How the Orlando Magic can clinch the 7-seed: Tiebreaker and clinching scenarios explained

The dream for the Orlando Magic ended Friday night with the Detroit Pistons' win over the Toronto Raptors.

The Orlando Magic are officially locked into the Play-In Tournament, unable to catch the now-43-34 Detroit Pistons or the 42-34 Milwaukee Bucks for the 6-seed.

That is where things have been trending since the Magic hit rock bottom in January and February. The team has struggled to find its footing.

But things are looking up again. Orlando has won six of the team's last eight. The Orlando Magic have pulled a game ahead of the Atlanta Hawks for the 7-seed and the Southeast Division lead.

Entering the final week of the season, there is a lot still on the line. But the Magic are in the driver's seat.

"Obviously, we aren't locked into a spot yet, and we play Atlanta two more times," Franz Wagner said after Thursday's win over the Washington Wizards. Those are going to be really big games. I think it's going to be a good challenge for us. The way this season has gone, we still have a shot at the playoffs. I think that's exciting."

The countdown is indeed on to the end of the season. The Magic are right in the thick of the postseason race and still have a chance not only to win the division but also to host those critical Play-In games to get into the field.

They are small goals and not the ambitions the team had at the beginning of the season, but those are the highest goals they can achieve with the rest of their season. They are still worth pursuing.

But for now, the Magic have to sit and wait to start this final push for the season. They have four games remaining but will sit idle until Tuesday when they welcome the Hawks to the Kia Center. Atlanta, in the meantime, will play twice, making up the two games in hand this weekend. The Miami Heat will also make up their game in hand Saturday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The time off is necessary for this team to recover, refresh and focus for a difficult final four games (more on the schedule in a bit). But it is still nerve-wracking as the other teams around the league catch up in games played.

"It is very big to get our mind, our body and our spirit right going into these next couple games," coach Jamahl Mosley said after the Orlando Magic's win over the Washington Wizards. "Having four on the back end, just being able to focus on what we need to do, how we can continue to improve when we get back home and get the rest that's necessary."

So what will it take for the Magic to clinch the 7-seed?

The Magic control their own destiny now after scoring wins this week and some slips from the Hawks. But the margins are narrow entering the final week of the season.

The Magic Number

The standings are tight entering the final part of the season. But the math is incredibly simple for the Orlando Magic:

The team's "magic number" to clinch the Southeast Division is 5. Any combination of five Orlando Magic wins or five Atlanta Hawks losses will clinch the division title. But that does not exactly paint the full picture.

The Magic and Hawks play each other twice—Tuesday at Kia Center and the regular season finale on April 13 in Atlanta. If Orlando sweeps those two games, the team clinches the season series tiebreaker with Atlanta at least and guarantees they finish ahead of Atlanta. That most likely punches the Magic's ticket as the division winner for a second straight year.

The pair of wins would also clinch the division record tiebreaker over the Miami Heat and send the Orlando Magic through as division champions.

Provided the Chicago Bulls do not win all of their remaining games, the Orlando Magic would be the 7-seed at that point (the Bulls own the season series tiebreaker with the Magic).

Things get a bit more complicated if the Magic and Hawks split their two games.

The impact of that depends on what the Hawks do in their two games in hand this weekend. The Atlanta Hawks host the New York Knicks and Utah Jazz this weekend at State Farm Arena.

If the Hawks win both games, they will enter the game Tuesday with the same record as the Magic. If they split them, the Magic will maintain their one-game lead. If they lose both, the Magic will have a two-game lead on the Hawks and can clinch no worse than the same record with a win Tuesday.

The tiebreaker advantage

The big reason the Orlando Magic have this advantage and this little bit of a cushion is because the team is leading in most of the tiebreakers against both the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat.

Season series is the first tiebreaker. That is why the math is incredibly simple. If the Magic beat the Hawks in the final two meetings this season, they will win the season series 3-1, and all the tiebreakers fall in their favor.

Orlando split its season series with Miami 2-2. If those two teams are tied at the end of the season, things would be thrown to the record tiebreakers.

If the season series between teams is tied, the next tiebreaker is division record (among teams in the same division), followed by conference record.

And the Magic have the advantage in those tiebreakers. Just one win over the Hawks would clinch the division tiebreaker over the Heat and clinch the conference tiebreaker over the Hawks.

This is the Magic's big advantage. If they split with the Hawks, they would win the division record tiebreaker over the Hawks and the Heat. They would only have to make sure they at least tie Atlanta at the end of the season.

Beating Atlanta on Tuesday would solidify Orlando's position atop the Southeast Division even if it does not formally clinch the division. This is a big game.

The Chicago Bulls are excluded from this table because they are not in the Southeast Division. The Bulls own the tiebreaker with the Magic. Orlando has to avoid a direct tie with Chicago.

But any three-way tie with the Bulls advantages the Magic. The first tiebreaker in a three-way tie is the division winner. That is how the Magic won the 5-seed last year in a three-way tie.

That is why the focus is on topping the Hawks and winning the division. That is the only trump card the Magic have over the Bulls.

Ultimately, the goal for the Magic is simple: Win the games against the Hawks. If Orlando wins, the team more than likely clinches its spot.

"We've had injuries, we've had lapses, we've had a lot of things derail us this year," Wendell Carter said after the team's shootaround Monday. "But understanding the fight isn't over. Continue to fight is a thing of everyone having to look at themselves and see what they can do to help this team win. I think everyone did take on that challenge and everyone is hitting their peak at the right time."

The schedule

The Orlando Magic have one disadvantage in all of this though: Their schedule.

The Magic have the toughest remaining schedule of the teams fighting for Play-In spots in the Eastern Conference. They have zero games remaining against teams that are out of postseason contention, where the Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls have multiple of those teams remaining.

It is why it is so vital the Magic have all of these advantages heading into the final four games—especially those head-to-head games against the Hawks.

The Magic undoubtedly have the toughest road home (although, comparatively, the Magic won their two games against non-playoff teams on this previous road trip to San Antonio and Washington).

That enabled them to control their destiny simply by beating the Hawks twice. Stealing a win over the Boston Celtics or Indiana Pacers with one win over the Atlanta Hawks may be enough to clinch a better record than the Hawks.

Orlando needed to get its work done early, and it appears the team did. Now it can focus on rebuilding itself and preparing for the playoffs.

"Just continue to build on what we've been doing," Carter said after the team's shootaround Monday. "Eliminate as many mental lapses as we can going into the postseason. That's how you lose games in the postseason. Guys are overly locked in, everyone knows everything about every person, the scouting report is very lengthy. Continuing to work on our mental in terms of being locked in, knowing plays, knowing our personnel. Just treat every game like a playoff game."

A win Tuesday against Atlanta would be huge in the team's postseason push and make the path much easier. That is the only focus right now.

The Magic hold a lot of cards entering the final week of the season. But the simple solution is to win.