For many years, there was universal consensus that the West was much stronger than the East. It was so bad that many people talked about top 1-16 in playoffs regardless of conference. But I think the tide has turned and the East is either at parity or actually slightly stronger than the West.
West: 92-84 vs East Bucks probably best team in the NBA (IMO) Gap has definitely closed About equal but forced to choose, West still slightly better. Code: 31-5 Bucks 27-7 Lakers 23-8 Celtics 24-10 Nuggets 25-9 Heat 25-11 Clippers 23-12 Raptors 23-11 Rockets 23-13 Sixers 22-12 Mavs 22-13 Pacers 22-12 Jazz 16-17 Nets 19-15 Thunder 15-19 Magic 14-19 Spurs 14-23 Hornets 14-21 Blazers 13-22 Bulls 13-21 Suns 12-23 Pistons 13-21 Wolves 10-23 Wizards 13-22 Kings 10-24 Cavs 13-22 Grizzlies 10-24 Knicks 11-23 Pelicans 7-27 Hawks 9-27 Warriors
a lot of people have asked for more parity for a long time. the gap has gotten a lot closer now with a number of more competitive teams in the East and now have more than 1 actual contender
the West still has the monopoly on top players in the NBA...record wise, the East isn’t as trash as it used to be, but talent wise, the gap is still enormous an EC All-Star and a WC All-Star just ain’t the same, there’s levels to this
The down fall of GS significantly weakened the West. If Curry and Thompson were healthy, the West would still be head and shoulder above the East. As of now, the West is only slightly better. The head to head records aren't that much lopsided. (It was even closer before yesterday's 4-game sweep by the West.) The top 11 teams of each conference have very similar records. In contrast to years past, the East always have only four or five teams you could call "good" and the rest would be trash.
look at the all star ballots for east and west, idea that the west isn't clearly better is just silly
I feel like they'll take command back at full strength, especially if they have a top pick and D-Lo. Whatever that turns into is at least one star or one above average starter, possibly two stars or a star and good prospect.
The West is better overall, but the Bucks, Celtics, and 76ers (on a hot streak) could beat anyone in the West. The Raptors, Heat, and Pacers is tough series for the Lakers, Nuggets, Clippers, and Rockets, yet those three teams could beat every other Western team.
Embiid didn't look like a superstar to me in the last games, certainly not the most skilled and not the fastest. Not sure if that's fleeting or lasting.
Another sweep by the West last night. To be fair, of the 7 losses by the East in the past two days, only Indiana, NJ, and Philly are considered "good" teams. And they played against Denver, Dallas, and Houston. The other 4 losses are by Chicago, Detroit, Washington, and NY against the likes of Utah, Clippers, Portland, and Lakers. Only Portland is a weak team in the West. Today's schedule will probably another semi-slaughtering: UTA-ORL OKC-CLE DEN-WAS DAL-CHA GSW-DET SAS-MIL Probably only MIL and DET will come out with a win.
East top 4 teams have gotten better, which makes it less lopsided. Comparing the middle and bad teams, west still have the edge.
