2021-2022 AROUND the NBA: GSW Champs [ARCHIVED]

[F Gump]

Yet the East has won 2 of the last 3 titles... 4/1/2 games separate the top 6 teams in the East, 14 games separate the top 6 in the West. The East teams in the 7-10 play-in spots have a higher winning % than the same 7-10 teams in the West. It's called parity which is good for the league.  The East has closed the gap and that's a fact, not media-driven.

None of that speaks to the question of the relative strength of the conferences.

The top 3 teams this season are all in the W. Records of all the 6 playoff teams (1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, etc) are all better in W than E. Most meaningful, the W has won many more than the E when they play inter-conference.

Re past titles, that doesn't speak to it at all. No matter how weak the E is, a team from there will get to play for the title, and only has to win against one of all the better teams in the W. That's been the issue, and still is. Plus, when getting to the Finals, the E winner will have been playing against easier teams, so the E champ might not be as exhausted when they arrive.  (That what we thought was unfair re the success of Lebron's teams, that they were in essence getting a free pass to the finals, each year, comparatively speaking.)

It's true that the gap between E and W is not as far apart as it has been in previous years. But the narrative that the E is now better, or has even caught up, is just not true. Not yet.