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East slowly narrowing gap on the West
by Rich Thomaselli / March 27, 2002

East is east and West is west, and the twain meets quite often in the National Basketball Association. Lately, the Western Conference has dominated its Eastern counterparts. After the Michael Jordan-led run by the Chicago Bulls produced six championships in eight years in the 1990s, the West has ruled the roost. In the last three years, the Western Conference has produced all three world champions in the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers.

During the same time, the West's winning percentage against the East during the regular season rose from .421 in 1998 (Jordan's final year with the Bulls before un-retiring this season to play for the Wizards) to .452 in 1999, .540 in 2000 and .610 last year. Of course, you know all that. But this isn't another column dedicated to kissing Western keyster.

Yes, the Western Conference is far better than the Eastern boys once again (and we'll count the ways in a moment), but the gap is narrowing.

First, a bit of history.

The Western Conference's rise might have seemed as though it happened meteorically, but a few key things happened to set it up. Within a few years of each other, the following events took place:

- Michael Jordan retired, Scottie Pippen went west (first to Houston, then to Portland) and Dennis Rodman went, well, west before going haywire.

- Patrick Ewing's skills deteriorated and then he, too, went west for a year before returning to play out the string with Orlando this season.

- Indiana's Rik Smits, one of the unsung, overshadowed players of his time, retired and the Pacers' team slowly unraveled.

- The Magic lost both Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway to western teams.

- Chris Webber went from Washington to Sacramento.

The superstars fled. Teams and dynasties were broke up. The West took advantage. Moreover, the big men - otherwise known as players not named Jordan who can dominate a game - seemed to be showing up in the West. Shaq. Webber. Karl Malone was already there. So were Rasheed Wallace, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan.

Suddenly, the East was exposed as a conference filled with guards and perimeter players. Even today, a quick glance at the league scoring leaders seems to bear that out. There's Iverson, Pierce, McGrady, Carter and Jordan. From the West, the top 10 is filled out by Shaq, Kobe Bryant, Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and Malone. Only Bryant is the true guard.

This season, it seems as though Western Conference teams are far and away the best of the bunch.

Or does it?

From a numbers standpoint, sure. Heading into Tuesday night's games, the West had four teams playing at least .696 ball. In fact, if Eastern leading New Jersey were in the West, it would be no better than a fifth seed if the playoffs started today. Central Division-leading Detroit would be struggling to hold on to the No.7 seed in the West.

Still, the Eastern Conference is playing catch-up. This year, while the Western Conference has nine teams with .500 or better records against Eastern counterparts, compared to the East's three teams with winning records
against the opposing conference, the West's overall winning percentage over the East is .555, a drop from last year's mark.

The gap is closing, albeit slowly, as teams such as the Nets, Pistons and Celtics re-emerge from years of doldrums. New Jersey and Detroit lead their respective divisions, while the Boston is in second place in the Atlantic.

For once, an Eastern Conference team was the beneficiary, instead of a victim of, the migration of talent. Jason Kidd went from Phoenix to the Nets and has turned the franchise around.

In addition, the emergence of New Jersey's power forward Kenyon Martin and Detroit's Ben Wallace give the East a bit of the beast. Granted, neither is in Shaq's stratosphere. Then again, who is?

No, the East will rise again. Remember, two of the conference's best players have been sidelined virtually the entire season - Iverson and Hill, which certainly has affected the fates of Philadelphia and Orlando.

Neither the Nets nor the Pistons will challenge any team from the West this year for the title. In fact, some say the true NBA championship might be a Western round-robin among Los Angeles, Sacramento, Dallas and San Antonio. And while that might be true, that's this season. There may not be light at the end of the tunnel for teams in the Eastern Conference, but the gap is shrinking.

Rich Thomaselli writes about the NBA and WNBA for several newspapers and magazines and is a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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