You've heard them all already.
The "L-eastern Conference", the "Junior Varsity" and the "Eastern Conference Developmental League" are all names associated with the NBA's Eastern Conference.
There's almost no argument to the claims that the Western Conference is certainly more dominant than their counterparts. Even those that disagree must take a strong look at why those claims are made and why most of them can be backed up.
First off, you've got to look at whether or not there is an actual disparity in the records of the best teams in the respective conferences. For this argument, we're going to take a look at the playoff qualifying teams as of today's writing.
All of playoff-qualifying teams in the West except Denver have winning records against the East, while only two of their teams have winning records against the West.
The other notable record that struck a nerve with me is the Houston Rockets record against the East. The Rockets are tied for the second-best record against the East (along with Minnesota and Sacramento) but against the West their record is a dismal 20-30 with two games remaining.
Still have some questions about the West/East disparity? Take a look at these numbers.
As of this writing, only four teams in the East are above a .500 winning percentage while only four teams in the West are below a .500 winning percentage.
The West boasts such dominance over the East that according to an article recently published at ESPN.com, the West had a record-setting winning percentage of .633 against the East this season. In three of the last four seasons, the West has won more than 59 percent of their games against the Eastern Conference.
Of course, though, numbers are just that -- numbers. Why don't we take a look at the playoff teams and their legitimate chances at success in the second season?
Looking at their overall performances, quite frankly, the only teams in the East with a legitimate shot at playing in the NBA Finals are Indiana, New Jersey and Detroit.
Milwaukee, Miami and New Orleans are the three teams that are in contention for the fourth and fifth playoff seeds, meaning one of them will advance to the second round, but only because the league states that somebody must win the series. As much of a success that both Miami head coach Stan Van Gundy and Milwaukee's Terry Porter have had in their rookie seasons, from the basic view it would seem that none of the three teams would have a legitimate shot of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals.
That's from the basic view.
Indiana (the top seed in the East) has had their struggles with the three aforementioned teams this season, winning a season series against only the Miami Heat (2-2 record against New Orleans and 1-3 against Milwaukee). As strong as Indiana is, they, along with the other top teams in the East, are ripe for an upset against any of the middle three teams during the playoffs based on their head-to-head games.
Both Indiana and Detroit can claim wins this season against the top teams in the Western Conference, but they cannot boast about their records on the road against the top four teams in the West.
Why's that?
They haven't won a game this season on the road against any of the top four teams in the West. It seems that the Pacers and Pistons will have to prove they can beat their Western opponent on their home floor to come away with the championship.
The West simply plays a much tougher schedule due to the overall strength of the conference. At the risk of being blunt, Indiana, New Jersey and Detroit would not have such a great record if they played most of their games against teams of a higher caliber. Therefore, the legitimacy of their records must be called into question.
Congratulations to all of the teams that qualify for the NBA Playoffs. But it's safe to say the two best teams in the league will be those in the Western Conference Finals, not the NBA Finals.
