With the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat about to begin, the narrative about the Eastern Conference being inferior to the West is once again under the microscope.
The disparity between the Eastern and Western Conferences during the regular season has been vast for a long time. Every year it seems another team from the West misses the playoffs even though they have a better record than a team in the East. This year, the Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns finished with a better record than the Orlando Magic.
On the daily Locked On Heat Podcast, host David Ramil explains why the narrative that the Eastern Conference is inferior doesn't work in the NBA Finals.
David Ramil: There's this Western Conference elitism. There's this idea that Jimmy and Bam were able to get their team to the Eastern Conference Finals, but it's only the Eastern Conference. The path that LeBron James had to go through in order to get his team out of the West… I am so sick of these narratives.
There is absolutely a Western Conference elitism, like that is some bloodbath and everybody who makes it out of there somehow forged a new path and that they are absolutely the greatest, most victorious warrior who has ever graced the face of this planet. That somehow the Eastern Conference, or the Leastern Conference as it's often referred to, is just basically invited because they have to be, and that if there's a reason to abolish the Eastern Conference, it's because they're not all that good.
Let's keep in mind, shall we, that the Miami Heat have won championships, the Cleveland Cavaliers have won championships, the Chicago Bulls have won a number of championships, the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics have won, and on and on. Representatives of the East have taken on these allegedly great members of the Western Conference and still wind up beating them.
I understand perhaps the depth of great teams in the West might surpass that of the Eastern Conference, that somehow in the East you can have a sub .500 record and still managed to make the playoffs. I get all that. That does not take away from who manages to get past the East, whether it's Miami in this case or any other team. The Heat beat the best team in the NBA by a wide margin in the Milwaukee Bucks.
Follow Us
Subscribe