With a small subset of superpowers reigning over the chaos underneath, the NBA's Western Conference is different this year.
Gone are the days of seven playoff locks and a couple of hopeless, destined-for-disappointment outfits scrapping for 47 wins and the eighth seed. This season, we've got the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder thumping the competition as a half-dozen flawed squads mill around in the mess below.
The chasm between the elite and the complicatedly decent was hard to miss on Monday, as the Spurs disintegrated the Utah Jazz (one of those unlucky clubs in the teeming mass of mediocrity) by a final of 118-81 that wasn't even as close as the margin suggests.
I mean, this happened, for crying out loud:
Matt Bonner is dribbling behind his back and finishing with countermoves in the paint. If that doesn't indicate a sea change in the conference's competitive balance, I'm not sure what does.
The way the other middling clubs performed on Monday only bolstered the case.
The Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks got together to shoot a bu ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Grant Hughes
Monday NBA Roundup: Divide Growing Between West’s Elite and Middle Classes
December 14th, 2015 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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