Damn, is this intense or what. I'm not even playing and and going crazy. You got 7 teams between 50 and 55 wins and two more battling for the 8th spot at 48 even. The top four teams in the conference are separated by one game with wither 54 or 55 wins. First place won't be decided until the Wednesday. I can't wait until April 19f.


1p) L.A. Lakers 55 25
2x) New Orleans 55 25
3x) San Antonio 54 25
4nw) Utah 53 27
5x) Houston 54 25
6x) Phoenix 53 27
7x) Dallas 50 30
8) Denver 48 32
9) Golden State 48 32
[Edited 4/12/08 22:44pm]

It is insane! Never has one conference fielded such a strong group of playoff contenders. For maybe the first time, any team in the Western playoff picture has a reasonable shot at the Finals!

Forget the west the Celtics shall win it all this year!

karmatornado said:

They have a good shot. If they played in the West, however, I don't think they would be able to keep up. The C's would be a playoff team for sure, but the daily grind of a Western Conference schedule and an absolutely loaded playoff ledger would do them in, I suspect.

That said, they should be able to breeze through the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, which is a great advantage.

Moonbeam said:

They only have 3 losses to west coast teams this year versus 18 wins

karmatornado said:

Yeah true. They'd have to go up against the big dogs like San An, LA, Houston, Phoenix, Utah, Dallas, ect 4 times a season instead of just twice.

Impossible, they lost more than 3 games to the west. They played everyone in the West twice.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I'll look it up I stand corrected they are 25 - 5 against the west

karmatornado said:

They actually finished 25-5 against the West, an impressive feat. However, I feel that playing a majority of their games against the weaker competition of the East has put them in the envious position of not having to fight for their playoff lives, and thereby allowing them to take their time bringing back KG, etc. As I said, I definitely think they'd be a playoff team in the West as well, and their defense is top notch, but I wonder if they could emerge from the Western bracket with teams like the Spurs looming.

Moonbeam said:

When we play the atlanta hawks P.J. Brown is gonna start at point guard, Big Baby Davis at SG, Sam Cassel at Center, Leon Powe at SF, and Gabe Pruitt at PF and we would still beat that YMCA team that have down there!

karmatornado said:

Don't be so sure of yourself, just one season ago the 8th place Warriors defeated the 67 win Dallas Mavericks.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

The Hawks are terrible, the second round will be where the tests begin, the hawks have a washed up mike bibby, a great joe johnson (paul pierce clone), and an all too young front line

karmatornado said:

Boston OR Detroit has a good shot at whoever survives the west. IMO, it'll be the battle-tested Spurs.
[Edited 4/13/08 1:01am]

LittleBLUECorvette said:

It IS a great season. San Antonio has to be the team to beat, IMHO.

It looks like Bynum won't be back until the playoffs (if then). The way the Lakers have been playing, that might not be all that bad. If they've got the chemistry right, sometimes less is more.

I don't think Dallas has it in them to win. Nor does Denver. Phoenix with Shaq is built for the playoffs. If the Rockets don't go all the way (which is likely, unfortunately), I'll be pulling for the Suns.

But Karma is right - the Celtics (or possibly the Pistons) could beat any of the West's teams. ESPECIALLY after the Western Conference winner has been in three rounds of dogfights.

The East's wildcard are the Magic. They are capable of catchng lightning in a bottle.

Moonbeam said:

2000-2001 WC was deeper than this year so far. That year had 7 teams with 50 wins or more. If G-State and Denver can end up with 50 wins, then it will at least be AS deep as the 00-01 WC playoff teams.

my spurs will pull through
[Edited 4/13/08 10:00am]

RodeoSchro said:

In the playoffs, it's about defense and rebounding. If Howard concentrates on those(like his coach wants him too), Orlando could have a SERIOUS playoff run.

Chris Paul is the savior, mofos!

Moonbeam said:

I hear that argument.....but u play where u play.

MuthaFunka said:

There already are 7 50-win clubs in the West! If either Golden State or Denver can amass 50 wins, the record will be broken!

Graycap23 said:

Indeed. The West has been the superior conference for so long now. The only solution that seems feasible to me is to add 2 new expansion teams to the West and switch one of the West teams to the East.

Flowerz said:

nooo way! dirk sucks...all of dallas does

Moonbeam said:

No, no, no more expansion. The NBA is watered down enough. Leave the system alone, because these things go in cycles. Same as in football - during the 80s/early 90s, the NFC was the dominant conference. It's no longer the case.

uPtoWnNY said:

While I agree in theory, and wouldn't be thrilled about more expansion, the current cycle of West dominance is unprecedented in NBA history.

I've run a statistical analysis of the past 30 seasons, and in 13 years, one conference exerted a statistically significant dominance over the other at the 5% level. What this means is that during each of these 13 seasons, there is less than a 5% chance of the inter-conference record being as lopsided as it was if the conferences were truly evenly matched. However, the West has had a significant edge in each of the past 7 seasons. In other words, prior to that run, there were only 6 seasons in 23 in which one conference dominated the other (3 times the East dominated, and 3 times the West dominated). We are in the midst of the longest run in NBA history of conference statistical dominance, and I don't see it getting much better in the short term.

For the record, here are the 13 seasons in question, complete with inter-conference record:

1977-78 West: 144-98 (0.595)
1978-79 West: 147-95 (0.607)
1988-89 East: 186-126 (0.596)
1994-95 West: 206-158 (0.566)
1996-97 East: 242-178 (0.576)
1997-98 East: 243-177 (0.579)

Current streak:

2000-01 West: 259-161 (0.617)
2001-02 West: 232-188 (0.552)
2002-03 West: 250-170 (0.595)
2003-04 West: 266-154 (0.633)
2004-05 West: 256-194 (0.569)
2005-06 West: 252-198 (0.560)
2006-07 West: 257-193 (0.571)

The current season gives the West the edge 257-191, for another statistically significant dominant record of 0.574.

This is an issue that the league has never faced before, at least not on this scale.

Moonbeam said:

Good stuff, but the only stat that matters is who wins the O'Brien trophy. When Detroit won their last championship, there was no question the West was a far better conference. But they didn't have the team that got the rings.

karmatornado said:

Fuck you!

Josh Smith is excellent, and still so young, and we have quite a bit of young talent alongside the steady Joe Johnson. Bibby's done alright for us so far and is starting to fit in better. It's going to be tough though, I must admit. Our mid-season run of losses really hurt us. We were looking at 5th or 6th seed at one point. End of season form has been pretty decent though.

RodeoSchro said:

Truly, whoever wins the Finals deserves to be Champion, as they must defeat the four teams they face. However, the road that both teams take to the Finals has at least some bearing on their performance. This year, navigating through the landmine that is the Western Conference will be much easier than in the East, where it seems that Detroit and Boston can coast to the conference finals and therein have an advantage.
[Edited 4/13/08 19:44pm]

TonyVanDam said:

The Bees are gonna make noise!! Pissed that they're slipping out of the #1 seed, but watching them come back (albeit falling short) from that 30 point hole against the Lakers gives me confidence that its not gonna be one and done....

GEAUX HORNETS!!!!

reneGade20 said:

Don't put too much stock in the Hornets. They lack experience and that's gonna do them in, and maybe even in the 1st round.