When one takes a look at the Eastern and Western playoff picture, it is easy to see that there are a host of differences between them.  The end of this season will contain a wide array of games between powerhouses in the East as well as a more level playing field in the West.

West:

The West is wide open. The top 6 seeds’ records are within 3 games of each other and any one of 4 teams could still win the conference before the regular season is said and done. All current 8 seeds have winning records by 16 games or more, and Golden State, who is next in line, is also 16 games over .500.

Although there will be higher and lower seeds in the West, you can’t really base many predictions based on seeds.  Although second seed New Orleans has been solid through the season, they have also been questioned all season and conditions may be ripe for New Orleans to fall early in playoffs.  The top 7 seeds are of similar quality in the West, and the 6 or 7 seed team may be on same level in terms of talent as a a 1 or 2 seed.

East:

Meanwhile in the East, the story is a complete opposite. Teams are much more staggered, with Detroit and Boston standing a level above the rest. All but the top 3 seeds (Boston, Detroit and Orlando) are less than 10 games above .500, and Atlanta, the 8^th seed, is 6 games under .500.

Despite the atrocious nature of the Eastern Conference this year, don’t count out Boston or Detroit if they get to the finals. This year each team has had considerable success against the top 9 teams in the West. Boston is 13-5 against the 9 possible playoff teams in the west, including a spotless 2-0 record against the top seeded Lakers. The biggest obstacle in the East which may give Boston trouble would be if they played the Washington Wizards, who match up with them well and have managed to beat Boston in all three meetings during the regular season. Detroit has also has good success against the West, also earning a 13-5 record when playing possible Western playoff teams.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 13th, 2008 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Basketball, NBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.