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Awesome take
I pulled the NBA standings out of curiosity and found something very interesting.
http://espn.go.com/nba/standings
It appears that the claims of the East being the "Leastern" Conference are genuinely true.
So far through 22 November, the Eastern Conference only has four teams with winning records (Indiana, Miami, Atlanta and Chicago). That means that the other 11 all have losing records (over 73% of the conference). This means that if the playoffs started today 50% of the East's representation would be losers. Talk about an easy path to the Finals the East's rep. Yikes.
By comparison, the West is an entirely different story. That conference boasts nine teams with winning records, and another two that are .500 teams and the two just outside of the .500 club are only one win away. That means that only four teams in the West have losing records. Ironically, the league's worst team, Utah, is in the West. But other than that one obvious outlier, the Western Conference is vastly superior to the East. If the playoffs started today, not only would every team in the West have a winning record, one with a similar record would be left behind.
The basic analysis seems to indicate that strong records out East don't really mean much of anything. Since each team plays in-conference opponents four times per year (as opposed to two times for out of conference opponents) that means that Eastern records will naturally be inflated. Especially among the good teams. Now, that has been true for a while, as the East hasn't been worth a damn for years. But this year is especially bad. It also means that the playoffs could be very interesting this year - at least in the West.
Interestingly enough, Indiana and Miami are the elite teams in the East. But so far each has played 10 of their 12 games in-conference. Translation: they've been playing JV so far. So people that want to snipe at San Antonio for its weak strength of schedule need to include other teams in that conversation.
Awesome take
Man, you have no idea how long I`ve been screaming out of my lungs that East doesn´t worth .
Miami and Indiana are already like last year with a free trip to the Conference Finals.
West this year... I feel it sucks a little more than other years but as you said just looking the standings between conferences it is very clear the East is a Turkish amateur conference.
Wow...I hadn't noticed. And I thought the West was weak this year.
NBA
Honestly, the East has been inferior to the West for over a decade now, tbh. Nothing new.
it feels like one of those days...you know...like the one where them Spurs lose to a leastern conference team the same day this thread is created
wow the spurs are in their like 15th straigth year with 50+ wins playing in the west. Now imagine what the record would be if the same spurs team would have played in eastern conference the last 15 years .
Just because the East sucks doesn't mean they never win games. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. But playing a whole season against those same blind squirrels just means you're going to look great on paper and coast through a round or two of the playoffs. The irony was that people had the audacity to downgrade the Spurs' playoff run last season because it was made "easier" by a few events. Never heard any similar objections about the Miami Lebrons.
The east has less talent than the West but the compe ion is terrible this year more so than other years because of the 2014 draft class. Supposedly this class is suppose to be loaded with talent. All these teams in the east are tanking to get a lottery pick in this draft. Its real bad that the teams ranked 4-8 are also tanking but they can't keep up with other teams who are tanking to avoid the playoffs. This is why you see so many teams in the East below .500.
The problem with that theory is that we hear it every year. That upcoming draft is always so tantalizing and appealing.
And the two teams with the highest salaries in the NBA, Nets and Knicks, are turrible.
Eastern conference teams record against western conference teams is 17 wins for 41 losses this year. That's just horrible.
At that stage of the season, the East is really a 2 teams conference with Pacers and Heat. Bulls could have been good but Rose sucked and is now injured. Nets looked scary good on the paper but they have been awful.
And the west being so superior to the east doesn't change that Spurs schedule has been relatively easy so far.
It was inferior of course, but now its like a team with a 12-70 record can make it to the playoffs without even sweat
The most significant takeaway here is that the elite teams in the East with inflated records will be able to translate that into HCA in the NBA Finals. That's a very big deal. If Game 7 last year were in San Antonio, we would have had #5 by now.
We really don't hear that, or you just get all your basketball information from re s.
An elaborate way of saying "f*** you" to those taking shots at the spurs. I like it!
The West is always heads and shoulders above the East. Always. Thats why LeBron will never leave the EC.
There are only 3 real contenders in the NBA, 2 of them are in the East and the other is the Spurs, tbh..maybe OKC if you consider their typical officiating advantage..
The East is a 2-team race, obviously, especially with Chicago being done and Brooklyn looking like a failure.. It's not really different than most years, though, each conference usually only has 1-2 real contenders per year, anyways..
2013 East- Miami and Indiana
2013 West- San Antonio and OKC(and I guess morons that considered Memphis)
2012 East- Miami
2012 West- OKC and San Antonio
2011 East- Miami and Chicago
2011 East- Dallas, Lakers, Memphis, OKC and San Antonio
2010 East- Boston, Cleveland and Orlando
2010 West- Lakers
2009 East- Boston, Cleveland and Orlando
2009 West- Lakers
2008 East- Boston
2008 West- Lakers and San Antonio
2007 East- Detroit(Cleveland won the East, but they weren't considered a real threat)
2007 West- San Antonio, Phoenix and Dallas
Etc..
Last edited by HarlemHeat37; 11-23-2013 at 11:16 PM.
Sure they do. People are talking about tanking almost every year. Surely it's more widespread some years than others. But it always exists.
Not sure what your deal is, so go pound sand.
You're right of course. But that doesn't change the fact that Indiana/Miami can coast the entire season and never be in doubt of having at minimum a 3 seed (probably even a 2 seed). Playing four games a season against the Wizards, Knicks and Bobcats has that effect.
Bobcats aren't really pushovers compared to the two. They're .500. Granted, even they are exploiting the Leastern Conference.
I completely agree, but I think it sucks more for the teams in the West that will be competing from the 5th to 10th seed, since they would all make the playoffs if they were in the East, especially with Rose's injury killing the Bulls..
For the contenders in the playoffs, the best team usually wins the Finals, regardless of path IMO..
The 3 to 8 in the East this year could be the tiest in any conference in NBA history, though
True. But now we're saying a .500 team is a quality opponent? In all fairness, just consider what that means. The east is least.
Remember when everyone was saying how much "harder" it would be for Miami to reach the finals....
To be fair,Brooklyn Nets
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