Logjam in NBA Western Conference Standings For Two Consecutive Years
For two consecutive NBA seasons (2022-2023 and 2023-2024), there was a logjam in the Western Conference standings. In the first season,
the gap between the fifth-best team in the Western Conference and the twelfth-best team (7 games) was less than half that (!!) between the twelfth-best team and the fourteenth-best team (15 games). In the second season, the difference between the fourth-place team and the tenth-place team (5 games) was one-third (!!) that between the tenth-place team and the twelfth-place team (15 games). That tenth-place team was my Warriors, who won a respectable 46 games.
Unlike during the 2022-2023 season, there was also a logjam in the other conference during the 2023-2024 season: the gap between the second-best team in the Eastern Conference and the ninth-best team (4 games) was less than one-third that (!!!) between the second-best team and the best team (14 games). Let's see if these
logjams continue!