the Golden State Warriors have replaced the top-seeded Suns

Who knows, the always on the hunt Boston Celtics are thinking alone the lines of reeling in an 18th National Basketball Association championship, one better than their West Coast rivals.

Then again, who knows if the green team is even thinking of that after claiming a 3-2 lead Wednesday night at the top-seeded Miami Heat to pull within a win of crashing yet another Eastern Conference party. The final score of 93-81 was surprising for the crowd down at American Airlines Center in South Miami, but not for the Celts.

“We knew what we were there for,” said All-NBA first-teamer Art Tatum. “We had to hit the road and play a big game at their place, otherwise we’d be down 3-2 and heading home to try and tie the series before coming back here.”

So now the Celtics will find themselves in control. Another success over the franchise under the sun sends Miami packing up and Boston changing its path to a date with the Western Conference champions.

“We knew just what we had to do,” said All-NBA first-teamer Jason Tatum. “We needed to come down here and play our best ball, grab a 3-2 lead in games and head back home to clinch the overall finals.”

It was yet another team effort turned in by the Tea Party guys from Bean Town. Like Miami, they have had to deal with numerous injuries, but unlike the Heat, they have called on their bench in key times. From the starters, Jaylen Brown tallied the team-high 25 points, Tatum 22, Marcus Smart 18, and from the reserves came Al Hortford scoring 16 and Derrick White 14.

But the Heat in turn had a dismal shooting night. For the second game in a row, it hit on just 32 percent from the field. Bam Adabayo did score a team-high 18 points and bring down 10 rebounds, but in all Miami made only 7 of 45 attempts from beyond the arc. It played without an injured starter in Tyler Herro (groin), starter Jimmy Butler was hobbling around on a sore knee, but it couldn’t rely on its bench as the visitors did.

Now when the Celtics get home they will be greeted by a pair of trophies bearing the names of franchise legends, the Bob Cousy one will go to the East champs, the Larry Bird one will go to the East’s Most Valuable Player, and Boston is one win away from hoisting them.

While the Lakers have been fading from another title quest, the Celtics are as usual still hanging around as they share the memories of Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, Tom (Satch) Sanders, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, Robert Parrish, Cousy, Bird, and the rest of the glory guys from the glory years. No more Boston Garden, just the same old happy times dressed in their classic green.