After beating the Philadelphia 76ers, 104-99 without star Joel Embid on Sunday Night at KIA Center, the Orlando Magic might be facing a pivotal contest.

With a beatdown from the Minnesota Timberwolves and a heartbreaking loss against the Milwaukee Bucks despite bringing franchise forward Paolo Banchero back into the fold the Magic head on the road only winning one game in the previous three. While there is still an air of hope among Magic fans still lingering from the celebration of Bancehro’s return, that loss to the Bucks is a problem.

The Magic currently sit fourth in the Eastern Conference. They are still trending toward hosting a playoff game in April. However, the Bucks linger at the fifth spot heading with a 20-17 record (tied with the Miami Heat). Not only is Milwaukee 2.5 games back from Orlando but thanks to beating Orlando Friday night 109-106, the Bucks are now 2-0 over their O-Town rivals.

The Magic take a two-game road trip where, on Wednesday they once again face Milwaukee on the second of a back-to-back for the Bucks. If Orlando fails to win that game, it’s another team in the East who has the tiebreaker advantage in playoff seeding. (The other is the Knicks against who they are 1-3 for the year). To make matters worse, the prospect of the Magic losing four in five games is also on the table since their next game on the trip is Friday facing the Boston Celtics.

Put in other words, that Wednesday night game could be an opportunity for the Bucks to gain two games against the Magic while passing putting them in position to pass Orlando up in the standings before the All-Star break. That could be the difference down the stretch in whether or not one of these teams hosts a playoff series against the other.

If the Magic manage to win the game on Wednesday after finishing Sunday night with only eight active players, they’ll need to do the same on March 8th in Milwaukee for the final contest between the two franchises. Regardless of the record between the two teams, that fourth game could be the first time they face Orlando’s second-biggest star Franz Wagner who was injured with a right oblique strain before the pair’s first matchup in the Emirates NBA Cup back on September 10th.

Wednesday night’s game is among the more important remaining before the All-Star break.