{"id":231712,"date":"2026-04-14T20:02:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231712\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T20:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:02:20","slug":"orlando-magic-make-final-play-in-prep-ahead-of-facing-sixers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231712\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando Magic make final play-in prep ahead of facing Sixers"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The last time Anthony Black<\/a> stepped onto the court inside Xfinity Mobile Arena<\/a>, the young Magic<\/a> guard scorched the Sixers<\/a> with 31 points and four 3-pointers during a 41-point Orlando<\/a> road victory.<\/p>\n

But that was four months ago and a lot has changed since then.<\/p>\n

For starters, Philadelphia<\/a> went onto win the third and final regular-season meeting between the Eastern Conference sides. That tiebreaker combined with Orlando\u2019s five-point loss Sunday at Boston are part of the reason why the Magic find themselves on the road rather than at home for the Nos. 7-8 game of the NBA play-in tournament.<\/p>\n

The winner on Wednesday night secures the No. 7 seed in the playoffs and the loser gets a second crack at advancing Friday against the winner of Tuesday night\u2019s Nos. 9-10 game (Charlotte or Miami).<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows what\u2019s at stake,\u201d Black said after the Magic practiced Tuesday on the campus of Saint Joseph\u2019s University. \u201cWe\u2019re just super excited to come out and play meaningful basketball to try and get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black described the energy and vibes of practice as good despite what occurred Sunday against the Celtics. Magic coach Jamahl Mosley<\/a> made it clear Orlando is focused on what it needs to do Wednesday rather than the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cShake it off,\u201d Mosley said about the Game 82 loss. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to bounce back. You learn from it, look at the film and you can\u2019t get it back. You\u2019ve got to go on and take care of this play-in game right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play-in is nothing new for the Magic. It\u2019s how they reached the playoffs last year, beating the Hawks in the Nos. 7-8 game at Kia Center. The winner of Wednesday\u2019s game will face off in the first round of the playoffs against the No. 2 Celtics, who eliminated Orlando in just five games last postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stakes are the same as last year\u2019s play-in, but this year we\u2019re on the road so it\u2019ll be a little different,\u201d Black said. \u201cI think it\u2019s fun though. It could be an area of growth for us before we start the playoffs, playing on the road in a postseason game against a good team. It\u2019ll be a good experience for us and we\u2019ll come out ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding a way to win on the road would be considered an area of growth for the Magic, because it\u2019s something they\u2019ve failed to accomplish in the playoffs the last two years under Mosley.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Orlando lost all four games on the road to the Cavaliers, including the series-deciding Game 7. A year ago, the Magic dropped three road games and one home game to Boston.<\/p>\n

If anything can give the Magic a positive outlook on Wednesday\u2019s game, it\u2019s the fact that Philadelphia is expected to be without five-time All-NBA center Joel Embiid, who underwent a successful appendectomy last week.<\/p>\n

The Sixers are still led by two-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey, six-time All-NBA forward Paul George and No. 3 draft pick VJ Edgecombe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Embiid being out, it starts with Maxey,\u201d Mosley said. \u201cIt\u2019s his ability to create shots for himself but also for others. \u2026 They\u2019ve got a lot of guys who can go score the ball so we\u2019ve got to make sure we\u2019re sitting down and guarding our yard keeping them out of the paint but also contesting all their shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orlando is also dealing with a pair of injuries to its depth. Jonathan Isaac (left knee sprain) and Jett Howard (left ankle sprain) were both on the court Tuesday and went through some movement, but still no contact work yet, Mosley said.<\/p>\n

Regardless of who\u2019s available, Black and the rest of the Magic feel confident entering Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like every time we play them, I like what I see out there,\u201d he said about the Sixers. \u201cI feel confident and aggressive going downhill playing in transition, and I\u2019ve been open a lot against them from the 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I think just being ready to shoot, attacking downhill and making the right play, playing really good defense will be my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next \u2026<\/p>\n

Magic at 76ers, play-in tournament<\/p>\n

When:\u00a07:30 p.m., Wednesday, Xfinity Mobile Arena<\/p>\n

TV:\u00a0Prime Video<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The last time Anthony Black stepped onto the court inside Xfinity Mobile Arena, the young Magic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,2295,139,141,1239,140,109,76046,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-231712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-social","15":"tag-social-sports","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}