What Pierce has done the past few games is very impressive. He's been putting up LeBron numbers without crazy athleticism or speed. Just carrying the team, plain and simple.
That said, I don't think anything has really changed about this team's prospects. They've always been better than a sub-.500 team. I maintain that they'll finish with 33-36 wins; unless they make a trade to shore up the center position (e.g. acquire Kaman somehow), I don't see them as a true threat against Heat or a mostly healthy Bulls team.