Over the course of the year, we’ve seen the best players in the world take their talents to the Western Conference, and while that side of the bracket may be stacked with contending teams, the Eastern Conference always seems to be kind of a disappointment.
Unless LeBron James was running the show in the East, most people didn’t think of Eastern Conference teams as true contenders, because they only won 7 Championships in the last 21 years.
and no Eastern team has won the Championship since the 2008 Boston Celtics, except 2016 and 2019.
So, following a decade of underperforming teams making the playoffs and a Western Conference crowded with superstars, ESPN’s Mike Greenberg decided to explain why the Eastern Conference is a joke. Today, we’ll let you know everything about it:
3. Regular Season
Even though you may argue that Western Conference teams have a tougher schedule because they have to face each other a lot of times, it seems like they’re still fresh when they have to go at it vs. an Eastern rival.
As a matter of fact, Western Conference teams have won the head-to-head regular season 10 straight years, and 19 out of the last 20. That’s just impressive.
2. All-NBA 1st Team
Aside from Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James, the last Eastern Conference player to make an All-NBA 1st team is Joakim Noah, who did it way back in 2014. Nope, not even Kawhi Leonard did it.
Moreover, four out of the five players that made last year’s All-NBA 1st team play in the Western Conference, and this year promises to be exactly the same.
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1. Top Players
Six of the league’s best seven players are playing in the Western Conference right now (Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Stephen Curry, Paul George), with Giannis Antetokounmpo as the only undisputed top-3 player.
Obviously, they still have stars like Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Blake Griffin, Kemba Walker, and Bradley Beal, but there’s a huge talent gap between both conferences and nobody can deny that.