Celtics' coach Doc Rivers believes that the Eastern Conference has returned to prominence, and that it no longer plays second fiddle to the West.

"Yes, the East is back," Rivers said. "I said last year that I thought the three or four best teams were in the East. Cleveland, Detroit, and Orlando [along] with us, that's the top four teams last year. No one wanted to hear that because the bottom of the East struggled a little bit. This year, the bottom of the East, you can get beat by any of those teams."