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All the postseason seeding scenarios for Hawks, Raptors, Magic, 76ers for last day of NBA regular season
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- All the postseason seeding scenarios for Hawks, Raptors, Magic, 76ers for last day of NBA regular season
All the postseason seeding scenarios for Hawks, Raptors, Magic, 76ers for last day of NBA regular season appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Eastern Conference playoff race entering the final day has compressed into a highly entertaining battle between four teams. The Atlanta Hawks , who enter the final as the No. 5th seed, are the only team out of them, the Toronto Raptors , the Orlando Magic and the Philadelphia 76ers guaranteed of a playoff spot .
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All others can drop down (or rise up) and clinch the No. 6 spot, with multiple scenarios possible where the Raptors actually enter the postseason as the No. 5 seed, per a post by John Hollinger. All four teams are separated by just two games, with Atlanta holding the advantage as they take on the Miami Heat for their final game.
Handy East 5-thru-8 chart for Sunday— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger.bsky.social) 2026-04-11T06:37:08.978Z
As things stand, if Atlanta loses and the Raptors win their final game (against the Brooklyn Nets ), with the Magic losing their final game as well, they will be the ones going in as the No. 5 seed regardless of what the 76ers do against the Milwaukee Bucks in their final game of the regular season. Further, even with a loss, Atlanta can still finish fifth if both Toronto and Orlando win due to a three-way tiebreaker advantage via the Southeast Division title.
Moving on, Toronto has at least one scenario in which they finish in any of the 5-8 seeds. A win over Brooklyn, combined with an Atlanta loss, elevates them to the No. 5 seed, leveraging their head-to-head advantage over the Hawks.
More critically, Toronto can clinch a guaranteed top-six playoff spot simply with a win or losses by both Orlando and Philadelphia . Their vulnerability lies in multi-team tie scenarios. While they own tiebreakers over Atlanta and Orlando, they lose the head-to-head against Philadelphia, which becomes decisive in three-way ties involving the Sixers.
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Orlando (45–36) faces the steepest path due to tiebreaker disadvantages across the board. They lose head-to-head against all three competing teams, and the only path to the No. 6 seed requires a win over the Celtics and a Toronto loss.
Essentially, only Atlanta enters the final day guaranteed a direct playoff spot, and each of the other three teams will need help from the others to get the other guaranteed spot.
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