Why the Knicks or Celtics — not the Bucks — are the Sixers’ most likely first-round playoff opponent

When Nick Nurse sat down for Friday’s postgame news conference, his 76ers were in sixth place following their crucial 125-113 victory over the Orlando Magic.

When the coach stood up less than eight minutes later, the Sixers had dropped back into seventh, after the Cleveland Cavaliers finished off a victory over the Indiana Pacers.

That continues to be life in the race for Eastern Conference postseason positioning, which remains tight (and dizzying) entering Game 82. Friday’s league-wide results, however, helped crystalize the two most likely paths for the streaking Sixers.

If the Sixers take the sixth or seventh spot (after winning the 7-8 play-in game), their likely first-round opponent will be the New York Knicks. If they lose the first play-in game but then beat the 9-10 winner to take the eighth seed, they would face the Boston Celtics in the first round.

This first assumes the Sixers on Sunday beat the Brooklyn Nets, who have long been eliminated from the postseason and have no reason to put their best players on the floor. Yet perhaps Joel Embiid’s injury scare Friday — when the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player went to the locker room just before halftime after aggravating his surgically repaired knee, and then was not available to the media postgame in the locker room — is a reminder that nothing is guaranteed.

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The Cavaliers or Milwaukee Bucks are also still technically possible first-round foes for the Sixers. But that would depend on far more unlikely scenarios unfolding Sunday — such as Cleveland losing to the lowly Charlotte Hornets; or the Chicago Bulls (who are locked into the 9-10 play-in game) beating the Knicks; or the Pacers losing to the Atlanta Hawks (who will face the Bulls in the play-in). Unlikely does not mean impossible, however, as evidenced by the San Antonio Spurs topping the defending-champion Denver Nuggets Friday.

Why aren’t the Bucks a more likely first-round opponent for the Sixers, considering both teams’ places in the standings on Saturday? That’s because of Milwaukee’s regular-season finale at the Magic, a game that will directly impact those teams’ and the Sixers’ place in the standings.

If the Bucks beat Orlando (and the Sixers and Pacers both win), Milwaukee would solidify the No. 2 spot, and the Sixers would leapfrog the Magic for the No. 6 spot and face the third-seeded Knicks in the first round.

If the Magic top the Bucks (and the Sixers and Pacers both win), then Orlando, the Sixers, and Indiana would all finish with identical 47-35 records. In that three-way tie, the Magic would nab the fifth seed because they would win the Southeast Division, the Pacers would finish sixth because they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Sixers, and the Sixers would remain in seventh and host a play-in game against the eighth-seeded Miami Heat. And in that scenario, the Bucks would drop to third, and the Knicks would move up to second to await the winner of Sixers-Heat.

So does it really matter if the Sixers finish the regular season in sixth or seventh place, since the opponent would likely be the Knicks either way? Yes. Finishing sixth guarantees a first-round series. Finishing seventh comes with the risk of losing that one-game play-in and, if that happens, the best-case scenario becomes beating the 9-10 winner and moving on to face the mighty Celtics.

A Sixers-Knicks first-round matchup would be stuffed with storylines, and not just because the proximity between Philly and Manhattan would generate supercharged fan environments in both arenas. The Knicks won three of the four regular-season matchups against the Sixers — including two at the Wells Fargo Center, and one prior to Embiid’s surgery — while fueled by the physical toughness and defense that define Tom Thibodeau-coached teams.

New York also has navigated multiple injury blows this season, including All-Star forward Julius Randle recently being ruled out for the season with a shoulder ailment. But point guard Jalen Brunson, the former Villanova star who spent a chunk of his childhood living in South Jersey, has been on an MVP-caliber tear after blossoming into a first-time All-Star this season. Elite three-and-D wing OG Anunoby, whom the Knicks acquired from the Toronto Raptors in a late-December trade, has returned from an elbow injury. And fellow former Villanova standouts Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo have been excellent role players.

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Grabbing the sixth or seventh seed would also keep the Sixers on the side of the bracket opposite the Celtics, which may be required to make any sort of playoff run. It’s easy to assume that every East playoff team’s season will end whenever they face Boston, which has run away with the NBA’s best record ahead of an otherwise wide-open conference.

The Celtics, who went 3-1 against the Sixers this season, are still anchored by All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and boast an offense and defense that ranks in the top 2 in the NBA in efficiency. The offseason trades for guard Jrue Holiday and stretch-big Kristaps Porzingis also have worked out brilliantly, while guard Derrick White is one of the league’s most underrated players.

The only reason for pause is that the Celtics have gotten in their own way in recent seasons, including when they fell to the seventh-seeded Heat in last year’s Eastern Conference finals. But on paper, this is the ideal setup for Boston to roll to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons.

The standings will not shift Saturday, because there are no NBA games on the schedule. That sets up a bevy of 1 p.m. tipoffs Sunday, helping prevent teams from manipulating outcomes.

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Nurse said Friday that he does not envision the various scenarios affecting how he coaches against the Nets, noting players such as Embiid are working their way back into game shape and that the staff has not held back schematically in recent weeks. All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey, who scored 28 points Friday, reiterated that “stepping in the right direction” as a team is more important than becoming preoccupied with possible seeding or matchup.

“Just keep the rhythm going,” Nurse added.

And by next weekend, the Knicks or Celtics could be waiting.