If this were the Western conference, I’d have no problem, or atleast a significantly lesser problem in declaring my favorite for theconference title. Granted making a distinction between Dallas andPhoenix is no cake walk, and the situation only gets more complicatedif I want to give a team like San Antonio a fighting chance, butcompared to the rat race going down on the opposite coast, decipheringthe West is apple fucking pie.
What I’m trying to break down here and now is not the conference that resides in the West, it’s the exact opposite, it’s the Not Western Conference, any description more elaborate than that (including, you know, its actual designation) would be giving this second rate conference more credit than it deserves.
This conference named for its geography, known as the East, isat the moment mired in mediocrity. Currently no team in the Easternconference has topped 30 wins, while six teams in the West havealready passed the 3-0 mark in the W column. If the league played aneight team tourney, only two teams from the East would even make thedance. Fortunately for the likes of teams like Miami, the defendingchamps in case you forgot, the likes of the East get to battle it outfor the right to get slaughtered, ahem, I mean compete against theWest in June.
If there’s one prime example of how far the East is from theWest (lame pun intended), it’s the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors, behind a stellar season from Chris Bosh, are leading the Atlantic division withjust 25 wins, in the West’s Southwest division they would be in fourthplace, and missing the playoffs.
But this is nothing new, for several years now the East has been lagging behind the West in terms of depth of good teams. Nevertheless, an Eastern conference team, Miami, took the ’chip last season. And it was only a few seasons ago when Detroit pulled one of the biggest upsets in Finals history against the Lakers. So for whatevershortcomings the East may appear to have, they’ve proven that theirbest can tangle with the best from the West. As for the rest of theEastern conference, we’ll happily ignore them.
What follows is a look at the top four teams in the East, in noparticular order. I’ll break ’em down and set ’em up for who I thinkhas the best chance of taking the title out East and who has the bestchance of pulling an upset over the West.
Being the leading team in the East and the only team over .600in the conference, it’s no surprise I’d kick off my list with the Pistons.There’s no getting around that the Pistons aren’t quite the same teamsince their signature afro wearer now resides in Chicago, early in theseason it was looking like the Pistons might not quite hold the sameplace within the conference they once did, not so anymore.
The Pistons are 8-3 since adding Chris Webber, and while heisn’t exactly regaining any luster from his former days, it appears he could end up being that Rasheed Wallace-esque addition, putting Detroit over the top. Webber is still good for solid 12 and 8 numbers and moreover he adds that second big rebounding presence next to Rasheed that could make all the difference in a match up against a Western conference team.
While Washington and Cleveland could both give Detroit a goodchallenge in the playoffs, no one in the East performs with as muchconsistency, especially on the road, and in the playoffs a team isalmost always going to have to win away from home at some point.Unless the Heat get onto a major roll going into, and throughout, theplayoffs, Detroit has to be considered the favorite to win the East.
As I’ve been predicting almost since the beginning of LeBron’scareer, people are already jumping sides on King James, going fromsupporters to critics. Only in his fourth season, people are alreadybeginning to question if LeBron can ever win, which is needless to sayridiculous considering the stage of his career he’s in right now.Whether you or anyone else cares to admit it, simply having LeBronJames on your team gives you a chance to win, which is more than youcan say about most players.
I was as impressed as anyone when James and his Cavs took the Pistons to seven games in last year’s conference semis. But to be honest, I was also a bit surprised. Maybe I’m just being sane here, but I don’t think LeBron is an almighty basketball deity, not yet anyway. That’snot a slight, it’s just my way of saying I’m willing to cut him someslack if he doesn’t meet every absurd expectation. Granted, he’ssurpassed our initial expectations of him as a rookie, but he’s not acircus animal, we can’t just keep setting up these ridiculous flaminghoops and expect him to jump through without so much as a singe everytime. But when Cleveland almost upset Detroit last season, I wasalmost ready to abandon that way of thinking.
Alas, LeBron has limits. I don’t know if he’s ready to take histeam to the next level just yet, but he’s surprised me on more than oneoccasion with what he can accomplish and what he can do for his team.Make no mistake about it, if LeBron goes bonkers in the playoffs, andthe supporting cast (Ilgauskas, Hughes, Gooden) comes through with the occasional big shot, Cleveland can beat anybody in the East. As forout West. well lets not underestimate LeBron either.
