With win over Pistons, Heat go to Boston sitting atop Eastern Conference

After the Heat made quick work of the Detroit Pistons Friday, in a 106-92 rout, the team's focus shifted toward the Boston Celtics, who they will face Sunday in a game that will decide the Eastern Conference's top team (by record) heading into All Star break.

For only the second time this season, the Heat stand atop the Eastern Conference with a half-game lead over the Celtics, who have proved to be the Heat's biggest challenge thus far. And while the Heat are far from the same team that Boston handled with such ease the first two times the teams met, Miami knows that nothing less than a great performance will be needed to defeat what looks like the best team in the NBA this season.

Last time Miami and Boston met the Heat lost 112-107

The Heat will come into TD Garden riding an eight game winning streak while the Celtics have lost two straight and are only 5-5 in their last ten. Much of their struggles as of late have been to due to nagging injures to center, Shaquille O'Neal and guards, Nate Robinson and Marquis Daniels, along with star forward Paul Pierce suffering from flu like symptoms. But all four of Boston's most important players will be in action Sunday, when Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Pierce will try to prove to the Heat fans that they're still the team to beat in the East.

While this game may not act as a totally accurate assessment of where the Heat stands as a serious championship contender due to the lack of full strength of the Celtics, one must remember that the Heat is not 100% either. With Lebron James, Wade, and Chris Bosh all suffering injuries over the past couple of weeks, and with vital role player and defensive leader Udonis Haslem just beginning rehab on his badly injured foot, the Heat will try to prove that they can beat a veteran championship team without being completely healthy.

"Now we're sitting on top of the East, going into a hostile place where we did not play well the first game of the year," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra recently said when asked about the matchup. "We respect who the Boston Celtics are and what they've proven the last 3 1/2 years. So this is what everybody, the fans, the media and everybody out there, this is what they want."