The Sixers’ brief hold of a top-six seed in the East ended Saturday when they got blown out by the Detroit Pistons on the second night of a back-to-back. They’re now a half-game back of the Toronto Raptors for the No. 6 seed and a game ahead of the eighth-seeded Charlotte Hornets, 1.5 games ahead of the ninth-seeded Orlando Magic and two games ahead of the 10th-seeded Miami Heat.<\/p>\n
As fate would have it, three of those four teams are active Sunday, and all three project to be competitive games.<\/p>\n
While the Sixers’ loss to the Timberwolves hurt, they have the chance to gain some much-needed separation on Sunday from at least one of those three teams. With only a few games left in the regular season, every bit helps.<\/p>\n
So, while the Sixers aren’t in action Sunday, the outcome of three games in particular will go a long way toward deciding their postseaon fate.<\/p>\n
Raptors at Celtics, 3:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
This is the single most important game of the day for the Sixers.<\/p>\n
If the Raptors lose\u2014they’re nearly double-digit underdogs going into the game\u2014the Sixers would move right back into the No. 6 seed. The Raptors would tumble to No. 7, and the Hornets could get within a half-game of them with a win later that night. (More on that later.)<\/p>\n
Both teams are heading into this game at relatively full strength. Raptors starting point guard Immanuel Quickley is out with plantar fasciitis, while Celtics center Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 is out with a finger fracture. That’s about it. <\/p>\n
As disgusting as it might feel, Sixers fans have to be pulling for the Celtics on Sunday. They’e all but certainly going to be the No. 2 seed in the East, so if the Sixers slip into the play-in tournament and win the first game, guess who their first-round opponent would be? <\/p>\n
As fun as it might be to watch the Celtics crush the Sixers in the playoffs again\u2026 wait, no, that’s not right. That would be awful. Just about anything else would be preferable to that.<\/p>\n
Pacers at Cavaliers, 6 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
This game isn’t directly related to the Sixers’ playoff chances, although a surprise Pacers win here might all but lock the Cavaliers into the No. 4 seed. That would ensure they’re on the other side of the playoff bracket unless the Sixers get the eighth seed instead of the sixth or seventh.<\/p>\n
The bigger curiosity is the Pacers, who’ve vacillated between showing an occasional pulse lately and still getting annihilated like a typical tanking team. The Sixers face the Pacers on the second night of a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday\u2014side note: how in the hell are there still back-to-backs in the final four days of the regular season\u2014so it’s worth keeping an eye on how seriously they’d need to approach that game.<\/p>\n
The good news is that Paul George just played in both legs of a back-to-back for the first time all season over the weekend. The bad news is that the Sixers still got annihilated without Joel Embiid. <\/p>\n
Unless he’s surprisingly cleared to play in both legs of a back-to-back for the first time all season, they’ll have to choose whether to play him against Houston or Indiana. The Pacers are more of a sure-thing victory if he does play, but they might get greedy and play him against Houston hoping to pick up both wins anyway.<\/p>\n
The Pacers’ next few games should go a long way toward revealing if that might work.<\/p>\n
Hornets at Timberwolves, 7 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
The Hornets have been one of the NBA’s hottest teams since the calendar flipped to 2026. They’re 31-14 over that span with a league-best plus-11.4 net rating<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Timberwolves have lost three of their past four games, all of which came against either the Pistons or the Sixers. They’re only 9-8 since the start of March. If momentum matters heading into the playoffs, that wouldn’t bode well for them.<\/p>\n Jaden McDaniels (knee) is out for this game, while Anthony Edwards (knee) is questionable. If Edwards sits, the Hornets should be runaway favorites in this game. Otherwise, this projects to be a tossup that slightly favors the Hornets. <\/p>\n A Hornets loss here would put them 1.5 games behind the Sixers, and the Sixers hold the tiebreaker over them as well. The Hornets next head to Boston to take on the Celtics, too, so they might not be done tumbling if they lose to the Timberwolves.<\/p>\n Magic at Pelicans, 7 p.m. ET<\/p>\n Here’s the deal with the Pelicans this year: They resemble an actual NBA team when Dejounte Murray plays, but they’re often cannon fodder whenever he sits. (See: their loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday.) <\/p>\n Murray is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Magic (left hand), as is Trey Murphy III (right ankle). On Orlando’s side, Anthony Black (abdominal) and Jonathan Isaac (knee sprain) are the only two rotation players sidelined at the moment, along with a pair of G Leaguers.<\/p>\n The Pelicans went 5-1 over a six-game stretch in March, which included a pair of wins over the L.A. Clippers and a win over the Raptors. They have lost seven straight games since then, although six of those games came against teams in the postseason picture.<\/p>\n If Murray plays, the Pelicans could have a real shot of winning this game even though the Magic recently got Franz Wagner back from a high ankle sprain. <\/p>\n Sign up for our free newsletter and follow us on X<\/a> and Bluesky<\/a> for the latest news.<\/p>\n Unless otherwise noted, all stats via\u00a0NBA.com<\/a>, PBPStats<\/a>, Cleaning the Glass<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Basketball Reference<\/a>. All salary information via Spotrac<\/a> and salary-cap information via RealGM<\/a>.<\/p>\n