Coming off of their convincing win in Game 1, the Miami Heat will look to win their 5^th straight playoff game tonight when they host the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. There has been plenty of chatter in the aftermath of Miami's 14-point victory on Monday, most of which has come from the team in green, but expect both teams to be completely focused and free of any distractions tonight.

Boston wasn't happy with the officiating in Game 1, being called for three technical fouls, and called some of the play by the Heat ‘showboating'. Maybe they haven't noticed but Miami isn't shy about trying to make amazing plays regardless of what stage of the game they are in. Don't expect the Heat to ease up on any of that, and don't expect them to be phased by anything their opponent has to say.

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As the Miami Heat prepare for their Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Boston Celtics, the main question on the minds of Heat fans near and wide remains the same: 'Is Chris Bosh going to play?' Obviously having Bosh back in the lineup would be very advantageous for Miami, as it would be for any other team this late in the post season. That being said, I think Heat fans are a bit less frantic about getting Bosh back right now than they were a week or so ago, when Miami looked lost for a couple of games after losing Bosh to his abdominal injury during Game 1 against Indiana.

Bosh is still listed by the Heat as ‘out indefinitely', with coach Erik Spoelstra going as far as to say that while the team has been busy practicing and preparing for the Boston Celtics, regarding Bosh "our preparation is without him." What really sucks for the fans is that we have to just sit back and wait to hear an update on Bosh, with no idea whether he'll be out for just a few more days or anywhere up to the rest of the playoffs, which will be completely over in less than a month.

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The Miami Heat are back in the drivers seat, but need one more win to advance to their second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals. Following a very convincing win in Game 5, the Heat will have to come away with a second win in the Pacers building if they want to avoid a Game 7. If Miami can figure out how to play this game the way they have played their last 6 quarters then there shouldn't be a problem.

As if playing on the road wasn't challenging enough, Miami will have to win this one without the services of the top two power forwards on their depth chart. Already playing minus Chris Bosh for the majority of the series, the Heat will also be without Udonis Haslem for Game 6. Haslem was suspended by the NBA for one game for his flagrant foul on the Pacers' Tyler Hansbrough during their win in Game 5.

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The NBA has announced that the Miami Heat's Dexter Pittman has been suspended for 3 games without pay and Udonis Haslem 1 game without pay for their flagrant fouls during Tuesday's Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers. Both had their flagrant fouls upgraded from Flagrant One to Flagrant Two, as did the Pacers' Tyler Hansbrough, who made contact with Dwyane Wade's head and caused him to bleed.

Haslem's foul took place shortly after that, as Udonis also made contact to the head and upper body of Hansbrough. It's not terribly surprising that Haslem was suspended for one game, but its even less surprising that Dexter Pittman was suspended for multiple games for his elbow to the neck of the Pacers' Lance Stephenson.

Stephenson had a target on his back after making a ‘choke' reference towards LeBron James during the 3^rd quarter of Game 3 in Indiana. There was a brief altercation between Stephenson and Heat reserve Juwan Howard prior to Game 4, who made it perfectly clear that nobody on the Heat appreciated the lack of respect to one of the leagues best players by one that had done very little to make himself relevant to anyone outside of Indiana.

During the final minutes of Game 5, with all bench players in the game, Pittman took it upon himself to show Stephenson just what the Heat thought of his act of disrespect. As Stephenson ran towards the basket without the ball, Pittman took a couple steps toward Stephenson and gave him an elbow to the neck. It was definitely a dirty play, and Pittman deserves every bit of his penalty. Both suspensions will begin immediately, with neither player eligible to play in Game 6 on Thursday night.

The Miami Heat regained control of their Eastern Conference Semi-Final series on Sunday with their 101-93 win over the Indiana Pacers. The game began just as scary for Heat fans as the last two had gone, with Miami falling behind the Pacers 9-0. The Heat didn't score their first points of the game until the 7:41 mark of the 1^st quarter when LeBron James said ‘enough of this' and scored on an emphatic dunk off a nice feed from Mario Chalmers.

That was just the beginning of an amazing game for LeBron, who finished with 40 points, 18 rebounds and 9 assists to go with 2 blocks and 2 steals. To put that in perspective, in the last twenty years nobody has had even a 30-point, 18 rebound, 9 assist game in the playoffs. James carried the Heat for most of the first half, until Dwyane Wade finally began to look like the D-Wade we all know and love.

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Always looking for was to improve our site, the good people at SBN have decided to merge our Peninsula Is Mightier Heat blog with another blog called Hot Hot Hoops, bringing aboard their very talented writers to our team and creating something of a mega-blog of Miami Heat Basketball coverage.

