193. Secure the top spot in the region in advance_3

This season, the Bobcats, Bulls, and Raptors have powerfully risen to the top four, but the Heat and Nets have collapsed, and the Pistons also slid from the historical strength of 64 wins last season down to the 50-win range, making the East seem to have reverted to the first few years of the new millennium, or perhaps even worse.

Though the 02-03 season saw the Pistons take first place in the East with just 50 wins, and the eighth-placed Magic barely had a 42-40 record, at that time the eighth in the West had 44 wins and 38 losses. The strength and record gap between an average playoff team in the East and West wasn't large, it was just the top teams that were vastly different.

Now, after two years of false prosperity brought by the 'shark moving east,' the collapse is worse than before O'Neal headed east, and the gap between the East and West has spread in all aspects.