Is the Western Conference really that much better than the East?

[Po Pimp]

Everyone talks about how if the Suns were in the East, they would be in the top 5, and teams like Chicago or Philly wouldn't even make the playoffs in the West.

That sounds true, but when u dig deeper, the Western Conference has a LOT more bad teams. The top teams in the West get to beat up on those lower seeded teams 4 times a year.

Just take the top 5 and bottom 5 teams in the NBA:

Cleveland - 66-16, 40-12, 26-4 against West
LAL - 65-17, 44-8, 21-9 against East
Boston - 62-20, 44-11, 18-9 against West
Orlando - 59-23, 37-15, 22-8 against West
Denver - 54-28, 35-17, 19-11 against East

Sac - 17-65, 16-36, 1-29 against East
Washington - 19-63, 10-42, 9-21 against West
LAC - 19-63, 10-42, 9-21 against East
OKC - 23-59, 15-37, 8-22 against East
Minnesota - 24-58, 13-39, 11-19 against East
Memphis - 24-58, 14-38, 10-20 against East

[o_capone]

well the west 9 seed in the west is the only team that would make the east playoffs but they would be like a 4 seed

by the way, when u posted the top 5 teams u should have included the teams who tied with denver in the west...

[ex carrabba fan]

Not this year.

Bottom line to skip past all the bias crap

The West has a more stout 1-9
While the East 1-9 is weak

West has 1 title favorite
East has 1 title favorite

It all depends on your definition of "better"

Look at the West playoffs and how it's a more difficult road to the Finals.

There are TONS of variables-- injuries especially that change a lot of things.. if KG was healthy or Manu was healthy for example. Or the Hornets injuries or Jameer Nelson etc. etc. etc. ..

West is "better" IMO this year, but the gap isn't huge.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Quote:

West is "better" IMO this year, but the gap isn't huge.

This.

[J0nnD0ugh]

The distance isn't as wide as last year. The bottom of the East is better, which makes the top of the West's W-L record about 3-5 games better. I think the East schedule makes them have to grind it out more.

[Jackets333]

The East is clearly the better conference. You have 14 solid teams in the East who could beat anyone in the NBA on any given night. You had 3 of the 4 teams with the best record in the NBA also. You could say the Hawks would have at least 50 wins if they were in the West because of all the horrible teams out there. The Hawks are about the same caliber team as the Blazers just by comparison.

Look at the Kings who beat one Eastern conference team all year. The conference with the worst teams can't be the best conference.

[GSW]

^ are we watching the same sport?

[MaddenMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Po Pimp

Everyone talks about how if the Suns were in the East, they would be in the top 5, and teams like Chicago or Philly wouldn't even make the playoffs in the West. That sounds true, but when u dig deeper, the Western Conference has a LOT more bad teams. The top teams in the West get to beat up on those lower seeded teams 4 times a year. Just take the top 5 and bottom 5 teams in the NBA: Cleveland - 66-16, 40-12, 26-4 against West LAL - 65-17, 44-8, 21-9 against East Boston - 62-20, 44-11, 18-9 against West Orlando - 59-23, 37-15, 22-8 against West Denver - 54-28, 35-17, 19-11 against East Sac - 17-65, 16-36, 1-29 against East Washington - 19-63, 10-42, 9-21 against West LAC - 19-63, 10-42, 9-21 against East OKC - 23-59, 15-37, 8-22 against East Minnesota - 24-58, 13-39, 11-19 against East Memphis - 24-58, 14-38, 10-20 against East

Usually the conference with the bad teams also have the elite teams (which are the teams that made the bad teams bad).

I wouldn't get into the East/West thing anymore. As recent history has shown us I don't believe any of the players buy into that crap since Jordan left.