The East closing the gap on the West?

[gom]

Another E over W victory tonight (Washington over Phoenix) with two more games (Atl leading Lakers and Cleveland playing in New Orleans). The Phoenix game was close.

11 teams at or over 0.500 now.

[bulliedog8]

West has one contender and everyone in the league knows it.

The entire league has one contender.

While I don't necessarily disagree, I'll play devil's advocate.

GSW is red hot right now and Curry is playing well above last year's pace and his normal performance growth curve. I don't think even the most ardent GSW fan thinks they can keep this up to next June, so come playoff time they may not be as hot.

CLE won 2 games against GSW in last season's Finals without Irving and Love. GSW appears even better this year but if all of Lebron-Irving-Love are healthy and they get hot in 2nd half of season, then if/when they meet in the Finals again this season, it could be interesting. At least interesting enough to refute the "one contender" notion.

Cavs dont look scary at all. We will see how they look once they get kyrie back and see if they can click. But the east is pretty open *right now*.

Warriors were hurting too though in the finals. Cavs wont beat them if both teams are healthy. And the cavs have a lot of injury prone players that you cant expect them to be healthy deep in the playoffs.

[Ballah]

West has one contender and everyone in the league knows it.

The entire league has one contender.

While I don't necessarily disagree, I'll play devil's advocate.

GSW is red hot right now and Curry is playing well above last year's pace and his normal performance growth curve. I don't think even the most ardent GSW fan thinks they can keep this up to next June, so come playoff time they may not be as hot.

CLE won 2 games against GSW in last season's Finals without Irving and Love. GSW appears even better this year but if all of Lebron-Irving-Love are healthy and they get hot in 2nd half of season, then if/when they meet in the Finals again this season, it could be interesting. At least interesting enough to refute the "one contender" notion.

My point was that if the Spurs and Thunder are not considered contenders then neither are the Cavs or anyone else in the league besides GSW.

[City of Trees]

About damn time. I hope the competition gap closes its better for everyone this way.

Sent from my Z970 using Tapatalk

[gom]

Cleveland playing for the 3-0 east sweep down 8 in the 4th, but lots of time.

[tamao]

cavs are the lakers in the west, lock plz. the gap still way too big.

[miltk]

east isn't "closing the gap", as in getting better. the west is faultering

[jbk1234]

east isn't "closing the gap", as in getting better. the west is faultering

By losing to teams in the East.

[Madhouse]

east isn't "closing the gap", as in getting better. the west is faultering

The east is getting better the west is getting worse. Simple.

[ken6199]

During the past years, teams like GSW, OKC, SAS, LAC, MEM, HOU are all capable of going on a tear for a east coast road trip, coming out with a 3-0 4-0 mini run, before running into each other and finally drop a game. They will end the season with a 24-6, 23-7 record against the east. I don't care about if east as a whole is better this year, to be perceptively better, they need to establish a top tier with at least 3 teams that can give you that impression. They also need to occupy the all nba 1/2/3 all defense 1/2/3 teams with 70% of players from the east. Failing to do either one of those, it's hard to get the conclusion that east is better than west.

[Edual]

During the past years, teams like GSW, OKC, SAS, LAC, MEM, HOU are all capable of going on a tear for a east coast road trip, coming out with a 3-0 4-0 mini run, before running into each other and finally drop a game. They will end the season with a 24-6, 23-7 record against the east. I don't care about if east as a whole is better this year, to be perceptively better, they need to establish a top tier with at least 3 teams that can give you that impression. They also need to occupy the all nba 1/2/3 all defense 1/2/3 teams with 70% of players from the east. Failing to do either one of those, it's hard to get the conclusion that east is better than west.

some of you are funny with things east has to do to be better then the west... When the truth is all they have to do is beat the west ( which they are doing ) if the playoffs started today and all teams were in same conference only like 4 west teams and 12 east teams would be in it

[NBAfan3024]

West has one contender and everyone in the league knows it.

The entire league has one contender.

While I don't necessarily disagree, I'll play devil's advocate.

GSW is red hot right now and Curry is playing well above last year's pace and his normal performance growth curve. I don't think even the most ardent GSW fan thinks they can keep this up to next June, so come playoff time they may not be as hot.

CLE won 2 games against GSW in last season's Finals without Irving and Love. GSW appears even better this year but if all of Lebron-Irving-Love are healthy and they get hot in 2nd half of season, then if/when they meet in the Finals again this season, it could be interesting. At least interesting enough to refute the "one contender" notion.

I wouldn't disagree with that

Cavs
Spurs
OKC

Will all be a huge threat come playoff time

[jbk1234]

During the past years, teams like GSW, OKC, SAS, LAC, MEM, HOU are all capable of going on a tear for a east coast road trip, coming out with a 3-0 4-0 mini run, before running into each other and finally drop a game. They will end the season with a 24-6, 23-7 record against the east. I don't care about if east as a whole is better this year, to be perceptively better, they need to establish a top tier with at least 3 teams that can give you that impression. They also need to occupy the all nba 1/2/3 all defense 1/2/3 teams with 70% of players from the east. Failing to do either one of those, it's hard to get the conclusion that east is better than west.

Spurs are 7-2 against the East, OKC is 5-6 against the East, Clippers are 1-2 against the East, Memphis is 2-2 against the East, Houston is 3-5 against the East. GS & Spurs might finish with really good records against the East (and the rest of the league) but I'm not seeing it with other teams you've listed.

[24istheLAW]

West has one contender and everyone in the league knows it.

The entire league has one contender.

While I don't necessarily disagree, I'll play devil's advocate.

