How NBA's conference gap has shrunk this season, playoff impact - ESPN

A narrative has taken hold of the NBA this season: the injury-depleted and talent-poor Eastern Conference is a mess, while the West is thriving with great teams and excitement.

Indeed, the Western playoff picture is full of intriguing storylines, from the Oklahoma City Thunder's quest to repeat as champions, to Victor Wembanyama's rise for the ahead-of-schedule San Antonio Spurs, to veteran-laden contenders struggling for consistency in Denver, Minnesota, Houston and Los Angeles.

But with four strong teams, as well as a set of intriguing up-and-comers, the East has its own narrative hooks, contradicting the adage that the East is least, West is best.

Let's explore this narrative, why the Eastern Conference has underrated strength this season and how that surprising development could shape the upcoming playoffs.

After the East dominated interconference play for most of the 20th century, the West has flipped the script for most of the 21st. From 1999-00 through 2024-25, the East had a better record in just three out of 26 seasons, and those three victories were narrow, while the West frequently won the interconference battle by wide margins.

There are plenty of illustrative examples of the extreme imbalance between the two conferences this century. In the 2002-03 season, the Detroit Pistons landed the East's No. 1 seed with a 50-32 record, while six Western teams won at least 50 games. In 2003-04, only four Eastern teams had winning records. In 2006-07, all five players on the All-NBA first team came from the West. In 2013-14, the Phoenix Suns' 48-34 record would have tied the Suns for third place in the East, but in the West, they were ninth and missed the playoffs in the pre-play-in era.

Wednesday, March 4
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