After an absolute rollercoaster of a regular campaign for the Philadelphia 76ers, we have finally made it to the postseason.
When the dust finally settled on the final games in the Eastern Conference on Sunday, the Sixers ended up as the No. 7 seed with a record of 45-37. With that finish, Philadelphia is set to host the No. 8 seed Orlando Magic in the first round of the Play-In Tournament this Wednesday night. The winner earns their spot in the playoffs to face the Boston Celtics in the first round.
The loser of the contest will have one more chance to continue on, facing the eventual winner of the No. 10 Miami Heat vs. No. 9 Charlotte Hornets game for the final playoff spot in the East. But let’s just take things one game at a time. Especially when it comes to the Sixers, we all know how quickly things can change.
What is certain is that the Sixers are facing a chance to go directly to the playoffs out of the first game of the Play-In on Wednesday when the Magic come to South Philadelphia.
The Sixers won two of three contests against Orlando this season. They had a pair of meetings before the calendar even turned to 2026, so no one would blame you for not remembering much about the dynamic between these two squads this season. But, with their most crucial meetup of the campaign still to come in the Play-In, let’s take a look back at how the teams have fared against one another thus far, and how those results may be reflected in Wednesday’s contest.
Oct. 27, 2025 – Sixers 136, Magic 124
The first time these two squads met was way back in October 2025. It was the third game of the season for the Sixers and the fourth for the Magic. It all feels like a lifetime ago now, which is why it’s important to not only consider the outcomes of these meetings but also the context surrounding each.
Orlando was well-equipped for this first matchup with Philly, with their top six per-game scorers for 2025-26 all available: Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane, Anthony Black, Jalen Suggs and Wendell Carter Jr.
The Sixers, meanwhile, were without Joel Embiid and Paul George, with George having yet to make his season debut. The starting five were Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., VJ Edgecombe, Adem Bona and Jabari Walker. It was the first starts of the campaign for both Bona and Walker.
The Sixers were able to jump out to an early advantage in this one and held the lead almost the entire game, with the Magic leading by just two points in the first quarter and never holding another advantage for the rest of the contest. Philadelphia reached their largest lead of 15 points just before halftime. Despite letting the Magic claw back within just two points midway through the final frame, the Sixers were able to slam the door shut from there to secure the win and start their season 3-0.
The Magic were led by Banchero with 32 points and Bane with 24.
There were a few factors at play that ultimately separated the Sixers from the Magic on this night. One was Maxey simply putting up a massive night with 43 points — his highest mark of the entire 2025-26 campaign for a game that ended in regulation — including eight straight in the closing minutes of the fourth frame to put the final nail in the Magic’s coffin. It was already his second 40+ point game to begin the season. He also had eight assists.
Other leaders for Philadelphia that night were Edgecombe, who had an efficient 26-point game on 10-for-17 field goal shooting, and Oubre, who had a 25-point, 10-rebound double-double with a steal and two blocks.
Another defining factor was that the Sixers had one of their better nights from beyond the arc, with the team shooting 14-for-33 (42.4%). Six Philly players sank at least one triple, with five of them sinking at least two.
Last but not least, the Sixers were able to limit their own turnovers while taking advantage of the Magic’s. Philly put up 20 points off 13 Orlando turnovers, while the Magic converted just nine points from the Sixers’ six turnovers.
So, a big night from Maxey, limiting sloppiness, taking advantage of the Magic’s mistakes and hitting some shots from long range. That’s not too much to ask for again, is it?
Well, for what it’s worth, six turnovers in that October contest ended up tying two other games for the Sixers’ lowest turnover count across this entire season. In terms of the three-point shooting, 42.4% ended up their 13th-best night from beyond the arc in terms of accuracy and the Sixers notched 14 or more threes in just 31 of 82 contests in 2025-26.
Nov. 25, 2025 (NBA Cup) – Magic 144, Sixers 103
Not a pretty score, huh? The 41-point defeat at the hands of Orlando was Philadelphia’s second-worst loss of the season, only outdone by the New York Knicks crushing the Sixers by 49 back in February.
That being said, there is some important context to consider for this NBA Cup blowout. The Sixers, hamstrung by injuries at that point, started Maxey, Dominick Barlow, Quentin Grimes, Andre Drummond and Justin Edwards. No Embiid, no George, no Edgecombe. We even saw first period minutes from Eric Gordon, which should tell you all you need to know.
The Magic were without Banchero, dealing with an injury of his own at that point of the season, but they still had a number of their other top-scorers for the year at their disposal such as Franz Wagner, Black and Suggs.
Things were knotted at 25 apiece after the first quarter, but quickly went downhill for the Sixers as the Magic dropped 51 points on them in the second creating a 26-point deficit at halftime. It wasn’t pretty, and it didn’t even look like it was taking much effort from Orlando to run circles around the Philly lineup.
