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.
Right now, the SW division has 4 of the 16 NBA playoff seeds, or 1/4 of the 6 division quota. No other division has more than 3 current playoff seeds.
Correct. Also, while the Atlantic currently has 2 seeds, it is in danger of ending up with only one, a la the Northwest.
Put the Columbus Riverdragons in the Atlantic Division and they might become the 2nd seed.
To think, the Northwest division was the best after the first month....my have they fallen off the map.
8 playoffs teams in the west 4 will come out from southwest division,right about that toughest division in the NBA.
Last year the MidWest division was the best dvision ever. They had 6 teams in the playoffs......but one team from the Pac made it to Finals....so it does not mean jack how many teams come from a division, it is what teams play the best once they get to the big dance that matters.
In terms of the NBA le? No. In terms of the best division? You BET it matters how may teams make the playoffs.....so it does not mean jack how many teams come from a division
ex, give me a team like LA last year that makes it to Finals from a weak division over a playoff team packed division anyday.
Plus if you are best team in weak division, your record should be better since you play all of them 4 times, so that is a bonus.
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