Who Has More NBA Titles: East or West?
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The debate of who has more NBA titles: East or West? is a long-standing one. In this blog post, we take a look at the numbers to see who really comes out on top.
Eastern Conference
The Eastern Conference is made up of 15 teams, while the Western Conference has only 13. The Eastern Conference has also won 40 NBA championships, while the Western Conference has only won 29. So it would appear that the Eastern Conference is the better conference.
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics lead the way with the most NBA titles, having won a total of 17 championships. The Celtics have been dominant throughout their history, winning at least 10 titles in three different decades. They won eight championships in a row from 1959 to 1966, and then again from 1981 to 1988. Their most recent title came in 2008.
Other teams with a significant number of titles include the Los Angeles Lakers (16), Chicago Bulls (6), and San Antonio Spurs (5).
Los Angeles Lakers
With 16 NBA titles, the Los Angeles Lakers hold the record for the most championships won by a team in the NBA. The Lakers have also made the NBA Finals 31 times, winning 23 of those appearances. Based in Los Angeles, California, the Lakers play their home games at Staples Center.
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers are a professional basketball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 76ers have won three NBA championships, with their first coming in 1955. The team’s most recent title was in 1983, when they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. The 76ers have also appeared in the Finals six other times, losing to the Boston Celtics in 1957, 1966, and 1967; to the Lakers in 1980 and 2001; and to the Chicago Bulls in 1992.
Western Conference
The Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of two conferences that makes up the league, the other being the Eastern Conference. Like the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference is made up of 15 teams, organized in three divisions.
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are a professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are members of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Warriors won the NBA Championship in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the league’s Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home games at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.
The Spurs are one of four former American Basketball Association teams to remain intact in the NBA after the 1976 ABA–NBA merger and are the only former ABA team to have won an NBA championship. The franchise has won five NBA championships, which is tied for fourth-most in NBA history and behind only the Boston Celtics (17), Los Angeles Lakers (16), and Chicago Bulls (6). Of the four ABA teams that joined the NBA, only one divisional rival, the Denver Nuggets, has also won an NBA championship.
From 1999 to 2019, the Spurs had China as their greatest international following outside of North America, prior to the Houston Rockets surpassing them during that timespan.
Results
The West has had more NBA Titles than the East since the 1998-1999 season. In the past 20 years, the West has won 11 out of 20 NBA Championships.
Eastern Conference: 33 titles
The Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of two conferences that makes up the league, the other being the Western Conference. Like the Western Conference, the Eastern Conference is made up of 15 teams, organized in three divisions.
The Eastern Conference has been home to more NBA Champions than the Western Conference, with 33 titles compared to 28. Interestingly, the first ever NBA Finals were an all-Eastern affair, with the Boston Celtics defeating the Philadelphia Warriors four games to one. The most successful team in Eastern Conference history are the Celtics, who have won a total of 17 championships.
Western Conference: 27 titles
The Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA) has 27 championship titles, more than any other conference in the league. The Eastern Conference, meanwhile, has 23 titles.
The West’s dominance began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the now-defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) was absorbed into the NBA. At that time, the West had more teams than the East, and those teams were generally better than their Eastern counterparts. The trend has continued since then, with Western teams winning more than 60 percent of NBA championships since 1980.
There are a few theories as to why the West has been so dominant over the years. One is that Western teams are simply better managed and have better players. Another is that the West’s style of play is more conducive to winning championships. Whatever the reasons, there’s no denying that the West has been the superior conference for many years now.
