An interesting article for those who are into stats: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> What is the statistical profile of an NBA championship team? Hall of Famer Hubie Brown, who coached the Kentucky Colonels to the 1975 ABA championship and is now an analyst for ESPN's NBA coverage, has always emphasized the importance of point differential. Hank Egan, a Cleveland Cavaliers Assistant Coach who was a member of Gregg Popovich's staff when the San Antonio Spurs won the 1999 championship, told me that the first statistic he looks at is defensive field goal percentage. ... </div> link
cool. according to those stats, Utah and San Antonio will come out of the West and Cleveland and Orlando will come out of the east. that sounds right.