The West: Warriors dominance or weaker conference

The Oklahoma City Thunder went 45-37 last season and didn’t make the playoffs. This season, a 45-37 record will get you the fifth seed in the Western Conference. That’s how the West has changed in a year, going from deep to top-heavy.

In 2015, Golden State was dominant, finishing 67-15. But the rest of the West was bunched — the Rockets got the No. 2 seed with a 56-26 record, winning the tiebreaker over the Clippers.

Memphis was the fourth seed at 55-27, with Portland at 51-31 getting the fifth seed due to winning the Northwest Division title. That dropped the 55-27 Spurs to the sixth seed. Dallas was seventh at 50-32, with New Orleans eighth, tying the Thunder at 45-37 and winning the tiebreaker.

Think about that. A 55-27 record was the sixth seed. A 55-27 record this year would get a team the third seed. The Clippers are 50-28 and guaranteed the fourth seed.

The eighth seed could be a team with a losing record — Utah is 39-39 and in eighth, a game ahead of Houston.

Of course, this reverse parity happens when two teams dominate. Golden State is 69-9; the Spurs are 65-12. In the conference, the Warriors are 42-6 and San Antonio is 41-6.

Couple that with a general drop in Western Conference excellence, and you get the subpar records.

Every other contending team in the West is below its accepted standard of performance.

The Thunder is 54-25 but is a step behind its normal performance in the Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook era. The Clippers have gone hot and cold, playing three months without Blake Griffin.

Injury-ravaged Memphis is a ghost of a team, staying afloat at 42-36 through sheer will.

Portland is 43-37 and a storybook tale. The Blazers figured to tank in a massive rebuilding season; instead, they likely will finish fifth in the West, where they finished last year.

Dallas is 40-38 but not as potent as most years. Houston is 38-40 and a far cry from its Western Conference Finals team of last season.

Only Utah, at 39-39, is about where you thought.

Some of that is the greatness of Golden State and San Antonio. But maybe some of the greatness of Golden State and San Antonio is the result of the slumps of the West’s other best teams.

We know the Thunder well. The Thunder’s season-long missteps — defensive inefficiency, turnover problems — isn’t commanded by the Warriors and the Spurs. That’s the Thunder’s own doing.

I assume much the same is true of the Clippers, Grizzlies, Mavs and Rockets. Is it possible their weakened state has lifted Golden State and San Antonio to better records?

If so, what does that mean for the playoffs? It’s actually good news for a team like the Thunder, which has a capable team but is chasing two teams making history. If that history-making is the least bit artificial, then the Thunder’s chances for an upset go up.

It’s a chicken/egg argument. Is the West’s sleepy state caused by the greatness of the two top teams, or was the greatest of the two top teams caused by the sleepy state of the West?

Golden State this season is 22-2 against the West playoff contenders, other than San Antonio. The Spurs are 20-4 against the West playoff contenders, other than the Warriors.

Last season, when the Warriors were ahead of the pack and the Spurs were with the pack, Golden State was 23-6 against the other West contenders.

So the Warriors’ historic 2015-16 season Golden State still has a chance to beat the 1995-96 Bulls’ record of 72 wins seems to be in part due to a fallback from the West.