If you have taken a look at the eastern conference standings lately you will notice 10 of the 6 teams in the conference are over .500 at this point which is a marked improvement from recent years as more than half of the conference has finished over 500. once since 2000.
More than half of the western conference has finished over 500. 13 of the past 16 seasons since the 2000-2001 season.
In 2015-16 though so far only six western conference teams are over 500.
The head to head record between the western conference and eastern conference has been about dead even so far in the season. Also the western conference is 73-72 against the eastern conference after the Lakers 113-85 win over the Bucks on Monday night.
Here is a look at how the conference’s have fared against one another since Michael Jordan retired in 1998. Take a look at just how dominant the western conference has been:
As you can see the western conference has gotten the best of the eastern conference 15 out of the past 17 seasons, with the exception of the 2008-2009 and 1998-1999 season. Most seasons it hasn’t even been close.
The western conference has also produced 11 of the past 16 NBA champions.
The disparity has been so large in recent years that there has even been a strong push for the NBA to convert to an unconferenced playoff format where the teams with the top 16 records make the postseason regardless of conference affiliation.
But now things appear to be changing. So far this season the decline of teams perceived powers such as Houston, New Orleans and Memphis in the west and the large improvement in many teams in the eastern conference such as Indiana, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando and Detroit appears to be giving conference parity in the NBA for the first time in a long time.
We will see if this level of conference parity lasts throughout the entirety of the 2015-16 season but the NBA and its fan alike should hope it does because it is something the game has sorely needed for quite some time.
