Orlando Magic Daily
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Orlando Magic’s playoff hopes tied to besting Miami Heat

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Evan Fournier's upcoming free agency presents a dilemma for the Orlando Magic. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Evan Fournier's upcoming free agency presents a dilemma for the Orlando Magic. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Nikola Vucevic, Orlando Magic
MIAMI, FLORIDA – MARCH 26: Nikola Vucevic #9 of the Orlando Magic celebrates a three pointer against the Miami Heat in the second half at American Airlines Arena on March 26, 2019 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

The Orlando Magic’s win over the Miami Heat on Tuesday set the team up to make the playoffs. Now they just have to stay at least tied with Miami.

The race to get the final three spots in the Eastern Conference Playoffs is a bit clustered.

Five teams are within three games of sixth in the Eastern Conference. A simple two- or three-game win streak is enough to shoot a team up the standings and into a favorable position. Just like a two- or three-game losing streak could have a team falling completely out of the picture too.

That puts a lot of pressure on every single game. Every single day really is filled with tense scoreboard-watching as every day there seems to be some kind of movement.

This week proved to be a big one for the Orlando Magic.

They finished a perfect five-game homestand Monday that put them squarely back in the playoff picture. They are now merely looking to survive a four-game road trip, starting off with a monumental win over the Miami Heat on the road that put the team temporarily in the pole position for the final playoff spot.

The Orlando Magic could not keep the momentum going, falling to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday to fall back a half-game out of the final Playoff spot thanks to the Miami Heat’s win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Between the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons, there will be a lot to pay attention to in the final weeks of the season. The Magic trail the Nets by only one game for seventh. So the Magic are not chasing the Heat. At least, not entirely.

The most important thing for Orlando is to take care of its own business and win games. Nothing else matters if the Magic do not continue winning and get closer and closer to .500, which is increasingly what it looks like it will take to get into the playoffs.

There are still a lot of things that can happen before the end of the season. The standings will continue to jumble and change on an almost daily basis.

But there is another game to play and watch as those standings happen. Eventually, every team will get to 82 games and the possibility for there to be a few ties at the end of the season seems somewhat likely.

FiveThirtyEight currently projects the Detroit Pistons to finish with 42 wins, the Brooklyn Nets with 40, the Orlando Magic with 40, the Miami Heat with 39 and the Charlotte Hornets with 38. That would make the Magic the seventh seed in the East according to the NBA’s tiebreaking procedures.

Regardless of how much you believe in those statistical projections, it is clear this is a tight race that will come down to the season’s final day.

So what happens if there is a tie? These tiebreaking procedures very well could be vital to understand and watch as the regular season winds down.

But one thing is abundantly clear, the Magic’s win over the Heat put them in a very good position to make the playoffs . . . provided they stay ahead of the Heat in the standings or tie them on the final day of the season.

A review of the tiebreaking procedures explains why.