Feb 06, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Paul George (24) shoots a jump shot\1qqa\Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The participants in the dunk contest and the three point shootout competition for All-Star saturday have finally been announced.

There are a lot of names that we expected to see here, but some that we didn’t. They were all justifiably selected to each competition, though. I think they hit the nail on the head with some of these.

Your Eastern Conference Dunkers:

• Indiana Pacers Guard Gerald Green
• New York Knicks Forward James ‘Flight’ White
• Toronto Raptors Rookie Guard Terrence Ross

Your Western Conference Dunkers:

• Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe
• Utah Jazz Forward and last year’s champion Jeremy Evans
• Denver Nuggets Forward Kenneth Faried

I think that they really hit the nail on the head with all of these picks. I’m really interested in seeing Gerald Green dunk. He’s had some quite nasty ones in the middle of some games so he should bring lots of creativity to the table when dunking for the East.

I’ll personally be rooting for Eric Bledsoe. I really like when little guys are able to outdo the bigs. The art of the little man in the dunk contest has kind of been shut out in these last few competitions. I don’t think dunks are as impressive when you’re bigger. Hopefully Bledsoe can recaptrue the Magic that Nate Robinson had last season.

I think that the East is going to win this competition. They’ve got more creativity with Geralld Green and Flight White on their side.

Moving on to the three point shoot out, I think that this is a perfect roster as well. There are some really good shooters on each side of things and it should come down to the wire.

Your Eastern Conference Shooters:

• Cleveland Cavaliers guard and All-Star Kyrie Irving
• Indiana Pacers Forward and All-Star Paul George
• New York Knicks Forward Steve Novak

Your Western Conference Shooters:

• New Orleans Hornets Forward Ryan Anderson
• Golden State Warriors Guard Stephen Curry
• San Antonio Spurs Forward Matt Bonner

These are some really good shooters as well. Everyone is above 38% of their three point shots. The lowest percentage that you’ll get out of this group is Paul George at 39%. And how about George being in the dunk contest last season and now he’ll have a chance at winning the three point shoot out as well. It has to be an honor for him. He’s come a long way as a player.

At the end of the day, I’ll take the Western Conference shooters here because I believe in Stephen Curry. Barring his health, I think he’ll be the greatest shooter that we’ll ever see at the point guard position. That includes Steve Nash. So, that along with Ryan Anderson and Matt ‘The Red Rocket’ Bonner, I think the West will take it.

But I’m sure that Kyrie Irving and company are going to have a lot to say about that. We’ll see when the day comes though.

One would have to feel better about the state of the second unit and what they bring to the table, but will this be enough? At last week’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers, the Celtics had an extended run with Jeff Green, Troy Murphy, Carlos Arroyo, Nenad Krstic and Sasha Pavlovic as they looked to erase a 20 point deficit to the lowly Clippers. All five on the floor where either on other teams or watching the NBA from their sofa a few weeks earlier. The Celtics need to get these players plenty of opportunities for minutes down the stretch as they are a KG turned ankle away from being a starter expected to put up big numbers.

What do you think?
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This isn’t college football; one game doesn’t define a season. All we know right now is that the Miami Heat will not go undefeated. These teams will both be there come postseason time, and both will be vying for a championship.

It’s too early to declare Boston the superior team, but that doesn’t mean that this wasn’t an important win. The Celtics had to come out and show that they would not be intimidated by the star power of Miami’s trio, and that they would not cede their throne as top in the East without a fight. In short, the Celtics had to prove to all the naysayers—anyone who said they were too old, or that this was Miami’s window—that they are still the defending conference champs.

And they did that in emphatic fashion. If not for a second half lapse and a “put me on your shoulders” run in the third quarter by LeBron James, the Celtics would have won this game going away. When it was the young guns on the Heat who were supposed to show the league what was in store for it this season, it was the Celtics that reminded everyone that they are still a threat to win the title.

Perhaps more importantly, the Celtics showed this Heat team that it won’t have a clear path to a title. There are a number of good teams in the way to the Larry O’Brien trophy, and that path will have to run through the Eastern Conference champs. It’s a theme that the Celtics are all too familiar with; they could only make their title run by getting by Detroit in the 2008 playoffs in a hard-fought six-game series.

That Detroit team was making its sixth straight appearance in the conference finals; this Celtics team has been to the NBA Finals two of the last three seasons. When the time comes, maybe the Heat will do what the 2008 Celtics did and defeat the standard bearer. But it won’t be the version of the Heat we saw tonight.

This was a sloppy game that did not feature either team at its best. Obviously the Heat won’t perform like that on offense every night, and the Celtics have room for improvement. But for this night, the Celtics were the better team. That doesn’t mean anything in the long run, but for now it means that they are still the team to beat in the East.