Least vs. West

“The NBA's Eastern Conference stinks,” proclaimed USA Today writer Jeff Zillgitt.

Nba Logo / Michael Tipton / Flickr.com

The achievement gap between the Eastern and Western Conference is huge. Since 2000 there has been nine years where a team from the West won the NBA championship. During the 2013-2014 season the top eight teams in the West had a combined 436 wins compared to the East whose top eight teams only had 375.

Does it even matter who the top 16 teams are in the regular season? It was obvious early in the season who would be in contention for a title in both conferences and who would not.

“Thirteen of the West's 15 teams have records good enough for one of the top eight spots in the East,” said Zillgitt.

During the regular season the Indiana Pacers, who were considered the best regular season team in the East, were winless against the Phoenix Suns who were the ninth seed in the West at the end of the season.

Some may argue that the East isn't really awful because they have the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers. The teams that were predicted to fight for the third seed were struggling during most of the year.

"The biggest problem is the Knicks, Nets and Bulls," TNT analyst and former Phoenix Suns general manager Steve Kerr said. "Those were teams who were supposed to be pretty good. In fact, I thought Miami was going to be challenged in every round of the playoffs coming in because of the Nets, Knicks, Pacers and Bulls.”

The notion that the two conferences are even has been inadvertently changed. Since the 1999-2000 season there has been only two seasons where the East had more overall top five seeded teams than the West. Throughout the NBA’s history there has been almost an even amount of seasons where one conference dominated the other. Historically it is suggested that the East will regain control over the West, but it is questionable whether or not this equilibrium will be returned in the near future.

By Yoni Pechter and Sadeon Martin

NBA Semifinals: Heat against Pacers

The Miami Heat after finishing off the determined New York Knicks through a five game series, are now heading to the conference semi-finals. The Heat's opponent will be the Indiana Pacers, who also left their opponent, the Orlando Magic in the dust with a 4-1 victory.

The Heat didn't need to put much effort into beating the Knicks. Throughout the five game series it was the Heat's big three, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh against Carmelo Anthony. Jeremy Lin, the Knicks' point guard was out due to a knee injury. The first three games in the series the Heat completely outwitted the Knicks. Baron Davis who played point guard position while Lin is out got injured during the Knicks' game four against the Heat, but with luck on their side they managed to survive a sweep and won game four. The Heat was still superior because they took advantage of the Knicks losing Davis and won game five.

Just like their semi-final opponent, the Pacers closed the Magic and ended the series in five games. Dwight Howard, the Magic's center, was out for the season due to an injury. Knowing this, the Pacers took advantage and was able to grab more rebounds.. Even though their starting center was out the Magic had put up a good fight and won one game of the series to avoid being swept. Unfortunately, the Pacers closed the series during game five.

The Heat and Pacers faced off in game one of their semifinal series and it ended with an unexpected turn. Through the first to third quarter in the game the Heat were trailing, but they made a comeback during the fourth quarter and took the win to lead the semifinal series with 1-0. The Heat and Pacers' Semifinals game two will be in Miami so the odds are against the Pacers. Bosh, Miami's power forward and one of the big three, was out with an injury during game one. The odds are stacked against them, but the Pacers are having a huge advantage because with Bosh out, James and Wade will have to score higher than they usually would to fill his gap.

The disappointing trade

Mike D'Antoni / C.J. / Wikimedia Commons

The hottest news for the New York Knicks is the trade that landed Carmelo Anthony  in the Big Apple. It all started with superstar Amar’e Stoudemire joining the Knicks at the beginning of the 2011 season. With Stoudemire leading the Knicks in points, rebounds, and blocks; the Knicks went on 13-1  run to get in playoff position. Everyone was looking forward to the Anthony trade, but rather than helping the Knicks, it appears he's been a negative influence on them.

At the time of this writing, the Knicks are 7-11 ever since Carmelo Anthony started wearing blue and orange. The Knicks lost to teams that they should have beat, such as the Cavaliers, Pacers, and the Bucks. On March 18th the Knicks lost to the Pistons in which Carmelo Anthony only scored six points. The Knicks did not give up Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, and Danilo Gallinari for a player who scores only six points. Although Carmelo averages 25 ppg, the shots he takes are not very smart. In a recent interview Amar’e Stoudemire implied that Melo does not follow the D’Antoni system. He stated that the Mike D’Antoni system works; they just have to buy into it and get it done like they did before the trade.

However, Anthony isn’t the only one to blame for the Knicks poor performance. In the recent loss to the Orlando Magic, Anthony seemed to mature and correct his mistakes; instead of throwing up bad shots, he gave out nine assists. The problem for their loss to the Magic was Stoudemire’s performance, in which he scored 13 points, his fewest as a Knick. It is reasonable for Stoudemire to have one bad day because he plays a lot of minutes back to back. If the Knicks want to get back on top, their defense will have to improve, Anthony will have to take smarter shots, and Jared Jeffries would have to further contribute to their offense and be an efficient player. The Knicks are falling, but hopefully they can pick themselves up and get back on top.