I dont think the West is as evenly matched as people think. Lets take a look at the Northwest Divison. Utah is 21-12 against the west with winning records in each divison 5-4 / 9-5 / 7-3. Denver is 17-14 against the west with records of 8-3 / 4-6 / 5-5. Denver's only winning record against the west is in their own divison. Now 7 of those 8 wins are against Portland (29-25), Minnesota (11-42) and Seattle (14-39).
In the Pacific, the Lakers seem to be head and shoulders above everyone. They are 20-8 against the west with winning records in each division 10-1 / 5-2 / 5-5. Their 5-5 record is against the SW with loses to San Antonio (twice), New Orleans (once), Dallas (once) and Houston (once). Their wins against the SW are Memphis (twice), San Antonio (once without Duncan and Parker), Houston (once), and New Orleans (once). The Lakers struggle with the top teams from the SW. Phoenix is 16-15 in the west with records of 6-3 / 7-6 / 3-6. They struggle with the SW.
In the SW division, you have New Orleans who is 26-11 in the west with records of 9-6 / 9-3 / 8-3. They clearly dominate the west and their own divison. San Antonio is 20-13 against the west with records of 8-3 / 6-5 / 6-5. They struggle a little in the PAC and SW. Dallas is 23-8 against the west with records of 8-3 / 7-2 / 8-3: clearly the best record of any team vs all three divisons.
My rankings of the top teams in the west as of today based on the season so far are:
Dallas
New Orleans
Lakers
Spurs
Utah
Phoenix
Houston
Denver
I think that if these were the teams to make the playoffs, San Antonio, Dallas, Lakers and New Orleans are much much better than the other 4.
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