The Philadelphia 76ers (41-35) visit South Beach, Miami to take on Jimmy Butler and the Heat (42-33). Miami is a game-and-a-half up on the Sixers in the standings. The Heat are now poised to either surpass the Indiana Pacers (43-33) for the No. 6 seed and avoid the Play-In entirely or at least maintain their No. 7 seed.
The latter would mean they’d get to play host to whichever team finishes No. 8 (perhaps Philadelphia, pending the outcome of this next epic battle).
How the 76ers choose to handle Joel Embiid’s return to action will be the biggest component here.