Who's Number One in the East?

With less than a month to go in the regular season, Chicago, Boston and Miami are all still in the running for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Chicago has the inside track right now leading Boston by 2 games and Miami by 2 1/2. The Celtics have lost 6 times in their last 10 games, and while Miami is playing well as of late they are 3 back in the loss column and don't have the tiebreaker against either Boston or Chicago. Let's take a closer look at each of the three squads:

CHICAGO (52-19)

The Bulls close out march with games against Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Minnesota. They've been playing extremely well lately though with only one loss in their last 12 games and that one coming in overtime at Indiana despite 42 points from Derrick Rose. Chicago played that game without Carlos Boozer though. April gets a little tougher as the Bulls will play Boston again and also travel to Orlando and New York. Of their remaining 11 games only 5 are at home where the Bulls are currently 32-4.

BOSTON (50-21)

Over the last two and a half weeks Boston has lost games to the Clippers, 76ers, Nets, Rockets, Grizzlies and Bobcats as they've lost their stranglehold on the number one seed in the East getting passed by Chicago. Boston has a tough road down the stretch too as they go on the road for 7 of their 11 games including trips to San Antonio (3/31), Chicago (4/7) and Miami (4/10). This is nothing new to the Celtics though as they lost 7 of 10 to finish the 2009-2010 season as well and after a 27-11 start went just 23-21 the rest of the way. Playoff tested and loaded with veterans, the Celtics have shown they can win on the road in the postseason so out of these three squads, the #1 seed probably means the least to Boston.

MIAMI (50-22)

The Heat are only a half game back of Boston but haven't beaten them in 3 tries this season. Miami seems to have fully recovered from their 5 game skid in early March having won 7 of their last 8 and 4 in a row. Of these three teams the Heat have the easiest schedule with their final ten games against Houston, Cleveland, Washington, Minnesota, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Boston (4/10), Atlanta and Toronto.