With one night left in the NBA season, the Sixers still have a shot of moving up one slot to the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Historically, it won't matter.
Since the NBA went to a 16-team postseason in 1984, the No 8 seed is just 4-52 vs. the conference top seed in the first round. But the No. 7 seed isn't much better (5-51). And when it comes to the Eastern Conference, there is no difference (both are 1-27). In fact, those two East wins were the same team (Knicks) in consecutive seasons (1998 and 1999) upsetting the same club (Heat), both best-of-five series.
Here are the first-round records for the NBA's No. 7 and No. 8 seeds: