Charles Barkley said the top two teams in the Eastern Conference are

[Mathguy]

At this point I'm going to reserve my opinion until the injury bug has stopped biting people and the playoff brackets are set.

Clearly there is no team in the discussion for NBA champ that can sustain a loss to a key player and seriously remain in the conversation. There is a good chance that there will be a few more casualties down the stretch.

FYI- The Bulls are a dangerous team with Boozer back and healthy now. Let's see how they do down the stretch. I don't seem them getting far into the playoffs due to age\experience but they could upset someone.

[suburban_boy]

Boston is the team to beat in the East. They have four players in the Allstar game. Enough said.

Orlando is the Team to beat in the Southeast Division. Therefore, the Heat has to prove themselves against these teams b4 they can call themselves the best. They've beaten Orlando a few times, but have yet to beat Boston. Miami ain't deep enough yet. Wade and James will eventually get worn down. Bosh is to scare to play the post. Everyone else on that team are shooters or bigs, who are dangersous, but can be contained.

The Bulls are number 2 in the East right now, though that can change. They're dangerous with or without Noah or Boozer. With both of them on the floor at the same time, the Bulls are veeeery scary. They play the some of the best defense in the league. Derrick Rose is having an MVP season. Boozer is freakin beast. And Deng is having his best season. Brewer is a pest on D. If Korver can stay hot, then know one will stop him. The bulls have one of the best bench's in the NBA, especially on D. Taj and Kurt can fill in for Boozer and Noah and as long as Rose is OK it would almost be like they never had an injury. Plus, everyone knows that Brewer is the true starting SG.

Orlando isn't playing as of defense as they did last year, but they are still deep at every position except the Center. They still have deadly shooter. Two very good PG's and SG. They just have to get the ball to Howard and Bass in the post. Preferably Howard. Howard draws the double team and they kick it out to the wing. They also have a 7-footer who can put the ball on the floor and run the offense. The only problem with Orlando is that they are not deep enough with bigs. Therefore if Howard isn't in the game, then Orlando's offense can be out of sink. That's why they need to use Bass more. Bass is a very good post player; I don't know why Van Gundy doesn't use him more? Give him the ball in the post enough and he will draw a double-team.

Those are the four best teams in the East. I say four because Boston is number 1 and any of those 3 teams can be number two.