I haven't looked at last year's final standings, but I think that the four best regular season records (LA, SAC, SA, DALLAS) came out of the West, and the West must have been at least 50 games or so above .500 against the East.

This year it looks like the trend may be reversed, with the strongest teams (except Dallas, and LA when Shaq is back) coming from the East. The East is already 12 games over .500 vs. the West through Friday