If you haven't already, you will begin to see posts being written by our newest additions to the PIM roster. Surya and Diego will be writing alongside Mnelik and myself to provide you with even better coverage area to comment with peers about everything and anything that involves the Miami Heat.

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The Miami Heat will look to close out their first round playoff series against the New York Knicks on Sunday, as the Heat will play Game 4 with a decisive 3 games to none lead in the best-of-7 series. The playoff history between these two teams has been intense, with them meeting four straight years from 1997-2000. Each of those series' went the distance, with a deciding game giving the winner access to the next round.

All of those series' were physical, intense and pretty much everything you could want from a playoff rivalry, but this season has been nothing like that. Miami has dominated the Knicks thus far, winning each game by an average of 20.0 points. Meanwhile, New York hasn't won a playoff game since 2001, an NBA-long streak of 13 games that they hope to break against Miami.

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New York Knicks forward/center Amare Stoudemire has been ruled out for Game 3 and is doubtful for Game 4 of their first round playoff series with the Miami Heat after lacerating his left hand following a 104-94 Game 2 loss in South Florida. Stoudemire suffered the cut after punching a glass case containing a fire extinguisher outside the Knicks locker room at the American Airlines Arena immediately following their Game 2 loss.

He status will be reassessed for the balance of the series following Game 4 should any more games be necessary. Stoudemire visited a hand specialist Tuesday in New York at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where it was revealed that he had no tendon or ligament damage. He did however have surgery to repair a small muscle.

While no one on the Heat or Knicks were available for comment on Tuesday as neither team practiced, Stoudemire offered a couple of Twitter posts regarding his hand injury.

"I am so mad at myself right now, I want to apologize to the fans and my team, not proud of my actions, headed home for a new start."

"We all have done thing out of anger that we regret. That makes us human. Bad timing on my part. Sorry guys. This to shall pass."

Miami leads the best-of-7 series 2 games to zero, with Game 3 coming up on Thursday night in New York. The Knicks have now lost 12 consecutive playoff games, dating back to 2001.

The Miami Heat will wrap up their regular season schedule tonight in our nations capital when they face the suddenly very hot Wizards. A couple weeks ago it may have been a little worrisome playing a road game against a team on their longest winning streak (5 games) in four and a half years, but right now all that matters to the Heat are the games that will come after this one.

Its more then likely that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra will rest LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and probably a few more of his regulars. The Heat are expected to be at full strength when the playoffs begin, but hopefully all the rest that Coach Spoelstra has been giving his players lately will pay off.

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2011-12 NBA Season: Game #65
	@
46-18		37-27
April 24th, 2012
TD Garden
8:00 PM
TV: Sun Sports / TNT -- Radio:
Probable Starters
Mario Chalmers	PG	Keyon Dooling
Shane Battier	SG	Avery Bradley
LeBron James	SF	Paul Pierce
Udonis Haslem	PF	Brandon Bass
Joel Anthony	C	Kevin Garnett

Game Notes after the jump....

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With four games left on the schedule, the Miami Heat will look to continue their bid for 1^st place in the Eastern Conference tonight when the Washington Wizards come to town. It's the first game in Miami's final back-to-back set of the season, as Sunday they'll welcome the Houston Rockets to South Beach in what will be their final home game of the regular season.

The Heat are on a 5 game winning streak, and have done so while resting its stars in preparation for the post season. Dwyane Wade, who has been slowed by injuries throughout the season, has sat out four of Miami's last eight games. The four he's missed were all against teams who are below .500, while the four he's played in were against playoff teams.

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If the Miami Heat want to continue their bid for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, a win on Thursday night over the Chicago Bulls is absolutely necessary. The Heat are currently 2½ behind the Bulls for 1^st place in the East, and a win by Chicago will clinch the top seed and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, as they will hold the tiebreaker over the Heat should the teams have the same record at the end of the regular season.

Both teams have been playing without their stars of late, as mild injuries and general pre-playoff rest have been taking priority over anything else as each team prepares for a lengthy postseason run. Miami has held Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh out of the lineup on Wednesday night, and its unknown if either, or both, will play tonight against the Bulls. Chicago played their last two games without Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, and their status for tonight is also unknown.

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The Miami Heat are looking to close out their regular season on a high note, with six games remaining on the schedule. They are currently on a three game winning streak, with the last two coming on the road, where they have had some struggles of late. Miami is also trying to catch the Chicago Bulls for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, currently trailing the Bulls by 2½ games.

Tonight the Heat will host the Toronto Raptors in the first game of a four game homestand before Miami plays their final two games of the season on the road. The Heat have been getting some excellent efforts from their stars, with LeBron James making a final bid to be the NBA's Most Valuable Player, especially after scoring Miami's last 17 points in an exciting come from behind victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday.

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