{"id":34877,"date":"2025-03-30T18:52:20","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T17:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/?p=34877"},"modified":"2025-03-30T18:52:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T17:52:31","slug":"western-conference-stays-a-cut-throat-battleground-over-eastern-rivals-in-the-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/western-conference-stays-a-cut-throat-battleground-over-eastern-rivals-in-the-nba\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Conference Stays a Cut-Throat Battleground Over Eastern Rivals in the NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you follow the NBA closely, the Western Conference teams of the NBA <\/a>always seem to be battling till the very end of the season for playoff spots. The competitiveness between the West and the East is not even close and while the East nearly always tends to have clear segregation between top teams, average teams, and the losing teams, the West rarely seems to have a clear favorite. <\/p>

If you look at the Western Conference right now apart from the OKC Thunder who are the best team in the NBA currently (at least for the regular season), we are still not sure about who will end up as the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, or the 8th seed, even as we approach the final stretch of the regular season.<\/p>

As LeBron James called it, the Western Conference can be best described as the “Wild, Wild West,” because there never seems to be a sure-fire team in the West, that we can sit and say will advance to the NBA <\/a>finals. Whereas in the East, you can clearly say which teams will most likely come out and this year it’s either the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, or maybe just maybe the New York Knicks if things go extremely right for them. So the question to be asked is, what makes the West so much more competitive than the East? Let’s find out.<\/p>

Also Read: NBA Results, March 30 – Drew Timme’s Go-Ahead Basket, Mavs Hold Nerves, 76ers Face Elimination and More<\/a><\/strong><\/p>

The Talent Level in the West Compared to the East Is Significantly Low<\/h2>

This is not to knock the players in the Eastern Conference as there are clearly some of the most elite talents in the East too. However, the West clearly has more talent in more teams. First off, the best player in the World is sitting in the West currently with Nikola Jokic, and even though Denver has struggled at times, have you seen what Jokic’s put up recently? 30-20-20 game? That’s ridiculous. Secondly, the top two MVP frontrunners are also from the West with Shai Gilgeous Alexander and Jokic. <\/p>

The Amount of All-Star Level Players in the West Is More More Than the East<\/h3>

If you look at the two conferences and see who has more All-Star level talent, the West has significantly more talent than the East. How do we know that? We just took a look at all the teams in the West and East and counted at least one all-star level talent in the respective conferences and found out that out of the 15 teams in the West, 13 teams have at least one All-Star caliber player compared to the East which has 10.<\/p>

That number alone tells us why the West is so much more competitive than the East as more the talent is spread out, more the competition will be. <\/p>

Western Conference Teams Tank Much More Than the East<\/h2>

Historically, if we look at Western conference teams, they have history of tanking to get the best players available in the draft. While we are not accusing any of the teams specifically, just take a look at some of the great players that were drafted in the recent years. Zion Williamson to the Pelicans, Wemby to the Spurs, Minnesota drafting Anthony Edwards are the number one pick and so on. Not only do the teams tank more in the Western conference, they also tend to have more success compared to the East when it comes to picking the right players in the draft.<\/p>

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NBA STANDINGS UPDATE ‼️

▪️ OKC (West #1) wins 9th straight
▪️ BOS (East #2) wins 8th straight
▪️ ORL rises to 7th in East
▪️ DAL moves to 9th in West pic.twitter.com\/l5pH9il1UW<\/a><\/p>— NBA (@NBA) March 30, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>