The NBA regular season is in its final stretch and playoff spots in both conferences are starting to get clenched. Even though the San Antonio Spurs are the only team in the Western Conference to clinch playoff spot as of right now, the Eastern conference is completely different as three teams have already locked up their spots punched their tickets to the playoffs.

Chicago Bulls (48-18, Clinched Central Division)

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Coming into this NBA regular season, the Chicago Bulls had made a pretty big upgrade in the paint by signing free agent forward Carlos boozer. Even though they were able to add a former All-Star to their roster, they still have a predicting home at the shooting guard position and it was uncertain whether or not they failed to compete with the best of the best in the Eastern conference.

Despite a lot of people doubting this team all year long, Derrick Rose and company have surpassed their expectations of to this point and look like they could be the best team in the Eastern conference moving forward. Recently, they were able to pass up the Boston Celtics in the Eastern conference standings for the top spot, but Boston was able to retake that.

Even though Boston is back on top, I believe Chicago might deal knock them out once more as they are playing as good as any team in the league right now.

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Boston Celtics (47-18)

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Ever since the Boston Celtics made the deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder in which they traded away arguably their best defender in the paint and Kendrick Perkins, this championship caliber team just hasn’t been the same as they have seemed to have lost that flare and heart but they been known for the past couple years.

There’s no question that the Boston Celtics are as resilient as any team in the NBA with their veteran leadership and talented players at multiple positions, but whether or not they can hold up against some of the best teams in the East or compete with the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals remains to be seen.

Miami Heat (46-21)

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No team in the NBA this season has been followed more vigorously than the Miami Heat. It’s no surprise that the Heat have gotten the attention and following they have with fans and NBA analysts as they did make the boldest move the league has seen in a long time by signing three of the best free agents last summer.

Obviously, with the added attention in South Beach the Heat were bound to struggle at least once or twice throughout the NBA regular season, but now the NBA playoffs are right around the corner and whether or not this team can compete with the best of the best in the Eastern conference in a seven-game series will be seen.

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Orlando Magic (43-26)

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As arguably the worst team on this list of playoff bound teams in the Eastern conference, the Orlando Magic could be in for a big reality check in the first round of the playoffs as they might not be able to contend with the best of the best in the East.

If the playoffs good start today they would be going head-to-head against the division rival Atlanta Hawks and that would be bad news for the Orlando Magic as they might not feel the compete inside and outside of the paint the talented young team like Atlanta.

All-Star center Dwight Howard might be getting a lot of talk recently about being an MVP candidate, but his plan alone is not revealed to lead his team against the best in the league during the playoffs.