The WC and the playoffs

[WayOutWest]

The demise of the WC has been greatly exaggerated.  The WC is still the better conference, the top 2 teams and records might be in the EC when it's all said and done but the WC is still better overall.  The way things are shaping up the EC playoffs will have at least one team, maybe two teams, making the playoffs.  The WC will once again have a very good team miss the playoffs, probably with a record what would get them home court in round 1 of the EC.

The standings today look like this:

L.A. Lakers 17-2
Portland 15-7
Denver 14-7
New Orleans 11-6
Houston 13-8
Utah 13-9
Dallas 11-8
San Antonio 11-8
Phoenix 12-9

Right now the Suns are on the outside looking in but IMO it will be Denver or Dallas that will fall out of the playoff mix.

Barring any injuries the Lakers/Hornets/Rockets (did I say Rockets?) should make it in no problem.  The Lakers offense is their lifeline and they are deep enough to weather any injured player not named Kobe or Gasol.  The Hornets IMO played over their heads last year and they have stumbled out of the gate but IMO they are starting to get it together and should roll to a respectable record by the end of the year.  The Rockets defense should keep them in the playoffs plus if there is any coach in the NBA that should know how to get a team through injuries it's Adelman.

The Spurs have suffered some major injuries and still hung tough for the 8th spot and now that they are healthy so they should start to roll and finish in the top 4 IMO. 

The Jazz have had injuries and managed to keep their head above water so they should be ok.  They are so deep that they should finish in the top 4 with the Lakers and Spurs.

Portland is young and deep enough to maintain their level of play for the rest of the year and there are enough "scrub" teams that they should stay in the playoff mix.  The Blazers are not ready to be a real contender but they are only a year or two away from being a major player in the playoffs. 

I think the Suns will get their act together, with Shaq/Nash/Amare on the roster how can they not make the playoffs.  The only way I see them missing the playoffs is if the players really start to revolt against the coach or each other.  IMO Kerr should be fired by next year.

Dallas has never recovered from their historic loss in the Finals, their loss in the first round 2 years ago was a sign of their demise.  They could easily collapse down the stretch.  They have a new coach, a depleted bench and a core player causing drama.  They have a lot of things going against them and it could catch up to them.

Denver has had a good run but I think they will start to falter with their lack of D and structured offense.  Billips is exactly what the Nuggets needed but he may not be enough.  I don't think of Mello and Kenyon as good team players and overall I don't consider Denver a good team.

So IMO Denver will miss out on the playoffs and the Mavs and Suns are dangerously close as well.

[jemagee]

Last I heard (a couple weeks ago) Eastern Conference was beating western conference in H2H which is where a lot of the east catching up to west came from, no bother was made to examine the schedules in these reports, then

[WayOutWest]

Last I heard (a couple weeks ago) Eastern Conference was beating western conference in H2H which is where a lot of the east catching up to west came from, no bother was made to examine the schedules in these reports, then

I heard the same thing, they pointed out that the Texas trio was not as tough as in years past but they Texas trio has gotten better over the last few weeks.  It will be interesting how the H2H looks by the all-star break and at the end of the year. 

[westkoast]

2 championships in the last 9 years and the East is back all the sudden?  I agree the Celtics look awesome, Cavs too.  As far as being the better conference I would say we need a little bit more time than 1/5th of the season for that to be the case. 

The Celtics were VERY good last year but the rest of the East was weak.  The Lakers look VERY good right now but I wouldn't say the drop off in the Western conference is the same as the Eastern conference when you start going to the 4th, 5th, 6th best teams.  Honestly I'll take the Jazz, Spurs, Rockets over New Jersey, Atlanta, and Detroit.

Just my opinion.  Well written first post W.O.W, props.

[ziggy]

The demise of the WC has been greatly exaggerated.  The WC is still the better conference, the top 2 teams and records might be in the EC when it's all said and done but the WC is still better overall.  The way things are shaping up the EC playoffs will have at least one team, maybe two teams, making the playoffs.  The WC will once again have a very good team miss the playoffs, probably with a record what would get them home court in round 1 of the EC.

The standings today look like this:

L.A. Lakers 17-2
Portland 15-7
Denver 14-7
New Orleans 11-6
Houston 13-8
Utah 13-9
Dallas 11-8
San Antonio 11-8
Phoenix 12-9

Right now the Suns are on the outside looking in but IMO it will be Denver or Dallas that will fall out of the playoff mix.

