Photo: Unsplash Is the Third Time the Charm? The Key to Celtics' Success in the Eastern Conference Final For the third time within 10 years the Celtics battle with the Heat in a fight for the Conference title. In the first two finals, the Heat got the best of the Celtics and won by a narrow margin in six and seven games. Now the Conference title and a place in the NBA final is on the line again. Once again defense could be the key to success. During the regular season, Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat faced each other three times with the score being 2-1 for the Celtics.