The NBA doesn't usually pivot on a dime. Usually, you see the titans coming from a mile away, but the standing of nba 2014 15 basically flipped the script on everything we thought we knew about the league. It was a weird, transitional year. LeBron James went home to Cleveland, a skinny kid named Steph Curry started breaking the geometry of the court, and the Atlanta Hawks somehow became the "Spurs of the East" for exactly five months.
If you look back at the records now, they look like typos. 67 wins for a Golden State team that had just fired Mark Jackson? A 60-win season for Atlanta? It happened. It was the year the "three-point revolution" stopped being a theory and started being a wrecking ball.
The Western Conference Bloodbath
Honestly, the West was a nightmare. You had teams winning 45 games and missing the playoffs entirely. The Oklahoma City Thunder, led by a scorching Russell Westbrook who averaged 28.1 points per game, finished with a 45-37 record. In most years, that’s a solid 5th or 6th seed. In 2015? It got them 9th place and a trip to the lottery because the New Orleans Pelicans owned the tiebreaker.
Golden State sat at the top with a ridiculous 67-15 record. Steve Kerr, in his first year as a head coach, turned the Warriors into a 110-point-per-game juggernaut. They weren't just winning; they were embarrassing people. Behind them, the Houston Rockets and LA Clippers both finished 56-26.
The depth was staggering. The defending champion San Antonio Spurs finished 6th with 55 wins. Think about that. A team that would be a 1-seed in many eras was a 6-seed. They had to face the Clippers in a first-round series that felt like a Conference Final, eventually losing in seven games after Chris Paul hit a leaning bank shot over Tim Duncan.
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Final Western Conference Regular Season Standings
- Golden State Warriors: 67–15
- Houston Rockets: 56–26
- Los Angeles Clippers: 56–26
- Portland Trail Blazers: 51–31
- Memphis Grizzlies: 55–27
- San Antonio Spurs: 55–27
- Dallas Mavericks: 50–32
- New Orleans Pelicans: 45–37
The seeding was a bit wonky back then because division winners were guaranteed a top-four spot. That’s why Portland is listed at 4th despite having fewer wins than Memphis and San Antonio. It was a rule everyone hated, and it was changed shortly after.
The Eastern Conference and the Return of the King
The East was a two-horse race that felt like a one-horse race in hindsight. LeBron James had just returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers, forming a "Big Three" with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. They started slow—kinda shaky, actually—going 19-20 at one point. But then they traded for J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, and everything clicked. They finished 53-29, good for 2nd in the conference.
But the real story of the regular season standing of nba 2014 15 in the East was the Atlanta Hawks.
They didn't have a superstar. They had a system. Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, and Al Horford played a brand of "unselfish" basketball that saw all four of them (plus DeMarre Carroll) named as the Eastern Conference Players of the Month in January. They finished with a franchise-record 60 wins. People called them "Spurs East," though they eventually ran into the LeBron James buzzsaw in the playoffs.
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Down at the bottom, the East was... less impressive. The Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics both made the playoffs with losing records (38-44 and 40-42, respectively). It was a top-heavy conference where the gap between the elite and the mediocre was a literal canyon.
Final Eastern Conference Regular Season Standings
- Atlanta Hawks: 60–22
- Cleveland Cavaliers: 53–29
- Chicago Bulls: 50–32
- Toronto Raptors: 49–33
- Washington Wizards: 46–36
- Milwaukee Bucks: 41–41
- Boston Celtics: 40–42
- Brooklyn Nets: 38–44
Statistical Anomalies and Awards
This was the year Stephen Curry won his first MVP. He averaged 23.8 points and 7.7 assists while making 286 threes, which broke his own record at the time. James Harden was the runner-up, and honestly, Rockets fans are still salty about it. Harden carried a depleted Houston roster to 56 wins, but the "Curry effect" was just too loud to ignore.
Over in OKC, Kevin Durant was sidelined with foot injuries, which unleashed "Solo Westbrook." He was a force of nature. He led the league in scoring but couldn't drag the Thunder into the postseason.
- Rookie of the Year: Andrew Wiggins (Minnesota)
- Defensive Player of the Year: Kawhi Leonard (San Antonio)
- Sixth Man of the Year: Lou Williams (Toronto)
- Most Improved Player: Jimmy Butler (Chicago)
The league was changing. Big men like DeAndre Jordan were still leading the league in rebounds (15.0 per game), but the focus was shifting to the perimeter. The Warriors proved you could win a title with a 6'7" power forward named Draymond Green.
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What Really Happened in the Playoffs?
The 2015 playoffs were defined by health—or the lack of it. The Cavaliers tore through the East, but they lost Kevin Love to a dislocated shoulder in the first round. Then, in Game 1 of the Finals, Kyrie Irving broke his kneecap.
LeBron was left essentially playing 1-on-5.
He was heroic. He averaged 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists in the Finals. He nearly won the Finals MVP despite being on the losing team. But the Warriors were too deep. After falling behind 2-1 in the series, Steve Kerr inserted Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup, creating the "Death Lineup." The Warriors won three straight to clinch the title in six games.
Iguodala won Finals MVP, a choice that remains a massive trivia point since he didn't start a single game during the regular season.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you're looking back at the 2014-15 season to understand how the modern NBA was built, focus on these three things:
- Study the Warriors' Shooting Splits: This was the first year a team truly proved that high-volume, high-efficiency 3-point shooting wasn't just a gimmick—it was the most efficient way to win.
- Evaluate the "West vs East" Disparity: Look at the 45-win Thunder missing the playoffs. It’s the best argument for why the league eventually moved toward "play-in" tournaments to keep the end of the season competitive.
- Review the "Point Forward" Evolution: Watch LeBron’s 2015 Finals tape. It's a masterclass in how a single player can control the tempo, gravity, and spacing of a game without a secondary creator.
The standing of nba 2014 15 marks the exact moment the "old" NBA died and the "pace and space" era took over the world.