The 8th seed in the West (Denver) has a better record (559) than the 3rd seed in the East (Boston, 543). Is this the biggest imbalance yet between the West and the East?
Ya, the Leastern conference sucks and has for awhile now. It's no secret. But they do have 2 teams (Detroit and Miami) that could win it all. I don't see the spark with the Pistons this year, but Miami has the potential to knock off anyone in the West. It should at least be a really good Finals matchup this year. Up untill last year, i didn't even watch the Finals post Jordan. The Western Conference Championship would always tell you who would win it all.
this should be in the nba dish but the problem is that most of the better eastern teams in the second tier, wiz,cavs and bulls all have been losing more games lately for one reason or the other. only boston has shot back up before losing 3 in a row now. but earlier this season these teams were close to like 10 games over 500 or so. the west still dominates the east in terms of talent overall, but i forsee that in the next 4-5 years that the two conferences will balance out in talent.
Due to the current three-division system, it's entirely possible THEORETICALLY for a team, such as Boston, to go ...let's say a horrible record of 30-52, as long as it's its division champion it's a guaranteed 3rd seed. Therefore, it's not very surprising for a 3rd seed to have worse record than a lower seed. In fact, East's 4th seed right now (Washington) has a slightly higher winning percentage than Boston. However, I do agree with Yoyo's comment about East and West balancing out in the future. It's already unlike 3-4 years ago when West owned everything. I specifically remember that the Rockets went 15-1 or something like that against one division in the East, when they didn't even make the playoffs in the West. Lebron will rule the East for years to come, while Yao and Tmac will own the West (hopefully).
Actually, they swept the Central Division in the 2000-2001 season en route to 45 wins and the best record ever for a non-playoff team. The Sonics also won 44 games that year only to miss out of the postseason themselves, so the West was insanely loaded.
we went 28- 54 the year before we landed the number 1 pick.(2001-2002), we won 43 the next year with Yao, the 45 last year... the best team to never make the playoffs was 2000-2001
In terms of winning percentage, the top teams in the NBA are... 1. Phoenix 2. Miami(East) 3. SA 4. Seattle 5. Dallas 6. Detroit(East) 7. Sacramento 8. Houston 9. Memphis 10t. Denver 10t. Washington(East) Basically, the east has 3 out of the top 11. Which is still pretty pathetic. Nothing like your 3rd best team in the conference fighting for a playoff spot if it were in the other conference. It's kind of weird how many sports writers feel the East has caught up a bit to the west, even if it is at the top. Miami is basically Indy last year, the lone eastern conference team with a great win-loss record. Detroit is severely overrated by most people because of their championship run last year. Otherwise, they're hardly a great team this regular season.
i think the east has caught up quite a bit this year. usually, the east is way behind at each standings position. this year, right now - the 9th in the east is equal to the 10th in the west (orlando/lakers). also...though the east has the two worst teams, the west has more teams under .400. here's a playoff seed matchup (1-8 east vs west). miami > phoenix detroit=san antonio (could make an argument either way). boston > seattle (this is prob just my opinion. celts are 2-0 vs seattle so far, and that was before walker joined the team). washington < dallas chicago < sacramento (but honestly, i don't know how much better. i wouldn't be surprised to see baby bulls take a few wins). cleveland < houston philly = memphis (again, probably just my opinion. but i think philly would have a 50-60% chance of taking a series between the two). indiana = denver (sure, denver's hot right now, and would have a chance versus almost every team in a series. but we're forgetting how good indiana really is. you give them a healthy team and they'll give you wins). so, in my opinion...west wins 3-2-3 (W-L-T).
I think the NBA should change the rule. Whoever wins their division gets a playoffs seed, that's 6 seeds for the division winners, and rest of them are up for grap by ANYONE!
if you are saying we shouldn't break it down by conferences, it has been braught up before. good idea but, what if houston and washington ended up playing eachother in the first round? think of the traveling....it's one thing to do it for the finals, but for every series? it gets to be too much.
Traveling is really a non-issue IMO. The travel is much worse a points in the regular season when you have back-to-back in different regions all the time. There are no back-to-backs in the playoffs, and furthermore most of the best of 7 series have 2 or 3 games in each location.
if we would do a league wide playoffs this would be the matchups as of today: 1.PHO 16.PHI/IND tied 2.MIA 15.MIN 3.SAS 14.CLE 4.SEA 13.BOS 5.DAL 12.CHI 6.DET 11.WAS 7.SAC 10.DEN 8.HOU 9.MEM
That won't be fair though. The Eastern teams and Western teams have very different common opponents. In the East, your record is based on playing heavy Eastern teams. In the West, you are playing Western teams. So, let say if Philly and Minny both vying for a playoff spot, and record wise, Philly is one game better and gets in, that's really unfair for Minny, because Philly beat easier oppoents to get there than Minny. The current system, however flawed, does make sure that teams fighting against each other for playoff spots will have similar common opponents, so it's a fair fight ground.
miami > phoenix detroit < san antonio boston < seattle washington < dallas chicago < sacramento cleveland < houston philly < memphis indiana < denver I've got it 7 - 1 for the West. I do think Boston could give Seattle some problems. And obviously Memphis and San Antonio depends on the health of their injured stars. Indiana needs Artest, and he won't be back this year.
Another thing to look at is the fact that you play 4 games vs each team in your conference and only 2 agains the other one, so its no wonder that a good team (Maimi) would have such a great record. Change their division and their record wouldnt be that high.
