commadoor 64 wrote:You've busted that nut already.
And has been pointed out already, Memphis is better if you consider they play in the harder, deeper Western conference.
Indy plays the bobcats 4 times,
Memphis plays SA, OKC, DEN, LAC, HOU, UTA, GSW, etc........ 4 times each.
There are far more crappier teams in the East to feed good defense upon.
The west have 5 56+ win teams this year. The east had 1 and only 1 more even crack 50, even a sub .500 team in te playoffs. The west had several teams with a better record that are lottery bound over .500.
Not only that but The east also is home to the 3 worst teams this year before you get to a the west.
A, while your seven one hundredths of a point is better, it comes against more and weaker competition.
Trade conferences for both teams and it wouldn't be close.
In the west, Indy is a 6th seed.
In the east, Mphs is a 2nd seed.
1) It's entirely true that Memphis could be a top 2 seed in the East. They have a 22 - 8 record against the East which translates to a 73.3% winning percentage. If they were an Eastern team and played 52 games against the East then they would have around 40 wins from playing Eastern teams alone. And since they have a great record against the West as well (34 - 18) I can easily see them being a 60+ win team.
2) However, Indiana has played quite good against the West. They have a 18 - 12 record which translates to a 60% winning percentage. In fact, Indiana played a tad worse against the East (31 - 20 translates to 59.6% while 18 - 12 translates 60% exactly). So, chances are that they would still be a 50 win team or so in the West. Of course, that would put them in a lower seed (since the West is more top-heavy) as you said.
I certainly acknowledge that the West is tougher than the East (although, injuries has made this difference seem bigger than it really is). But Indiana has held the league's best offenses to low scoring games and bad shooting nights.
Here are some examples:
Indiana vs Miami: 87 - 77 ->
http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?id=400278232The Heat shot 41.2%.
Indiana vs New York: 81 - 76 ->
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400278247The game was without Melo but still the Knicks only shot 34.8%.
Indiana vs New York: 125 - 91 ->
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400278521Once again, the Knicks only shot 33.7%.
Houston vs Indiana: 91 - 100 ->
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400278784The Rockets shot 38.6%. It's important to note that Indiana has held Houston below 100 points in both games of the season series.
In general, the Pacers have played amazing D throughout the year with the exception of the month of April, in which they faced some injury issues.
Look, I'll say it once again. I don't want to take anything away from the Grizzlies. They are an amazing defensive team and Marc is a good pick for DPOY.
But I don't think that just because the Western Conference has tougher competition that a Western team should be considered the best at any given subject especially when the statistics say otherwise.
