Season recap: final standings, as updated on the
fake ESPN site:
Eastern Conference:
Only one team from the Atlantic division made the playoffs: the 76ers, who won their division handily.
The Central Division proved to be the toughest division, being the only division with three teams having at least 50 wins each.
Miami won the division with only a .500 record. Apparently, Ben Gordon hasn't been able to offset the team's loss of Dwyane Wade. And the Southeast division sports two playoff teams with sub-500 records.
Western Conference:
Denver overtook Minnesota for the Northwest division crown by one game.
And in the Pacific division, Sacramento and Golden State both leapfrogged the LA Lakers and Phoenix for playoff spots. If the Lakers had won their last game, they would have made the playoffs instead of Golden State. But they didn't, and the Lakers brass are unhappy. Rumors have it that the Lakers are now looking to bring back Phil Jackson as head coach to right the ship. The Suns, who did not get the production from Eddy Curry that Curry was giving the Bulls prior to being traded for Amare Stoudemire, will miss the playoffs despite having a winning record.
In the Southwest division, the defending champion Spurs won their last 4 games to ensure their division title.
Overall, the two conferences are about equal strength. While the West had three teams over .500 who didn't make the playoffs and the East had two teams under .500 who did, the East is the only conference with 50-win teams (four of them, in fact). The 2005 NBA Playoffs promise to be an interesting affair.