Celtics-Magic: Battle for the NBA East's Two Seed

In an intense battle for the Eastern Conference's two seed, the Orlando Magic will take on the Boston Celtics at the Amway Arena in Orlando, FL at 8 p.m. EDT tonight on ESPN.

The first two times these teams faced each other this year, the Magic were without  All-Star point-guard Jameer Nelson and two shooting guards, Mickael Pietrus and Keith Bogans. They suffered two losses during those games.

The third time the Magic faced against the Celtics, starting point guard Rajon Rondo and power forward Kevin Garnett both were absent for the Celtics, and Orlando took the match.

Tonight will be the first time both teams are (nearly) 100 percent healthy, disregarding Orlando's Nelson and Boston's Leon Powe.

Could an underrated Orlando squad win tonigh'ts contest and tie up the C's for second place in the East and the right to home-court advantage through two Playoff rounds?

Dwight Howard surely believes it; he said so earlier today on his blog.

"We want to play well against the Celtics because we’re still looking to earn the respect we think we deserve. We’re maturing as a team. A lot of people have counted us out the past few years, and we feed off of that as a team.

We’re getting better and hopefully, one day, we’ll get respect around the league. What it is going to take is us demanding respect from every team that we play. I like what we have here on our team. There are a couple of areas that we have to work on to make us a great team, but we’re making those steps. Sometimes you have to crawl before you walk.

Maybe a big win against the Celtics will give us the respect nationally that we feel we deserve. Wish us luck."

Boston head coach Doc Rivers expressed his opinion on the importance of the second seed:

"We would like to have it, but for us, health is far more important...(if) you aren't going to get the first seed, we want to be healthy, that's the way we look at it. Obviously, we would like it and we're going to play for it, but we feel we can win anywhere."

So who will win this outstanding game tonight?

I guess NBA fans worldwide will just have to wait and see!

Additional notes:

Rashard Lewis has been bothered by tendinitis in his right knee and is the only player with a minor injury on the Magic's line-up.

Tony Allen has been out since getting thumb surgery and has missed Boston's last 19 games.