Sam Smith

NBA commissioner David Stern has some issues to deal with, the most notable any additional fallout from disgraced referee Tim Donaghy's claims of league manipulation. There's the upcoming USA team and the hope it bonds and wins a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics. But one issue Stern doesn't seem to have to address anymore — one which we've heard so much of in the last decade — is the seeding of the playoffs because of the disparity between the conferences.

Forget it! The East is back!

With the Boston Celtics' domination of the Los Angeles Lakers — and it was domination pretty much throughout the six games — to win the NBA championship Tuesday, a team from the off-dismissed so called Leastern Conference now has won three of the last five NBA Finals as the Celtics joined the 2004 Detroit Pistons and 2006 Miami Heat.

And it appears to be no fluke, because of that old East standby — defense.

The West always has been prettier. They didn't name anyone in the East Showtime. But when there was Showtime in Los Angeles, most of the championships were coming from the East in Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago, old Eastern and Midwestern lunch bucket places.

Remember the champion you loved to hate, the San Antonio Spurs? The TV networks rooted against them. They produced all-time low ratings in the finals. They really were an Eastern team. They played defense. They were disciplined. Their stars, despite inspired play, seemed uninspiring.

The future was going to be the high flyers and fancy guys in places like Phoenix, Dallas and Sacramento.

Forget it!

The Suns' run is about to set. With the departure of coach Mike D'Antoni and the addition of Shaquille O'Neal, the Suns are facing a major makeover and probably a rebuilding in the next few years with Steve Nash probably gone in a few years. The Mavs have quickly aged with the addition of Jason Kidd. The Kings are well into rebuilding.

The Golden State Warriors never go anywhere and are perhaps a season away from replacing coach Don Nelson. The Denver Nuggets’ high-octane game likely will be broken up this summer. And the Spurs are aging. They'll look to make significant changes this summer to get younger.

The Lakers, despite their awful finals performance, likely are the favorites going into next season with the expected return of center Andrew Bynum. But they didn't seem to be a true match for the Celtics. Portland probably is coming, but we'll all have to see about Greg Oden after missing a year with surgery.

The pendulum is swinging back. Perhaps the East is not as deep yet, but stars are starting to show up.

The three big rookies coming into next season will be Oden and Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley, the latter two likely going to Chicago and Miami. The Heat has the second pick and could deal the rights to Beasley as Chicago seemingly is sure to select the hometown Rose. But most likely the two top young players this season come into the East.

Bryant still is the individual star of the NBA, but LeBron James is not far behind. Now Dwyane Wade is due back from a season of injuries. The Olympic team of NBA players will be announced Monday and it's likely half will be from the East. The best young center in the game may be Orlando's Dwight Howard. Chris Bosh is one of the top young forwards. Now Boston has Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, a true star-studded team.

One can make the case now that there are more players in the Eastern Conference you'd want to pay to see than in the West. And don't be surprised to see soon-to-be free agents like Elton Brand and Baron Davis eyeing Eastern teams in the future as they see chances to get to the finals.

Defense wins, and the Celtics showed that again. The game is played that way more often in the East. It's not always as pretty, but it's effective, and when it's done with talent, like the Celtics did, it's a championship formula.

C'mon back East, young man. That's where the best basketball may well be in the next few years.

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