Southwest Division (NBA)

Southwest Division

Conference	Western Conference
League	National Basketball Association
Sport	Basketball
Inaugural season	2004–05 season
No. of teams	5
Most recent champion(s)	San Antonio Spurs (4th title)
Most titles	San Antonio Spurs (4 titles)

The Southwest Division is one of the three divisions in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The division consists of five teams, the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets, the Memphis Grizzlies, the New Orleans Hornets and the San Antonio Spurs. Three of the teams, the Mavericks, Rockets, and Spurs, are based in Texas, which is behind California who has four teams, the most in the NBA. The Mavericks are the defending NBA champions.

The division was created at the start of the 2004–05 season, when the league expanded from 29 to 30 teams with the addition of the Charlotte Bobcats. The league realigned itself into three divisions in each conference. The Southwest Division began with five inaugural members, the Mavericks, the Rockets, the Grizzlies, the Hornets and the Spurs.^[1] The Mavericks, the Rockets, the Grizzlies and the Spurs joined from the now-defunct Midwest Division, while the Hornets joined from the Central Division. All five teams, including the Hornets who spent one season in the Midwest Division as the Charlotte Hornets, are former Midwest Division teams.

The Spurs have won the most Southwest Division titles with four. The Mavericks have won two titles and the Hornets have won one title. The Rockets and the Grizzlies have never won the Southwest Division title. Three NBA champions came from the Southwest Division. The Spurs won the NBA championship in 2005 and 2007, while the Mavericks won in 2011. In the 2007–08 season, all four teams that qualified for the playoffs each had more than 50 wins. In the 2010–11 season, all teams in the division had winning percentages above 0.500 (50%). The most recent division champion is the San Antonio Spurs.

Standings

Main article: 2010–11 NBA season

Southwest Division v · d · e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
c-San Antonio Spurs	61	21	.744	–	36–5	25–16	10–6
x-Dallas Mavericks	57	25	.695	4	29–12	28–13	8–8
x-New Orleans Hornets	46	36	.561	15	28–13	18–23	9–7
x-Memphis Grizzlies	46	36	.561	15	30–11	16–25	8–8
Houston Rockets	43	39	.524	18	25–16	18–23	5–11

Notes

• c – Clinched division title and also home court advantage for the conference playoffs
• x – Clinched playoff spot

Teams

Team	City	Year	From
		Joined
Dallas Mavericks	Dallas, Texas	2004	Midwest Division
Houston Rockets	Houston, Texas	2004	Midwest Division
Memphis Grizzlies	Memphis, Tennessee	2004	Midwest Division
New Orleans Hornets (2002–2005, 2007–present) New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (2005–2007)[a]	New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans, Louisiana and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma[a]	2004	Central Division
San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio, Texas	2004	Midwest Division

Division champions

^	Had or tied for the best regular season record for that season

Season	Team	Record	Playoffs result
2004–05	San Antonio Spurs	&10000000000000000720000 59–23 (.720)	Won NBA Finals
2005–06	San Antonio Spurs	&10000000000000000769000 63–19 (.768)	Lost Conference Semifinals
2006–07	Dallas Mavericks^	&10000000000000000817000 67–15 (.817)	Lost First Round
2007–08	New Orleans Hornets	&10000000000000000683000 56–26 (.683)	Lost Conference Semifinals
2008–09	San Antonio Spurs	&10000000000000000659000 54–28 (.659)	Lost First Round
2009–10	Dallas Mavericks	&10000000000000000671000 55–27 (.671)	Lost First Round
2010–11	San Antonio Spurs	&10000000000000000744000 61–21 (.744)	Lost First Round

Titles by team

Team	Titles	Season(s) won
San Antonio Spurs	4	2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11
Dallas Mavericks	2	2006–07, 2009–10
New Orleans Hornets	1	2007–08

Season results

^	Denotes team that won the NBA championships
+	Denotes team that won the Conference Finals, but lost the NBA Finals
*	Denotes team that qualified for the NBA Playoffs

Season	Team (record)
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
2004: The Southwest Division was formed with five inaugural members. The New Orleans Hornets joined from the Central Division, while the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets, the Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs joined from the Midwest Division.
2004–05	San Antonio^ (59–23)	Dallas* (58–24)	Houston* (51–31)	Memphis* (45–37)	New Orleans (18–64)
2005–06	San Antonio* (63–19)	Dallas+ (60–22)	Memphis* (49–33)	New Orleans/Oklahoma City[a] (38–44)	Houston (34–48)
2006–07	Dallas* (67–15)	San Antonio^ (58–24)	Houston* (52–30)	New Orleans/Oklahoma City[a] (39–43)	Memphis (22–60)
2007–08	New Orleans* (56–26)	San Antonio* (56–26)	Houston* (55–27)	Dallas* (51–31)	Memphis (22–60)
2008–09	San Antonio* (54–28)	Houston* (53–29)	Dallas* (50–32)	New Orleans* (49–33)	Memphis (24–58)
2009–10	Dallas* (55–27)	San Antonio* (50–32)	Houston (42–40)	Memphis (40–42)	New Orleans* (37–45)
2010–11	San Antonio* (61–21)	Dallas^ (57–25)	New Orleans* (46–36)	Memphis* (46–36)	Houston (43–39)

Rivalries

Main article: National Basketball Association rivalries#Southwest Division

Houston Rockets vs. San Antonio Spurs

Main article: Rockets–Spurs rivalry

Notes

• ^{a 1 2 3} The New Orleans Hornets temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City due to the effect of Hurricane Katrina. The majority of home games were played in Oklahoma City, while a few remained in New Orleans.

References

General

• "NBA & ABA League Index". Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/. 

Specific

1. ^ "Expansion Bobcats prompt change". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. November 17, 2003. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1664103. Retrieved May 29, 2011. 

External links

• NBA.com Team Index