Re: Observables

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- DJessen33 wrote:
I think this is further evidence that the Western Conference is overrated. 
Yeah, the Lakers are great but I see a lot of pretenders....
--- end of quote ---

The Celtics are 5-10 against the East, and 5-2 against the West . I think they
should petition the NBA to be transferred to the Western Conference.  :)

Frankly, I'm sick of sportswriters' wailing about this terrible disparity
between the conferences. It's become some sort of a rite to note how pathetic
East is; it's supposed to demonstrate how clued in the scribe is about the
state of the NBA. However, to me it indicates superficial thinking and herd
mentality. 
Even Bob Ryan joins in today with the following:
"What's laughable and sad is that such a team has a chance to make the playoffs
in the East. (The Celtics would be in today, believe it or not.) ".  I think
what's laughable and sad is that even so-called eminent sports columnists can't
see beyond the W-L percentages. 

The West is better as whole, but the difference is not as large as the scribes
portray it to be, and is due to a few teams. The West has one superteam, a
couple of outstanding teams and no truly pathetic teams, while the East has a
few really bad teams and its top teams are not quite as good as the West's
best.  But for the most part, the teams of both conferences overlap in quality.
The West plays a different style, where offense is emphasized and defense, if
not an afterthought, is certainly less important (with some exceptions like SA
and Houston). Most of the decent Eastern teams, Celtics included, have much
grittier defense.  That's why the Celtics are 5-2 (and really should be 6-1)
against the Western teams so far. Pierce has commented on how much he loves
playing against the Western teams, because they don't defend him nearly as
tightly. 

I certainly like the Celtics', Detroit's, Indiana's, NJ's, NO's, and Philly's
chances were they to play in the WC teams in the playoffs. They wouldn't beat
the Lakers and, maybe not SA or Sacto, but the rest...
If the playoffs were to be conducted jointly, I'd expect the top 8 and the top
4  finishers to have equal representation from both conferences. 
Kestas