By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Tip-off: 8:00 pm ❖ Location: Atlanta, GA ❖ TV: ESPN, NBC Sports Philadelphia+ ❖ Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
The Philadelphia 76ers (51-30) conclude their regular season on Wednesday night on the national stage against one of their potential first-round opponents in the Milwaukee Bucks (44-37) at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers have won 15 in a row, a single-season franchise record, and have not lost at home since March 13 and are 22-1 inside their home arena in 2018. Tonight's game has a lot of playoff implications involved and if the Sixers want to hang-on to third place, they'll need to put a sloppy Atlanta game behind them and focus.
Milwaukee leads the season series 2-1. After the Sixers won the first game back in January, the Bucks took the most recent two by scores of 126-117 and 102-86.
As it stands, the Sixers sit a full game ahead of Cleveland heading into tonight's action. A win or a Cavs loss to the Knicks secures the third seed for Philadelphia. If the Sixers lose to the Bucks and the Cavs win, they will be tied in third. Cleveland owns the tiebreaker and would therefore take over third place. A fourth seed for the Sixers would mean a first-round matchup against and Indiana team they've struggled with this season.
For the Bucks, a number of different scenarios remain as they could finish as high as sixth and as low as eighth depending on the results of tonight's games. With a win or a Miami loss on Wednesday, Milwaukee can clinch the sixth spot in the East, setting up a potential first-round matchup with Philadelphia. The Bucks may not prefer that due to the way the Sixers have been playing, so a lower seed may make for an easier first round matchup for them. A Milwaukee loss paired with wins by Miami and Washington would sink the Bucks to eighth place, into a first-round series against Toronto. If the Bucks end up in the seventh seed, they'll have what many view as a more favorable matchup against the Kyrie-less Celtics.
The Sixers come in at somewhat of a disadvantage. Not only are they without Joel Embiid for another game, but Dario Saric is listed as probable and they are on the second half of a back-to-back while Milwaukee hasn't played since Monday. On Tuesday night against the Hawks, Philadelphia looked flat and sluggish in the first half, but luckily their veterans were able to lead them to a win on the road.
JJ Redick led the way with 26 points while former Hawks Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli combined to score 44 points, including nine three-pointers. Ben Simmons, diagnosed with gastroenteritis early on Tuesday, fouled out late in the fourth but still managed to scored 13 points to go along with 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals. Amir Johnson had an uncharacteristic night on offense, scoring 15 points in addition to eight rebounds and five assists.
Milwaukee has won three of their last four, earning victories against the Magic, Knicks and Celtics. After a two-game absence, Giannis Antetokounmpo will return for the Bucks. The Bucks outscored Orlando by 13 in the second half en route to a win that was sparked by Eric Bledsoe and Shabazz Muhammad. Bledsoe tallied a triple-double with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists while Muhammad scored 20 points off the bench while also adding eight boards to his stat line.
Projected Lineups/Stat Comparison:
| Matchup Preview | April 11, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Milwaukee Bucks (44-37, 19-21 Away) |
Philadelphia 76ers (51-30, 29-11 Home) |
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