Figure 1 The NBA is the best league in the world – but which is the best conference?
The Boston Celtics have just been crowned as the 2024 NBA champs. A 4-1 win in the finals series was a convincing way to claim the title and put the East back on top for the time being. With a format that ultimately pits the best of the Eastern Conference against the best of the Western Conference, the NBA finals seem like a good way to prove which one is best.
But fans of teams from both conferences would claim that theirs is the best, no matter who wins the championship. Fans will read sportsbook reviews to find out where to bet – but how can they be sure that their selections will be right? How can they be sure that the West is better than the East? Or vice versa.
At the risk of alienating half of our readership, we are going to attempt to see whether we can ascertain which conference is the strongest and which has the best players. The Celtics may be the current team to beat but does that necessarily mean that the Eastern Conference is the best? Let’s find out.
Traditional View
There is no reason why there is a distinct difference between teams from the two conferences. Geographical location should not determine a style of play but from the 1980s there has been something of a divide. The West produced a more expansive style of play, while the East was more methodical.
The 1990s saw that contrast most vividly. An almost brutal form of defense in the East rarely saw its teams score over 100 points, while Western teams posted higher scores. That difference has changed a little in recent times, with most games – no matter where they are played – finishing with both teams near or over 100 points. But the traditional styles have largely remained.
Champions
When it comes to NBA champions, the Eastern Conference comes out on top. The Celtics win over the Mavericks this year stretched that lead to a 41-37 advantage. But with such a close all-time score, can we really confidently say which conference is stronger?
If we look at those NBA Finals more closely – and concentrate on the last 25 years to get a more up-to-date reading – we learn that the West actually hold the advantage, with a more dominating 16 to 9 record. That would suggest that it is the West that is best. So is Boston’s thrashing of Dallas an anomaly or the beginning of a new era?
Statistics
If the comparison of ultimate champions does not really shed any light on an answer to which conference is best, then maybe we should look at the statistics from games played between teams from the East and the West. Thanks to the wonderful NBA archives, we can see those match-ups going back to the 1950s.
Unsurprisingly, the head-to-head records throw up a fairly even score. There are some seasons when one conference seems to dominate a little more but overall a sense of parity is evident. The whole format of the league essentially works on that premise, so this is not exactly unexpected.
Talent Depth
Unless there is a dramatic change in the format of the NBA playoffs in the years ahead, it is going to be difficult to easily prove that one conference is better than the other. Ten teams from each now extend their play into the postseason and they only ever play teams from their own conference until the finals.
If we look at the match-ups from the season just ended, we can see that the West’s best found the playoffs much easier. Eastern match-ups tended to be closer, with no sweeps until the Celtics beat the Pacers in the Conference finals. In contrast, only one of the four first-round series in the West went further than five games. Does that mean that there is more depth of talent in the Eastern Conference?
Next Year
The Celtics will still be celebrating a record 18th championship but NBA fans, pundits, and sportsbooks will already be looking ahead to the 2024-25 season. As is usually the custom, Boston is favored to repeat and claim another title. But the next three teams come from the West.
That reading of the league kind of goes along with the question of talent depth we just investigated. It seems as though there are more of the best teams playing in the Western Conference, even if they don’t always end up beating the very best from the Eastern Conference.
Figure 2 The fans will have their own views on which conference comes out on time
What Goes Around…
If it looks like it is difficult to confidently claim that one conference is better than the other, there is one thing that we can be sure of – NBA fans will continue to argue their case, no matter what. The Celtics have looked very good for the last few years and could now go on a championship-winning spree, while the Bucks, Timberwolves, 76ers, and even the Knicks will challenge.
LeBron may not end up winning another championship – and the Lakers look like struggling for a while – but the Nuggets, Mavericks, and Thunder could all do well next year. Even a team like the Spurs has to be considered because of the potential of Victor Wembanyama.
In fact, that last point is arguably the most important in this debate. There is no real better conference. All teams go through cycles and the champions can come from anywhere. One conference might be dominant at a particular moment in history but the NBA continues to be one of the most competitive sports leagues in the world.
