5 games. The Sixers’ magic number is five to officially seal the first seed. They will look to shorten that number as they travel back to Texas to take on the Houston Rockets tonight at 8:00 EST. The Sixers are 28-4 with their normal starting lineup, and they don’t plan on stopping that streak tonight, matching up against a depleted Houston team.

After the Nets lost two in a row to the Bucks, the Sixers now have a 1.5 game lead on Brooklyn atop of the Eastern Conference. In their last 7 games, the Sixers need to play 2 games better than Brooklyn to officially lock the 1 seed. Sixers going 5-2 would also do it, as there is no way for Brooklyn to pass Philadelphia, due to the tiebreaker. We all know how important the one seed is this year, and the Sixers are looking to obtain that for the first time since the 2000-01 season.

All five starters will be playing for Philly tonight, as Furkan Korkmaz is the only player out with a right ankle sprain. The Rockets will be without a list of players, including Sterling Brown, Dante Exum, Eric Gordon, David Nwaba, John Wall, and DJ Wilson.

Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams / USA Today Sports