The New York Knicks achieved a franchise-best 68 wins, unsurprisingly leading the East. They pulled a full 9 games ahead of the second-place Indiana Pacers and 14 games ahead of the Detroit Pistons.
In the West, the gap between the top four wasn't as large. The Los Angeles Lakers had 63 wins at first place, the Warriors had 60 wins in second, and the Dallas Mavericks had 59 wins in third. The Spurs, also with 59 wins, were only in fourth due to tiebreakers.
With a 52-win record, the Seattle SuperSonics could only rank fifth in the West.
In the 90s, when Roger was in the East, strong teams were concentrated in the East.
Once the 21st century arrived and Roger moved to the West, the West began to become wild again.
He also wanted to play in a playoff sweep without facing too many first-team opponents, but clearly, Roger didn't have the emperor's fate.
The confirmation of the regular-season rankings also meant the confirmation of the playoff schedule.
