![\"Tyrese](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2245917474-e1763750939201.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Tyrese Maxey erupts for career-high 54 points against Milwaukee Bucks<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> did their part on Sunday night by pulling out a 126-106 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the Sixers didn\u2019t get the outside help they needed to move up to the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference and secure a spot in the postseason outright. Instead, they\u2019ll host the Orlando Magic<\/a> in the Play-In Tournament on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n The Magic are a team that the Sixers are pretty familiar with as the two teams met three times during the regular season. Philadelphia won two out of those three matchups, including the most recent in January.<\/p>\n Tyrese Maxey Knows Orlando Will Be a \u2018Tough\u2019 Test for Sixers in Play-In Tournament<\/p>\n Despite this though, Sixers star guard Tyrese Maxey<\/a> knows that knocking off Orlando won\u2019t be an easy task, especially since the Sixers likely won\u2019t have the services of star center Joel Embiid<\/a>, who is recovering after undergoing an emergency appendectomy.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, they\u2019re a tough team,\u201d Maxey said of Orlando<\/a>. \u201cThey won like five straight, five or six straight prior to right now. They\u2019re getting guys back, and they\u2019re a playoff team. They\u2019ve been in the playoffs the last couple years. They know how to play. They have very good talent, and they\u2019re well coached. So, it\u2019s gonna be a good challenge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Maxey is no stranger when it comes to postseason play, but for rookie guard V.J. Edgecombe, the matchup with Orlando will be his first playoff-like game, and he\u2019s excited about the opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to just going out there and play,\u201d Edgecombe said. \u201cThe last time they played here, we know the score. I say, you know. We know they\u2019re a good team. We got to come out\u2014even though they just lost us now, they got to prove something also. It\u2019s just best team win. I think that\u2019ll be it. Just the best team win.\u201d<\/p>\n Heading into the matchup with Philadelphia, the Magic have been playing some solid basketball. Orlando won seven of its final 10 games to close out the regular season. Meanwhile the Sixers went 6-4 over that same stretch.<\/p>\n Philadelphia\u2019s Path to the Postseason<\/p>\n With a win over Orlando, the Sixers will secure the seventh seed in the East and set up a first-round playoff matchup with the rival Boston Celtics<\/a>, who are the conference\u2019s second seed.<\/p>\n But, if the Sixers lose to Orlando, all hope isn\u2019t lost. In that scenario, they would then play the winner of the other Play-In game between the Charlotte Hornets<\/a> and Miami Heat<\/a>. The winner of that game would secure the No. 8 seed in the conference and a first-round meeting with the top-seeded Detroit Pistons<\/a>. So basically the Sixers will have two chances to get one win.<\/p>\n It\u2019s debatable whether the Celtics or Pistons would be a better matchup for Philadelphia, but at this point it\u2019s all about getting into the dance and giving themselves a chance. The Sixers can\u2019t worry about who their potential opponent might be. Doing so could cause them to overlook the task at hand.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Kaskey-Blomain<\/a> Michael Kaskey-Blomain is an experienced sports media member covering the NBA and NFL for Heavy. He has been in the industry for well over a decade with previous stops including the Philadelphia Inquirer and CBS Sports. Michael also serves as a Philadelphia 76ers reporter and insider for ESPN 97.3 and an NBA and NFL contributor for The Sporting News. More about Michael Kaskey-Blomain<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Sixers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Tyrese Maxey erupts for career-high 54 points against Milwaukee Bucks The Philadelphia 76ers did their part on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[7,48,6,47,76,3883],"class_list":{"0":"post-709471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-magic","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-magic","13":"tag-orlandomagic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116396042528723054","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}