Eastern Conference Gets Their Cred

One win down - Heat. Tyler Herro shows out. Bulls in the playoffs would be well over their skis.

One win down - Mavs. Zach Lavine looked so, so good in November and disappeared for 48 minutes. Sabonis looked so, so good with Mike Brown and Fox. He did nothing last night. Boo birds all around in SacTown.

Nico Iamaleava close to signing with UCLA. Long Beach boy goes to a school starving for 9 wins.

Wednesday is the Everyone Plays day in the MLB. Most teams are getting their off-days on Thursdays. Shohei and Freddie go deep in the first. Dodgers hold on to beat the Rox Chris Bassit K’s 10 over 5 innings and the Jays beat the Braves. Andrew McCutchen got buzzed by 92 inside (is that fast?). Benches cleared but everyone just kind of talked to each other. Pirates beat Nats 6-1.

Well well well…thought I ignored the East did you? Beyond superior sports culture, the East boast plenty to be intrigued with. Who won the Junior Conference? CLEVELAND. Who surprised the league? DETROIT. Who won the title last year? Oh. That’s right. The CELTS. The East has suffered more the Playoff Injury Bug than the West. Giannis has missed multiple series. The Knicks disintegrated last year before the Pacers took them out. Joel Embiid is…..Joel Embiid. Even James Butler has missed a Heat-Celtics series. Minus the injuries, and the Eastern Conference would have a little more credibility when it comes to playoff ball.

That said, there’s a lot to love. Madison Square Garden should provide two playoff series (maybe more). Giannis has to drag the Bucks minus Dame for a couple games, but he just wrapped up one of his best years, is finally healthy for a playoff run, and technically has Doc Rivers as his coach (is that good?). Beyond that, teams like the Magic, Pacers, and Heat don’t give games away.

The prevailing conviction around NBA expansion is that the league has enough talented players to support 32 teams. Traditionally, the Western Conference has been more dominant - deeper. Why? The Lakers, Mavs, Spurs, and even the Rockets have anchored the West for the last 30 years with revolving peaks from the Suns, Nugs, and recently the Dynasty Warriors. Perhaps, on the whole, the markets are bigger, the owners are richer, or both. As the depth of talent in the league deepens, without new teams to spread across, we’re seeing a more competitive and talented Eastern Conference. The first round matchups in the West are historic, but the first round matchups in the East are starting to look as compelling as the West usually does.

This is all good! There’s no angle here. If you’re a PST person, be fired up about competitive, greasy, stimulating early games and then Big Sexy Western Conference late play-off games.