travis2
02-03-2005, 01:46 PM
We predicted it at the beginning. It's taken a few weeks to settle out, but it has begun to settle out. And the results are in...the Southwest division is the toughest division in basketball.
It's what we expected at the beginning of the season. The Texas Triangle, plus Memphis...what a killer division.
Slow starts by Houston and Memphis seemed to put the lie to that pre-season belief. But now...Memphis and Houston have picked themselves off the ground. Dallas is still Dallas. And our beloved Spurs are the #1 team in the league.
Can we resume the argument?
Yes, we can!
According to my own figures, I would rank the divisions in this order:
Southwest
Pacific
Central
Southeast
Northwest
Atlantic
Each adjacent pair (1/2, 3/4, 5/6) are studies in similarities.
The Southwest and Pacific divisions are nearly carbon copies of each other. Overall, their respective winning percentages are 0.557 and 0.558. If you drop the bottom team from each, those percentages jump to 0.649 and 0.630. Finally, keep only the top 3 and the numbers become 0.681 and 0.676.
Compare the seedings. The Southwest comes in at 1/5/6/8/15. Pacific is right there at 2/4/7/10/14. Overal NBA rankings are again neck and neck at 1/6/10/13/30 versus 2/5/11/16/27.
As close as the Southwest and Pacific divisions are, the Central and Southeast are even harder to separate. Top 5/Top 4/Top 3 spin out as 0.509/0.542/0.571 versus 0.464/0.528/0.618. Seedings shake out as 2/4/7/9/13 versus 1/4/6/14/15.
Finally, we come to the dog food divisions. The only thing keeping the Northwest division from looking exactly like the Atlantic is Seattle...the ugly duckling coming in at a 0.705 clip. Outside of that bright spot, the only thing approaching a highlight is Minnesota, a bare 2 games over 0.500. And that's it. Everyone else is pretty much hors d'combat.
It's what we expected at the beginning of the season. The Texas Triangle, plus Memphis...what a killer division.
Slow starts by Houston and Memphis seemed to put the lie to that pre-season belief. But now...Memphis and Houston have picked themselves off the ground. Dallas is still Dallas. And our beloved Spurs are the #1 team in the league.
Can we resume the argument?
Yes, we can!
According to my own figures, I would rank the divisions in this order:
Southwest
Pacific
Central
Southeast
Northwest
Atlantic
Each adjacent pair (1/2, 3/4, 5/6) are studies in similarities.
The Southwest and Pacific divisions are nearly carbon copies of each other. Overall, their respective winning percentages are 0.557 and 0.558. If you drop the bottom team from each, those percentages jump to 0.649 and 0.630. Finally, keep only the top 3 and the numbers become 0.681 and 0.676.
Compare the seedings. The Southwest comes in at 1/5/6/8/15. Pacific is right there at 2/4/7/10/14. Overal NBA rankings are again neck and neck at 1/6/10/13/30 versus 2/5/11/16/27.
As close as the Southwest and Pacific divisions are, the Central and Southeast are even harder to separate. Top 5/Top 4/Top 3 spin out as 0.509/0.542/0.571 versus 0.464/0.528/0.618. Seedings shake out as 2/4/7/9/13 versus 1/4/6/14/15.
Finally, we come to the dog food divisions. The only thing keeping the Northwest division from looking exactly like the Atlantic is Seattle...the ugly duckling coming in at a 0.705 clip. Outside of that bright spot, the only thing approaching a highlight is Minnesota, a bare 2 games over 0.500. And that's it. Everyone else is pretty much hors d'combat.