Black had established his dominance early on in the game with 27 first-half points off the bench with some incredible 10-for-14 field goal and 4-for-5 long range shooting. Suggs already had 11 assists at the break, matching the Sixers’ team total for the first half. Philadelphia also only had two scorers in double-digits by halftime: Maxey with 15 points and Jared McCain with 13 points off the bench.
Philly all but waved a white flag from there, with Maxey playing just 10 minutes of the second half with extended time on the floor being given to players like Gordon, Walker, Johni Broome and Hunter Sallis. No offense to those guys, but they aren’t exactly the players you have out there if you’re really desperate to win.
A 41-point loss is a 41-point loss, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know how much stock I’d put in this game being a relevant comparison of these squads… especially with the rotations looking worlds different than they will this week.
Jan. 9, 2026 – Sixers 103, Magic 91
The final matchup of the regular season between Philadelphia and Orlando back in January featured the Sixers’ lineup closest resembling full strength of the three meetings. The 76ers had Embiid, PG, Maxey and Edgecombe available to start, with the only injury unavailability being Trendon Watford and with Kelly Oubre Jr. coming off the bench for limited minutes as it was just his second game back after nearly two months sidelined. Barlow started in Oubre’s place. The starting lineup of Barlow, Edgecombe, Embiid, George and Maxey actually ended up being the Sixers’ most used across the season, starting in 15 contests (with a record of 8-7).
The Magic’s main absences for this one were Franz Wagner and Suggs. Rookie Noah Penda started for the first time in his NBA career to help fill the gaps.
The Sixers struggled mightily throughout the first half of this one, but managed to keep the Magic from ever extending their lead into double-digits, partially through struggles of their own that we will get to in a moment. After halftime, Philly improved their horrendous shooting to at least somewhat-serviceable accuracy while the Magic went from bad to somehow much, much worse. That was enough to turn the tide on this one, allowing the Sixers to win the tiebreaking game of the series.
Remember how three-point shooting was an advantage for the Sixers’ in their early-season win over the Magic? Not so much the case here. Philadelphia went just 4-for-28 (14.3%) from long range in this one. It ended up the team’s second-worst game from beyond the arc all season. Fortunately, the issues were mutual between the Sixers and Magic, with Orlando putting up their second-worst three-point shooting game of the season at the same time sinking just 4-of-29 (13.8%) attempts.
It was truly just an ugly contest all around. The Sixers sucked, and the Magic sucked more. Sometimes that’s all it takes to win — suck a little bit less than your opponent.
Orlando had 10 first-half turnovers, ending up with 19 total in the game, tying their fifth-highest mark of the season. They put up just 12 points in the fourth quarter, sinking just four field goals the entire frame. Banchero himself struggled by his standards with just 14 points on 33.3% field goal shooting in the contest. The Magic’s strongest performances of the night came from Bane with 23 points and Black with 21.
This game was truly a tale of two halves in general, but especially so for Maxey. At halftime, he had just 12 points on abysmal 3-for-12 field goal and 0-for-4 three-point shooting. The second half was a different story, with the guard finally getting hot for 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the floor and going 3-for-4 from long range. He ended up leading the Sixers by the end of the game with those 29 points.
The interesting thing is that this performance from Maxey specifically feels relevant to Wednesday’s matchup. That is because, since his return from the pinky tendon injury, Maxey has had more than a few games where he has struggled for a half before getting into any sort of groove.
The major, seven-foot difference between the Sixers then vs. now, though, is the availability of Embiid. This contest came six games into the stretch across January into February within which Embiid played 18 of 21 possible games, only missing three that were part of back-to-backs and would mean him playing on zero days rest. That being said, the 22 points on 7-for-17 field goal shooting was actually a bit of a quiet night for Embiid during that time. During that 18-game stretch, he ended up averaging 30.1 points on 52.4% field goal shooting, so his performance against the Magic was far from his best. That being said, his 10 first-half points, though nothing impressive by Embiid’s standards, certainly helped the Sixers stay in this one when Maxey (and PG) struggled early.
And, of course, that’s not even mentioning how just having Embiid on the court changes an opponent’s game plan, the spacing created for his Sixers teammates and his effect in terms of defensive presence in the paint.
That’s the thing about these Sixer and Magic teams — they’ve both had rollercoaster regular seasons with a ton of moving parts in terms of player availability and, frankly, game results. Because of that, the most relevant game of the season between the two very well may be that first meeting, all the way back in October 2025. It was the only meeting of the series that was truly competitive NBA ball — not just a matter of one of the teams being wildly shorthanded or both teams completely forgetting how to shoot a basketball.
At least, the Sixers should hope it’s the most relevant. The Magic were at full-strength and competitive, looking to turn around their tough start to the season, likely in the way they will come into the Play-In hoping to right the wrongs that plagued them at the end of the season. They got good performances out of the likes of Banchero and Bane. It wasn’t simply a matter of them shooting like a middle school team. Still, the Sixers, without Embiid, were able to put up an impressive fight to snag the win through a widespread effort, good fundamentals and an excellent night from Maxey as their leader. Plus, they did it without PG. It’s the exact type of performance they should hope to mirror come Wednesday.
