2007-08 NBA Regular Season Comes To An End

April 18, 2008

The final games of the 2007-08 season were played on Wednesday night and it has been quite a season.

A Look at the Eastern Conference

The Boston Celtics lived up to expectations, finishing 1st in the league with a record of 66-16. That makes for quite the turnaround from last year, being the worst team in the eastern conference with record of 24-58. The biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history was +36 games by the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs until the Celtics beat the Charlotte Bobcats on April 5, marking a +37 games turnaround and then winning 5 more games making it a +42 games turnaround. This also marks the third-best season in Celtic's history, just falling short of their 1972-73 season-best record of 68-14 and their 1985-86 finish of 67-15.

Nearly opposite to the Celtics, the Miami Heat finished a league worst 15-67, matching the 1988-89 expansion team for the worst record in franchise history. Another huge turnaround (for the worse) of -29 games from a record of 44-38 last season, not to mention being the NBA champions in 2005-06. The Heat can now just hope for something good to come out of the draft this year with the NBA draft lottery coming up on May 20th.

The Toronto Raptors finished the season in 6th place at an even 41-41. They will be facing the Orlando Magic, who finished in 3rd with a +12 games turnaround from last season, in the first round of the playoffs.

Eastern W L PCT GB CONF DIV HOME ROAD
Boston 66 16 0.805 0.0 41-11 14-2 35-6 31-10
Detroit 59 23 0.720 7.0 37-15 11-5 34-7 25-16
Orlando 52 30 0.634 14.0 38-14 12-4 25-16 27-14
Cleveland 45 37 0.549 21.0 28-24 7-9 27-14 18-23
Washington 43 39 0.524 23.0 29-23 10-6 25-16 18-23
Toronto 41 41 0.500 25.0 29-23 10-6 25-16 16-25
Philadelphia 40 42 0.488 26.0 25-27 7-9 22-19 18-23
Atlanta 37 45 0.451 29.0 24-28 9-7 25-16 12-29
Indiana 36 46 0.439 30.0 24-28 5-11 21-20 15-26
New Jersey 34 48 0.415 32.0 26-26 4-12 21-20 13-28
Chicago 33 49 0.402 33.0 24-28 11-5 20-21 13-28
Charlotte 32 50 0.390 34.0 19-33 7-9 21-20 11-30
Milwaukee 26 56 0.317 40.0 18-34 6-10 19-22 7-34
New York 23 59 0.280 43.0 20-32 5-11 15-26 8-33
Miami 15 67 0.183 51.0 8-44 2-14 9-32 6-35

Playoff Match-ups

A Look at the Western Conference

The western conference has been far more competitive to clinch a playoff spot for quite a while now. Having 10 teams with at least a .500 record, that .500 just doesn't cut it in the west. Unlike the east, where the 8th place team, the Atlanta Hawks, only had a record of 37-45 (0.451). Clinching the 8th spot in the west was the Denver Nuggets with a very respectable record of 50-32, which would have put them in 4th spot if they were in the east.

The MVP race is closely between the team leaders of the best in the west, Kobe Bryant of the L.A. Lakers and Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. Bryant averaged 28.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG and 5.4 APG leading the Lakers to the top spot in the west and a turnaround of +15 games from last season. Paul averaged 21.1 PPG and a league leading 11.6 APG and 2.7 SPG taking the Hornets to 2nd place in the west and a turnaround of +17 games from last season. Despite the numbers from LeBron James (30.0 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 7.2 APG), the Cavaliers didn't improve any (actually had a -5 games turnaround from last season) so he sits below both Bryant and Paul in the MVP race.

Western W L PCT GB CONF DIV HOME ROAD
L.A. Lakers 57 25 0.695 0.0 37-15 12-4 30-11 27-14
New Orleans 56 26 0.683 1.0 34-18 10-6 30-11 26-15
San Antonio 56 26 0.683 1.0 33-19 10-6 34-7 22-19
Utah 54 28 0.659 3.0 33-19 10-6 37-4 17-24
Houston 55 27 0.671 2.0 33-19 8-8 31-10 24-17
Phoenix 55 27 0.671 2.0 31-21 10-6 30-11 25-16
Dallas 51 31 0.622 6.0 33-19 10-6 34-7 17-24
Denver 50 32 0.610 7.0 31-21 10-6 33-8 17-24
Golden State 48 34 0.585 9.0 28-24 10-6 27-14 21-20
Portland 41 41 0.500 16.0 26-26 11-5 28-13 13-28
Sacramento 38 44 0.463 19.0 21-31 3-13 26-15 12-29
L.A. Clippers 23 59 0.280 34.0 13-39 5-11 13-28 10-31
Minnesota 22 60 0.268 35.0 14-38 3-13 15-26 7-34
Memphis 22 60 0.268 35.0 11-41 2-14 14-27 8-33
Seattle 20 62 0.244 37.0 12-40 6-10 13-28 7-34

Playoff Match-ups

Playoff games are kicking off on Saturday starting with the Cavs and Wiz at 12:30PM(EST), Suns and Spurs at 3:00PM(EST), Mavs and Hornets at 7:00PM(EST) and Jazz and Rockets at 9:30PM(EST).

Jason Smith

Reader Comments

  1. Adam says:
    April 19, 2008 11:37 am

    I can't wait for the playoffs to start. Raptors first game tomorrow... who comes out of this one is gonna be tough to predict, both teams got eliminated in the first round last year so both are looking to advance.

    The Western Conference is gonna be crazy this year... 7th seed Dallas? Seriously, any team can make it. I don't think Denver'll get far though, they just chuck too much... Pheonix has a fighting chance with Shaq... but I think New Orleans will cave. Kobe's coldblooded, and with Gasol seeking for a title, I think the lakers have a legitimate shot to get up there. AS for Utah and Houston... I just don't see either of them passing the 2nd round... they're solid teams, but not championship teams...

  2. Terrill says:
    April 30, 2008 8:30 pm

    I want to see documentation of your trip. Hear me? Documentation!

    How about some pics of the new place?

  3. TD says:
    April 30, 2008 8:47 pm

    I bought a new baseketball (19$ special) since someone took there's... I think. It's far too cold to play ball, but when the sun comes out again I'm ready.

  4. Jason says:
    May 7, 2008 1:38 am

    Announced today, Kobe is the MVP!

  5. Jason says:
    May 7, 2008 1:42 am

    hmmm... I'll have to do something about those timestamps...now that I'm in Seattle I'm no longer running on eastern time

  6. Josh says:
    November 18, 2008 11:28 pm

    Hey jay, just trying out your comments

  7. Josh says:
    November 18, 2008 11:30 pm

    Another Test

Comment On This Article

All HTML tags will be removed, but URLs will be automatically linked. Quality over quantity – comments will be deleted if they do not add to the discussion in a substantial manner.