As we put a bow on All-Star weekend, we look on to a second half of one of the most lopsided seasons in NBA history in regards to the two conferences. There are so many ways to portray the balance of power in the West, but I think the most effective option is to take a look at the reigning conference champions of the past three years.
The Spurs went into the all-star break at 34-19, 15 games over .500, good enough for seventh in the Western Conference. Keep in mind the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference is eight games under .500. The only thing separating the second place Grizzlies and the seventh place Spurs are five games. If the Spurs were in the East they would currently be in third place, two games behind the second place Raptors.
Arguably, the most intriguing team in this whole Western Conference crusade would not even make the playoffs, if the season ended today. The eighth and final seed of the bracket is being fought out between three teams that are separated by two games. One of these teams has the greatest scorer on the planet (winning 4 of the last 5 scoring titles) and the reigning MVP, Kevin Durant. They also have pound for pound, the most athletically gifted player this league has ever seen. So why aren’t they in the playoffs? Injuries.
Both of these guys have missed significant time and the NBA is a star driven league so when your team is missing theirs, they are in trouble. However, they are healthy now and last time they took the court they beat a top tier team in Memphis handedly as Durant and Westbrook accounted for 50 (the night before that Durant went for 40 by himself). This team is scorching hot offensively right now, putting up well over 100 each night and something tells me they will not be kept out of the playoff picture much longer.
If you think about the purpose of the regular season as a whole, you are grinding out 82 games to try and win as many as you can to get the highest possible seed for the postseason. Well this conference is currently taking that principle and throwing it out the window.
For instance, if you are in the East and you play well enough in the regular season to secure a top seed, you will be playing your first playoff series against a lousy team with a record that is well under .500. However, if you are in the West, and you are able to somehow come out of it on top with the 1 or 2 seed, you will play your first playoff series against the defending world champions and back-to-back western conference champions or a team that has been in the conference finals 3 of the past 4 years.
This conference brings some much-needed parity to a league that has seen a large decline in fans watching regular season games. There is very little difference in the teams from 1-8. So when you hear the cliché term that typically does not hold true ‘once you get in anything can happen’, you should start buying into it this year.
If you are a fan of a team like the Phoenix Suns with an immensely talented backcourt that can light it up every night at a high pace, or a team like the New Orleans Pelicans with an up and coming player who will be in MVP discussions a few years down the road, you have more reason than you’ve ever had to watch every regular season game.
The amount of talent out West is unreal. The point guard position alone left All-Star voters scratching their heads. Rondo, Conley, Parker, Westbrook, Lillard, Curry and Paul are all viable All-Star talents, but only three were selected (Lillard was a late addition due to injury). So if you have plans of playing point guard in the NBA, you may want to stay on the East Coast because dealing with this kind of talent on a night to night basis could be crippling to a players’ stats.
Not sure if anyone has suggested doing away with the Eastern Conference to the commish yet but this has been a season to remember for the other conference and will surely create some must watch TV down the stretch. If those games out West get started a little past your bed time, I certainly suggest staying up a bit later to watch some highly competitive basketball.
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