Western Conference: Redistrict the NBA III
As the final follow-up to my articles Western Conference: “Restrict the NBA” and Western Conference: “Restrict the NBA” II — after the NBA regular season is complete, I have worked the following analysis. (As I did before, I have updated the non-conference standings, in bold, for all NBA teams below.)
Eastern Conference
[193-257 -- .429]
Atlantic [54-96]
Rapters 47-35 (14-16)
Nets 41-41 (10-20)
76ers 35-47 (11-19)
Knicks 33-49 (11-19)
Celtics 24-58 (8-22)
Central [72-78]
Pistons 53-29 (17-13)
Cavaliers 50-32 (19-11)
Bulls 49-33 (13-17)
Pacers 35-47 (10-20)
Bucs 28-54 (13-17)
Southeast [67-83]
Heat 44-38 (17-13)
Wizards 41-41 (14-16)
Magic 40-42 (14-16)
Bobcats 33-49 (9-21)
Hawks 30-52 (13-17)
Western Conference
[257-193 -- .571]
Southwest [95-55]
Mavericks 67-15 (27-3)
Spurs 58-24 (20-10)
Rockets 52-30 (24-6)
Hornets 39-43 (16-14)
Grizzlies 22-60 (8-22)
Northwest [77-73]
Jazz 51-31 (19-11)
Nuggets 45-37 (18-12)
Trail Blazers 32-50 (13-17)
Timberwolves 32-50 (14-16)
SuperSonics 31-51 (13-17)
Pacific [85-65]
Suns 61-21 (25-5)
Lakers 42-40 (14-16)
Warriors 42-40 (14-16)
Clippers 40-42 (17-13)
Kings 33-49 (15-15)
In my prior to articles on redistricting, the Western Conference was beating the Eastern Conference at a noticable rate. (After 112 inter-conference games, as of December 10, 2006, the Western Conference teams were beating the Eastern Conference teams 66.1% of the time, and after 369 total inter-conference games, as of March 7, 2007, it was 58.3%.)
At the end of the season, after the 450 total inter-conference games, the Western Conference won 57.1% of those game — the Eastern Conference won 42.9%.
Therefore, after a quick start, the Western Conference’s supremecy started to decrease, but still ended with a pretty big spread. Most of that spread can be attributed to the Texas and Arizona (the Mavericks, Spurs, Rockets and Suns, which combined for a 96-24 record — 80%). Ignoring the Grizzlies (8-22), every Western Conference team won at least 13 of their 30 inter-conference games — including the four teams discussed above with 20+ wins (no Eastern Conference team had 20 wins). By division, all three Western Conference divisions, in total, beat out all three of the Eastern Divisions.
I guess we’ll have to wait for the finals to see if this even matters. But regardless of the result, in my view, this analysis does lead my to believe that the Eastern Conference winner may have an advantage over the Western Conference winner in that they will be well rested.
May 7th, 2007 at 02:39pm Brian
Entry Filed under: Basketball, Sport
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