Barring any injuries the Lakers/Hornets/Rockets (did I say Rockets?) should make it in no problem.  The Lakers offense is their lifeline and they are deep enough to weather any injured player not named Kobe or Gasol.  The Hornets IMO played over their heads last year and they have stumbled out of the gate but IMO they are starting to get it together and should roll to a respectable record by the end of the year.  The Rockets defense should keep them in the playoffs plus if there is any coach in the NBA that should know how to get a team through injuries it's Adelman.

The Spurs have suffered some major injuries and still hung tough for the 8th spot and now that they are healthy so they should start to roll and finish in the top 4 IMO. 

The Jazz have had injuries and managed to keep their head above water so they should be ok.  They are so deep that they should finish in the top 4 with the Lakers and Spurs.

Portland is young and deep enough to maintain their level of play for the rest of the year and there are enough "scrub" teams that they should stay in the playoff mix.  The Blazers are not ready to be a real contender but they are only a year or two away from being a major player in the playoffs. 

I think the Suns will get their act together, with Shaq/Nash/Amare on the roster how can they not make the playoffs.  The only way I see them missing the playoffs is if the players really start to revolt against the coach or each other.  IMO Kerr should be fired by next year.

Dallas has never recovered from their historic loss in the Finals, their loss in the first round 2 years ago was a sign of their demise.  They could easily collapse down the stretch.  They have a new coach, a depleted bench and a core player causing drama.  They have a lot of things going against them and it could catch up to them.

Denver has had a good run but I think they will start to falter with their lack of D and structured offense.  Billips is exactly what the Nuggets needed but he may not be enough.  I don't think of Mello and Kenyon as good team players and overall I don't consider Denver a good team.

So IMO Denver will miss out on the playoffs and the Mavs and Suns are dangerously close as well.

The top of the West and East are very comparable (Boston, Cleveland, LAL).  The West has far more depth in the next 8.  At the bottom the west has some really dreadful teams, which can distort the head to head some.  Though not a perfect analogy the West is similar to the Pac-10 in football, except that the WC has more good teams that the P-10.  But the top and bottom is just like the Pac-10.  One great team, and a good chunk of garbage at the bottom.

[WayOutWest]

The top of the West and East are very comparable (Boston, Cleveland, LAL).  The West has far more depth in the next 8.  At the bottom the west has some really dreadful teams, which can distort the head to head some.  Though not a perfect analogy the West is similar to the Pac-10 in football, except that the WC has more good teams that the P-10.  But the top and bottom is just like the Pac-10.  One great team, and a good chunk of garbage at the bottom.

But don't you think the WC playoff teams are better than the EC ones?  IMO the Celtics and Cavs are just as good, actually right now they are clearly better despite the Lakers record, then the top playoff teams in the WC.  But once you get past those two teams, the EC playoff teams do not look as good as the rest of the WC playoff teams even if you exclude the Lakers.

[ziggy]

The West has far more depth in the next 8. 

But don't you think the WC playoff teams are better than the EC ones?  IMO the Celtics and Cavs are just as good, actually right now they are clearly better despite the Lakers record, then the top playoff teams in the WC.  But once you get past those two teams, the EC playoff teams do not look as good as the rest of the WC playoff teams even if you exclude the Lakers.

That was the point I was trying to make. 

#1 in each conference (Boston/Cleveland and LA) is about the same.

#2-#9 in the West and #3-#9 East  The West is better and has far more depth

#10-#14  The West is dreadful, the East is better.  OKC, Minny, Memphis, Clips, Sacto is a very bad group.

[WayOutWest]

The West has far more depth in the next 8. 

But don't you think the WC playoff teams are better than the EC ones?  IMO the Celtics and Cavs are just as good, actually right now they are clearly better despite the Lakers record, then the top playoff teams in the WC.  But once you get past those two teams, the EC playoff teams do not look as good as the rest of the WC playoff teams even if you exclude the Lakers.

That was the point I was trying to make. 

#1 in each conference (Boston/Cleveland and LA) is about the same.

#2-#9 in the West and #3-#9 East  The West is better and has far more depth

#10-#14  The West is dreadful, the East is better.  OKC, Minny, Memphis, Clips, Sacto is a very bad group.

Ok, understood.  So overall, which do you think is the better conference?

[ziggy]

Ok, understood.  So overall, which do you think is the better conference?

The West.

Actually ESPN Power Poll has the bottom 6 in the league all from the WC.

