Two SI.com experts debate the East's title chances

Yes

AP

By Chris Mannix

With only two East teams good enough to win 50 games, the task won't be easy, but one club may have the right combination to accomplish what many consider to be an improbable feat.

I picked Chicago to win the NBA title before the season and people called me stupid. I stuck with them at midseason and everyone called me nuts. What makes you think I'm jumping off the bandwagon now?

The Bulls have been the East's best team since the All-Star break, rattling off 20 wins in their last 28 games, many of which came without uber-aggressive forward Andres Nocioni (above, with Ben Gordon), a player built for the postseason. They aren't quite as good defensively as they have been the last two seasons, when they led the league in defensive field goal percentage. This year they finished second. Bunch of matadors.

I'll be honest: Wednesday night's choke job in New Jersey had me thinking (ever so briefly) of jumping ship. The Bulls took a huge hit by falling to the fifth spot and having to face defending champion Miami instead of the wounded Wizards, who are so undermanned they debated suiting up the ball boys. But a Ben Wallace-led team has ousted Shaquille O'Neal before, and I foresee one doing it again.

The next stop on manslaughter row (the East isn't tough enough to warrant a murderers' row) is Detroit. The Pistons present a tough matchup in the conference semifinals, but insiders believe this is far from the same Detroit team of yesteryear.

The talent (Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince) is there, but, as guard Lindsey Hunter put it, "On our Finals teams, we knew we could always fall back on the lock-down defense. This team has a lot of weapons, but defensively it's not quite the same."

Don't get me wrong, I expect a seven-game battle; I just believe Chicago will be the victor. That leaves a probable matchup with Cleveland in the East finals, and, well, talk about not ready for prime time.

As for the big, bad West? Well, there is no denying it is precisely that. I'm banking on a steady supply of seven-game slugfests that will either a) drain the legs of Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash or b) bang, bump and bruise Tim Duncan.

Call the Bulls vultures, maybe. But you will also be calling them NBA champs.

No

Robert Beck/SI

By Paul Forrester

Numbers: The eight playoff teams in the West are a combined 161-79 vs. the East this season. The East's postseason participants? 118-122 versus the other conference. Need more hard evidence? How about five teams with 50 or more victories out West; the East has three.

Talent: Nash. Nowitzki. Kobe. Duncan. Playoff games are won by great players making great plays in great moments. The West not only has four legitimate, perennial MVP candidates, but transcendent talents who have excelled under the lights of May and June before (something we feel Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming will accomplish this year). Yes, the East has Shaq and Dwyane Wade, but is anyone expecting Larry Hughes or Antawn Jamison to turn out the lights with a buzzer-beater?

Coaching: The West's eight playoff coaches share a combined 17 Finals appearances and four Coach of the Year awards. The East has Pat Riley, his eight Finals appearances and ... a lot of questions. Can Flip Saunders inspire his team? Will Ben Wallace turn on Scott Skiles? Will the Cavs listen to Mike Brown as much as LeBron? Will an Eddie Jordan team ever play defense? Those aren't the type of queries a roster of Western coaches with a combined 113-plus years of NBA head coaching experience will have to answer.

Along with the credentials and star power, the conference's realistic title contenders also carry the scars of opportunities lost -- and still wanted. Dallas has played with a vengeance all season after blowing a 2-0 series lead in last year's Finals. The Suns have talked all year about how their breakneck pace can succeed through June. The Spurs' purpose in life seems to be only playing for a ring. And Houston's Jeff Van Gundy doesn't look like he hasn't slept since October just to go golfing in May.

In the East, Miami's supporting cast has looked plenty satisfied at times, while progress in Chicago and Cleveland would be an appearance in the conference finals. That isn't the sort of attitude that wins 16 games from April 21 on, as the West will demonstrate.