Almost since the end of the dominant Michael Jordan-era of basketball, the Western Conference has reigned supreme to the Eastern Conference, and it's showed in every season since the 1996-97 NBA season. That was the last time the West had a team under .500 make the playoffs. But the narrative is slowly changing, as the East -- at least in a short sample size where every team has played between 11 and 16 games so far -- is finally outplaying the West, and the numbers are rather shocking.
In the first month or so of the season, the East is a combined 116-102 and the West is 106-112.
While that is only a 10-game difference in wins and losses, it stands out so much because the East boasts a winless team in the 0-15 Philadelphia 76ers, and the West has the undefeated Golden State Warriors, who just broke the record for the best start ever at 16-0. Those are rare anomalies for any season, and even with those two teams being where they are, the East is still playing better overall.
Currently, the East has 11 teams at .500 or better, and the West has a mere seven. To put that in perspective, just last season, only six teams in the East finished even, while nine teams were at least eight games over that mark in the West.
And it's been that way for a while. Out East, teams have been making the playoffs with sub-.500 records for years. In fact, the last time their top eight seeds were at least even was all the way back in 2009-10 season, when a young Chicago Bulls team went 41-41.
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