Celtics vs. Heat: LeBron James Will Make Big Statement in Marquee Matchup

The last time the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics met, LeBron James and the rest of his Miami teammates walked off the floor embarrassed, as the Celtics pounded the Heat in a 91-72 Boston win.

Now, just a week-and-a-half later, the two teams meet again in a marquee matchup at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. This time, the results could be much different, mostly because LeBron will make a statement tonight.

That statement is that the Heat are still the team to beat in the East, and James is still the NBA's best player.

With the Chicago Bulls starting to fade late in the season and Derrick Rose suffering another injury, the Heat are in a great position to leapfrog the Bulls and claim the ever-important No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Considering the fact that the Heat are 30-8 at home on the season, home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs is huge, and James knows it. Therefore, you can expect his best performance on a nightly basis for the rest of the season.

Individually, LeBron has been on quite the roll since the Boston loss at the beginning of the month. He entered that game against the Celtics averaging only 19.6 points in the seven games prior, but since that game, James has responded with efforts of 41, 34, 21 and 26 points.

Through five April games so far, James is averaging 29 PPG. He's picked things up at the right time for the Heat, as his scoring was down to only 24.6 in the month of February and 24.8 during March

For the Heat to make a run at the top seed in the conference, they will need LeBron's production to continue to increase. If he's shown anything this month, it's that he's handling the big-game pressure better and understands that he needs to come through in those situations.

Tonight is one of those big games. James is going to have to get it done against a very tough Boston defense, who only allow 89.3 points per game (third in NBA).

What type of statement will LeBron make tonight? 

He's going good right now, so a 30-plus point game and near triple double-double aren't out of the question. If he does that and the Heat win a big game going away, the rest of the NBA will have received LeBron's message loud and clear.