National Basketball Association

The Starting Five: Can LeBron's Love connection be saved?

Published Mar. 31, 2015 5:31 p.m. ET

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While New York Knicks fans are busy embracing Phil Jackson's request to remain optimistic, the rest of us have these burning NBA issues to negotiate:

We're slouching toward the playoffs, and three teams with losing records currently hold postseason tickets for the Eastern Conference party. (If they had a few more games, the Washington Wizards might join them.)

Meanwhile, the wild Western Conference regular season may end with two above .500 teams missing the postseason — although it should be noted that the Phoenix Suns are sliding in the wrong direction toward the break-even mark.

Anyway, with this conference imbalance, it recently was reported that of 59 NBA executives surveyed, 36 favored realignment to determine playoff teams.

Simply put, teams with the 16-best records would be in under a changed format.

For the record, 19 of the 23 respondents who favor keeping things the way they are work for Eastern Conference teams.

"It makes sense in the fact that you get the best teams," Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said when the subject was broached a few weeks ago. "You're still going to have an imbalance because not every team is going to play each other the same amount of times."

Correcting that imbalanced-scheduling issue probably creates more of a mess than the NBA believes it's facing now.

So the prevailing solution for fringe Western Conference teams is ... just get better.

Center Rudy Gobert has been the big difference maker in Utah's post-All-Star-break resurgence.

Since the All-Star break, the Utah Jazz are an impressive 14-7.

The side of the floor that's witnessed the greatest improvement is defense. For the entire season, Utah sat a mediocre 16th among NBA teams in defensive efficiency (102.5 points per 100 possessions), but it was second in the league (95.3) over the last 15 games.

A closer look reveals that this spike in defensive success coincides with the participation increases of second-year center Rudy "The Stifle Tower" Gobert.

The 7-foot-2 Frenchman, who was the ninth post player selected in the 2013 NBA Draft, averaged 10.7 points, a crazy 15.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game over 36 minutes per game in March.

Those 15 boards are 6 more per game than Gobert provided in each of the previous two months.

For the season, he's first among NBA players in block percentage, second in defensive box plus/minus (a basketball-reference.com ranking) and fifth in overall defensive rating.

Gobert's field-goal percentage has dipped in March, but — unlike quite a few centers we've witnessed — his free-throw accuracy has risen from 52 percent in February to 63 over the last 15 games.

Wisconsin junior Sam Dekker was already on the radar of NBA scouts, even before his dismantling of Arizona in the West Region finals.

Although scoring 29 points against Arizona was far from slouch-worthy, it didn't do much to click the NBA radar for 7-foot Wisconsin star Frank Kaminsky.

He's a Player of the Year candidate, and pro scouts already have most of their opinions formed regarding his potential.

But when 6-9 junior teammate Sam Dekker went cold-blooded (27 points, 5 of 6 from 3-point range) in the same game, it provided a colossal boost to his NBA stock, right?

Well, Dekker — a bouncy sort with some handling skill and a competitive disposition — should experience a least a temporary rise in his mock listing based on his entire tournament performance.

"We liked him before, trust me," a personnel guy employed by an NBA team said when asked about Dekker, post Arizona explosion. "Those daggers he shot were impressive, but let's be real ... he's the worst, by percentage shooter (32 percent before Arizona) in their starting lineup. Don't get me wrong ... the other guys can really shoot it.

"He certainly can keep getting better as a shooter, but we already knew about his playmaking ability off the dribble. It's great how he's playing and basically confirms our opinions, but whenever he does enter the draft, his status also will be determined by how he looks in workout environments controlled by teams he works out for."

The teaming of LeBron James and Kevin Love might be short-lived, but for the time being, it's a winning combination for the Cavaliers.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have won 29 of their last 36 games and look particularly dangerous as we slog toward the postseason.

But that hasn't prevented basketball watchdogs from projecting a one-and-done Cleveland existence for power forward Kevin Love.

The latest round of iffy conjecture was sparked when Love said former UCLA teammate/roommate Russell Westbrook — and not current teammate LeBron James — would be his choice as MVP.

Although LeBron publicly said this was no big deal, chatterboxes around the league starting further speculating that Love will abandon Cleveland and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers this summer.

Then Westbrook will join him when he hits free agency ... in 2017.

Wow, that's some long-range planning.

That, in addition to a recent report claiming LeBron is frustrated with Love's "inability" and/or "unwillingness to fit in."

By the way, a follow-up to that revelation suggests any lack of LeBron-Love cohesion could lead Love to sign with the New York Knicks.

Go ahead and exhale now.

Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers will try to even the score with Chris Paul and the Clippers on Wednesday in Portland.

A battle for seeding supremacy in the middle of the Western Conference pack is scheduled for Portland on Wednesday night.

That's where the fourth-seeded Trail Blazers and fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers will tangle as a prelude to what (for now) would be their first-round playoff matchup.

And, of course, home court is up for grabs as the regular season winds down. As of press time, the Blazers held a 1.5-game advantage, but the Clippers — with tiebreakers in mind — are 2-1 vs. the Blazers thus far.

This pairing seems potentially loaded with intrigue because of the individual challenges at hand. Both teams employ elite players at the point guard and power forward positions.

Behind PG Chris Paul and PF Blake Griffin, the Clippers check in with the most efficient offense (points per possession) in the NBA. Even though DeAndre Jordan lurks at the back of the L.A. defense, the Clips are only 16th for efficiency at that end.

Portland counters with PG Damian Lillard and PF LaMarcus Aldridge. (Though Lillard has averaged only 15 points, on 35 percent shooting, against the Clips in three games.)

Paul has hit the Blazers with averages of 27 points (on 45-percent shooting) and 11 assists in those three.

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