During this decade, the NBA has been dominated by the Western Conference Teams, particularly the Spurs and Lakers that combined for 7 Larry O’Brien Trophy from 1999-2007. The Spurs won the 99, 03, 05, 07 (There’s a pattern isn’t it? Odd numbers! That’s why Tim Duncan sucks during even number years!) While the Lakers won a grand slam with 00-02 championships. Until today, the best teams in the NBA are still from the western conference with the exemption of course of the 08 Champions; Boston Celtics. Oh, I almost forgot that the Pistons (04) and the Heat (06) also won championships this decade. But still the level of competition in the west is very grueling and very hard that even buying a playoff seed is like playing a game 7 of a NBA finals.
But recently, the East has been catching up. Some of the teams like the Raptors (Hi, J.O) the Sixers (Brand!) and the Cavs have been strengthening up for the upcoming year with player changes to boost their roster. The question is; Can they keep up with the West? So far almost all of the teams in the western conference are playoff bound teams (With the exemption of Memphis and Minnesota) while the East; only half of the teams in the east can be considered playoff teams. So what does this mean?
Simple; the East has a better chance of winning the NBA championship every year. Why is that? Look at Detroit, it has reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the last 6 years, only to be ousted by new teams every year (Heat, Cavs and now the Celtics). Also it’s easy to predict who can reached the Finals in the East with only a handful of teams that are eligible enough to be considered. While on the West, every team is a “FINAL-CALIBER” team. The Suns, Mavs, Spurs, Lakers, Hornets and even the Rockets are consider to reach the NBA finals. But on their way there, they have to kill and exterminate each other in a very grueling 7 games series which could be very exhausting.
My prediction: I hate to say, but it’s either the Celtics or the Cavaliers who will bring home the NBA ring. With James getting enough help, and the core of the Celtics intact (except of course for Posey) they will march to the Finals and win it all.
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