For over a decade it has been no secret that the NBA’s Western Conference has always had a lot more depth than the East. With the Spurs, Jazz, Nuggets, along with this year’s champs, The Lakers, and more all hosting impressive line-ups, it was no small feat to make it out of the Western Conference finals. This has all changed as Amar’e Stoudemire, and Carlos Boozer have moved to colder climates and LeBron James has stayed East.

“Yes, the Western Conference still has won nine of the past 12 NBA titles and 10 of the last 11 seasonal inter-conference battles. Yet there finally is starting to be some chortling in the East. After losing the conference regular season match-up for nine straight years, the East finally broke through in 2008-09 to win 51.3 percent of the games between the conferences. The West came back to win 54.7 percent of the battles last season (it didn’t help that New Jersey and New York, in trying to clear salary-cap room, weren’t trying to win). But this summer has shown the East could end up being the dominant conference this decade.”

pic and info: FH