another good breakdown.

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[Jailblazers7]

Didn’t realize that division winner is the ultimate tie breaker. Would be pretty lame if we’re 3-0 against them head-to-head but we still lose the tie break.

[FlyingArrow]

Didn’t realize that division winner is the ultimate tie breaker. Would be pretty lame if we’re 3-0 against them head-to-head but we still lose the tie break.

It's weirder than that. H2H is first tiebreaker in a two way tie. Division winner goes first in 3 way tie.

[Stanford]

This gives me a stomach ache

[phillynative]

This gives me a stomach ache

And a headache

[Negrodamus]

While the play-in game would be annoying, wouldn't it be better to get the Bucks sooner rather than later?

[Arsenal]

While the play-in game would be annoying, wouldn't it be better to get the Bucks sooner rather than later?

Agree. Much rather face Bucks with a hobbled Giannis than Knicks.

[eyeatoma]

This gives me a stomach ache

Simple...

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