Section 101
All-Star
As someone else mentioned, the West is so packed they might actually lower the bar because of how many times they play each other. The question is what will the bar be to get into the playoffs (i.e. 8th seed). You're thinking of top seed, I think...
It's actually the opposite. Instead of the top 2 teams beating the lower seeds, the lower seeds beat the top teams which will raise the lower seeds wins.