In 4-14 there are 8 WC teams

   4 (4)    Trail Blazers    15-7    So Boston trounced the league's young darlings. So what? The Blazers' response, a one-point W in Toronto, was notable. As is this: Portland is a league-leading plus-8, with eight more road wins than home losses.
   5 (6)    Magic    15-5    The prospect of a five-game trip out West typically would unsettle a team missing a starter (Pietrus). The atypical, road-loving Magic -- with Nelson and Bogans back early from injury -- probably are looking forward to it.
   6 (5)    Nuggets    14-7    Let's go out on a limb and suggest that the Nuggets -- geeked as they are to be 13-4 with Chauncey -- still would prefer to avoid seeing the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs (again) after Thursday's encounter.
   7 (7)    Rockets    13-7    The Rockets should get through the next two weeks without T-Mac, with five of the next seven games against the dregs of the West. Yet we wouldn't dare predict when you'll see these guys at full strength. If ever.
   8 (14)    Mavericks    11-8    When J.J. Barea first got to town, teammates jokingly called him ''Rudy.'' Jason Terry, to this day, still mistakenly calls him "Barrera." One more true Barea story: You could call him the Mavs' MVP in December.
   9 (    Spurs    11-8    The excellence we expect from the Southwest Division hasn't been fully restored, but the recent returns to the vicinity of normalcy by the Spurs and Mavs have the SW at 51-44 overall, trailing only the 57-44 Atlantic.
   10 (10)    Hornets    11-6    For all the panic about the Hornets' lack of a bench, over-reliance on Chris Paul and slow starts by the likes of Peja and Chandler, here's the flip side: 11-6 is right where last season's division champs were after 17 games.
   11 (9)    Nets    11-8    Go ahead. Blame us for that 20-point home loss to the Wiz. Maybe a bump all the way up to No. 9 -- even for a team with one of the five best road records (7-3) -- was too aggressive and thus somewhat jinx-y.
   12 (11)    Hawks    12-7    The Hawks are bound to be offended to be lumped in with the Nets and Heat, but they have to rank as one of the East's bigger surprises at the quarter pole, having started out 6-0 and hanging in without Josh Smith.
   13 (12)    Suns    12-9    It should come as some semblance of relief to the freaked-out desert dwellers that we can't drop the Suns too far, even in the midst of such a deep funk, because they're not alone in their early season soul-searching.
   14 (15)    Jazz    13-9    The irony will be thick Tuesday night in Sota when the Wolves will have a new coach on the bench. It also will be the night Jerry Sloan marks his 20th anniversary as Jazz coach, the longest run going in any major pro sport.

[rickortreat]

I don't understand the discussion, who said the Eastern Conference has caught up with or passed the Western Conference?

The West has been better for a long, long time, and although the Celtics are champs, the West looks to be better for a while. But in the end, no matter what happens out West, the winner will end up playing an EC team probably with a better record, and probably loose again.

[jemagee]

I don't understand the discussion, who said the Eastern Conference has caught up with or passed the Western Conference?

Many many people - but not you - so i doubt you heard it

[rickortreat]

I didn't see anyone posting drivel like that around here.  The Laker faithful would have been all over them had it been mentioned.

There was some speculation at the beginning of the season that the East had closed the gap, with Brand going to Philly and Wade becoming healthy, but it doesn't appear that either team is an elite one, and neither is Toronto.

However, Orlando is only two games behind Cleveland, and have a better record than Portland. The gap is narrowing, but the balance of power has a Western tilt.

[westkoast]

I didn't see anyone posting drivel like that around here.  The Laker faithful would have been all over them had it been mentioned.

There was some speculation at the beginning of the season that the East had closed the gap, with Brand going to Philly and Wade becoming healthy, but it doesn't appear that either team is an elite one, and neither is Toronto.

However, Orlando is only two games behind Cleveland, and have a better record than Portland. The gap is narrowing, but the balance of power has a Western tilt.

Oh it's not just the Laker faithful but the Spurs faithful who's squad holds  3 titles.  Or fans of Utah as they have a solid team (when healthy).

[jemagee]

I didn't see anyone posting drivel like that around here.

Oh, I see, so if no one said it here it hasn't been said...got it.

[westkoast]

I didn't see anyone posting drivel like that around here.

Oh, I see, so if no one said it here it hasn't been said...got it.

Um you haven't posted here long enough but people from front offices and the league lurk here.  We are a basketball authority and when we start talking about things they come true.