The Washington Wizards may be the most underrated team in the conference. Just a few seasons ago talk of the Wizards as a contender to come out of the East would have been absurd. Two playoff runs and two stellar seasons from Gilbert Arenas later, and now Washington is looking like a team shaping up to make a run for the conference title.
I’ve got my pick of squads to choose from in the East, in caseyou missed it that’s the point of this article. I could say somethingstupid like Toronto is going to win the conference and not even becompletely wrong. So if I’m going to pick a wildcard to win I’m goingto pick it with good reason. Gilbert Arenas could very well be thebest player in the conference, and for that reason alone the Wizardshave a decent shot. Considering their series with Cleveland lastseason, I think it’s safe to say they’re in about the same class asthe Cavaliers, if not slightly higher.
What puts Washington in contention is not just Arenas, but thecombination of Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison that he’s got aroundhim. Butler and Jamison are both guys who can take over a gameoffensively when given the opportunity, and in the conference where alot of teams rely on one big scorer, that could be what sets theWizards apart. Cleveland relies primarily, and almost exclusively, onLeBron. Detroit relies first on defense, and then on an evendistribution of the ball on offense, and that’s to be mistaken forwhat the Wizards do. Arenas along with Jamison and Butler make alegitimate big three, probably the only team that can honestly saythat in the East (New Jersey’s trio gets ignored due to trade rumorsand lack of wins). Their defense leaves a lot to be desired and thatcould ultimately be their downfall, but they have enough fire power togo up against anyone in the conference.
As for their chances against Western opponents, well thataforementioned defense would struggle against some of the more highpowered offenses out West. And the bigs for Washington aren’t going tomatch up well with anyone named Duncan, Nowitzki, or Stoudemire.Whether you realize it or not, Washington could be a team thatsurprises some people in the conference, but should they ride a hotstreak and make it to the Finals, well, they aren’t that underrated.
They the champs ’till they ain’t the champs no more.
The Miami Heat are a sub .500 team right now and currentlysitting in the eighth slot in the Eastern conference. Records and standings aside, however, I’m not about to compile a list of possible Finals participants without including the defending champion.
The Heat got off to what can only be described as a slow start.I say a slow start and not a bad start because there was a valid reason for the Heat’s struggles - the absence of one seven foot big man, amongother injuries. I’ll be clear, the Miami Heat are Dwyane Wade’s team.Now allow me to be even more clear, they still need Shaq healthy andmotivated to win another ring. Shaq will be an absolutely vital pieceto any team he’s on as long he’s putting on an NBA uniform, he’s thatimportant. He may not be what he once was, but keep in mind thateffective experienced big men are hard to find in this league, andwhen you take into account that Shaq is still capable of dominating agame, you understand why he’s so valuable to this team.
The Heat have won their last four games, three with Shaq in thelineup and playing well. As long as the rest of the crew stays healthyand Dwyane Wade doesn’t spontaneously disappear off the face of planet earth, the Heat will pull their record up, jump somebody in thestandings, and get ready to make another playoff run.
The Heat’s chances really all depends on their health andmotivation, and in that way they take on the personality of the Big Fella. This team isn’t quite what it was a year ago, but then again this teamwasn’t built on the likes of Gary Payton, or Antoine Walker, or evenShaq - everything for the Heat revolves around Wade, and if opponentscan’t stop him, they can’t stop the Heat.
I’ll admit, it’s going to be tough for Miami to get past a teamlike Detroit (again), but should they somehow manage a repeat trip to the Finals, they may have the best chance of any team in the East toovercome the mighty west. They’ve already proven they can beat Dallas(with some help from an occasional whistle blow). Phoenix providesmatch up issues, both those go both ways, and in the Finals I’d rathertake the great big man then the quick forwards and guards.
I’m not about say Miami is going to repeat, but I will say it’spossible, more possible than you think, and for a team from aconference that’s fallen severely behind its counterpart, morepossible than it should be.