GSW is red hot right now and Curry is playing well above last year's pace and his normal performance growth curve. I don't think even the most ardent GSW fan thinks they can keep this up to next June, so come playoff time they may not be as hot.

CLE won 2 games against GSW in last season's Finals without Irving and Love. GSW appears even better this year but if all of Lebron-Irving-Love are healthy and they get hot in 2nd half of season, then if/when they meet in the Finals again this season, it could be interesting. At least interesting enough to refute the "one contender" notion.

But in some ways, Cleveland played better without Irving or Love than they ever would have with them.

I'm not saying they are a BETTER team without them, but what they would have gained in points from having more minutes of Irving or Love they would have lost in points allowed, turnovers. etc. The combination of having LeBron to do the scoring and guys like Dellavedova, Mozgov, Thompson, Shumpert on the court playing active and balls out worked. The names aren't the biggest but they were playing basketball at as high a level as they could until that 5th game. Shumpert was incredible on defense. They just had the misfortune of running into the buzzsaw that is the 2014 Warriors, that's all.

[jbk1234]

The entire league has one contender.

While I don't necessarily disagree, I'll play devil's advocate.

GSW is red hot right now and Curry is playing well above last year's pace and his normal performance growth curve. I don't think even the most ardent GSW fan thinks they can keep this up to next June, so come playoff time they may not be as hot.

CLE won 2 games against GSW in last season's Finals without Irving and Love. GSW appears even better this year but if all of Lebron-Irving-Love are healthy and they get hot in 2nd half of season, then if/when they meet in the Finals again this season, it could be interesting. At least interesting enough to refute the "one contender" notion.

But in some ways, Cleveland played better without Irving or Love than they ever would have with them.

I'm not saying they are a BETTER team without them, but what they would have gained in points from having more minutes of Irving or Love they would have lost in points allowed, turnovers. etc. The combination of having LeBron to do the scoring and guys like Dellavedova, Mozgov, Thompson, Shumpert on the court playing active and balls out worked. The names aren't the biggest but they were playing basketball at as high a level as they could until that 5th game. Shumpert was incredible on defense. They just had the misfortune of running into the buzzsaw that is the 2014 Warriors, that's all.

Our bench got killed in that series and our starters lost a war of attrition. You're crazy if you don't think Love and Irving wouldn't have helped.

[RingsDontLie]

It is incredibly early, but the East actually holds a lead against the West head to head this season, with the top 7 seeds in the East currently a combined perfect 8-0 against the Western conference. In the past two days we have seen Toronto and Chicago hand losses to OKC. Washington beat the Spurs. Charlotte roll at Dallas.

Emerging studs like Drummond in Detroit. Miami and Indiana presumably banking on better health as Western playoff staples like Dallas and Portland appear to take steps back in the personnel department. Are we looking at more balance between the conferences today than we have seen in quite a while? It's still tough to make any argument that the East is the better conference, but I think we are creeping up on some balance....

Thoughts?

there is literally no good argument for this and if anyone suggested it they should be laughed off the forums.

We're 5 games in... form is temporary... class is permanent.

GSW
Cleveland
SAS
LAC
OKC
HOU

5 of the 6 best teams are in the west.... when it comes to play-off teams it isn't even close.

No eastern conference team besides Cleveland would be favored against any of the top 5 seeds in the west.

I'd have the Clippers in the top 3 instead of the Spurs. The Spurs look old to me and I'm not seeing the type of synergy I would have liked from the LMA acquisition. The Rockets and OKC all have looked shaky defensively and I'm not 100% they're just going to figure it out. It's way too early to render a final verdict but the notion that the West will be less dominant this year is hardly crazy.

Ya don't be fooled by the Spurs playing possum. They are like this every season. The Spurs don't reach top form until after the all star break. They will go on a tear..just you watch.

[jbk1234]

there is literally no good argument for this and if anyone suggested it they should be laughed off the forums.

We're 5 games in... form is temporary... class is permanent.

GSW
Cleveland
SAS
LAC
OKC
HOU

5 of the 6 best teams are in the west.... when it comes to play-off teams it isn't even close.

No eastern conference team besides Cleveland would be favored against any of the top 5 seeds in the west.

I'd have the Clippers in the top 3 instead of the Spurs. The Spurs look old to me and I'm not seeing the type of synergy I would have liked from the LMA acquisition. The Rockets and OKC all have looked shaky defensively and I'm not 100% they're just going to figure it out. It's way too early to render a final verdict but the notion that the West will be less dominant this year is hardly crazy.

Ya don't be fooled by the Spurs playing possum. They are like this every season. The Spurs don't reach top form until after the all star break. They will go on a tear..just you watch.

Yeah pretty sure that was pre-season. I'm amending my prediction 20 games in.

[Moonbeam]

It's good to see the East improved. I still anticipate that the West will end up with a better overall record, but not by the lopsided margins of previous years. I think Houston, OKC, Memphis, the Clippers, and New Orleans are all better than they have shown, though some may be in for down seasons. That said, teams like Minnesota, Dallas, and Portland seem like they may be overachieving.

[jbk1234]

It's good to see the East improved. I still anticipate that the West will end up with a better overall record, but not by the lopsided margins of previous years. I think Houston, OKC, Memphis, the Clippers, and New Orleans are all better than they have shown, though some may be in for down seasons. That said, teams like Minnesota, Dallas, and Portland seem like they may be overachieving.

Twenty games in, everyone of the bolded teams has better records against their own conference than against the East.

[TheSuzerain]

http://eastruleswestdrools.ytmnd.com/