Hypothesis-- the NBA started favoring the West over the East around 1990.

[gigantes]

I'm not much of a conspiracy guy, but when I asked just now: "if the East is so 'weak' then why does it have such success against the West in the finals?".... a fellow poster quickly replied "championships since 1998: West: 12, East: 5."

Hah, that seemed to kick my ass right away.

But when I looked at more results, that idea seemed more and more broken. For example, the East won 8/10 just before that cutoff, bringing the total almost perfectly even since 1989. And going back further, both sides seem to have had a history of trading it back and forth, usually between the Lakers and the Celtics.

So I thought to myself-- did something change around that shift? ... Then I found this, right on NBA.com itself:
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/feature...idge.defenses/

[ILLsmak]

Bulls won 6 of those 8. Then MJ left. There's your answer.

-Smak

[kshutts1]

The titles have nothing to do with star power.

It's not like Jordan was in the East in the 90's, and Duncan and Shaq and Kobe were in the West in the next decade and a half, with Lebron and Wade in the East to help with a title or so.

Or.. you know, since when Shaq and KG switched from the West to the East (aka superstars in the East now), they won titles....

But no, I'm sure those results have nothing to do with superstars and their distribution in the league. Nothing at all.

[stephanieg]

Just because a conference produced a championship doesn't mean it's strong. It could be the only good team while the rest is a dumpster fire. Look at the West in the 80s.

[gigantes]

The titles have nothing to do with star power.

just out of curiosity, which thread were you attempting to post this to...?

Just because a conference produced a championship doesn't mean it's strong. It could be the only good team while the rest is a dumpster fire. Look at the West in the 80s.

it happened directly based on playing style AFAIK.

i.e., if magic's lakers had kept rolling, i'm not sure we'd be having this discussion.