Conference Balance (or lack thereof)
For as long as I can remember the Western Conference has been known as the stronger conference in the NBA. I remember in 2014 when the Phoenix Suns surprisingly won 48 games under rookie head coach Jeff Hornacek, and still missed the playoffs by one game.
Yet the Toronto Raptors out East also won 48 games, but found themselves with the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and home court advantage.
There’s also the fact that if Cleveland and Boston had the same regular season record, but played in the West, they would have had no greater than the 4th seed. Cleveland and Utah finished with identical 51-31 win-loss records this year, yet Cleveland finds themselves in the Finals, like they didn’t even have to try in the regular season, as long as they made the playoffs.
Back a couple of weeks ago our very own Jared Woodcox wrote on how the Warriors lowest average margin of victory came in the series against the Jazz, if that continues to hold true in the Finals, that’s another moral victory for Jazz fans, but also a hard reminder that it’s the wild wild West, and winning the West is sometimes a tougher task than winning the Finals.