NBA Game Notes: Contenders roll on

Notes from: Cavaliers-Pacers, Hawks-Suns, Pelicans-Bulls and Nets-Trail Blazers

Title contenders reasserted their dominance on Tuesday. The Oklahoma City Thunder muddled through before pulling away late over a very shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers team. The Cleveland Cavaliers won on the road against the Tyrese Haliburton-less Indiana Pacers. The Denver Nuggets hammered a shorthanded Dallas Mavericks team on the road. And the Milwaukee Bucks ended the Sacramento Kings win streak.

Here’s what I saw on Tuesday!

Cleveland Cavaliers - 127 at Indiana Pacers - 117

• We’ll start with the Pacers, despite the loss. One way to know they seem to be back on track is that they pushed the Cavs even though Tyrese Haliburton was out. Indiana has turned their season around and they look a lot more like last year’s team again.

• This was Donovan Mitchell’s game right from the start. This season, Mitchell has been kind of doing the star scorer thing where he lets others get going, feels the game out, then takes over. In this one, Cleveland was calling stuff for Mitchell to attack pretty early on.

  You can tell Mitchell is feeling good when he takes these shots in transition. He comes up the floor, sees the help defender is a step too low and Mitchell goes right into his shot:

• Beyond Mitchell’s big night, the best way to describe this win for the Cavs is “business-like”. They just did their thing, especially on offense.

• Darius Garland has been so good this season. There were times in this game where the Pacers had no chance of keeping him from getting where he wanted. This hesitation dribble lifted Obi Toppin and got Garland the and-1 floater:

• One thing I’m keeping an eye on with Cleveland: Teams are starting to isolate and make their weaker defenders guard in space. This is especially true against single-big lineups. The Pacers got some good baskets and drew some fouls by pulling Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley away from the paint, then attacking the paint out of spread actions.

• Pascal Siakam is having an underrated terrific season. He’s averaging 19.9 points on 52/41/75 shooting splits, which includes a career-best three-point percentage. Most of Siakam’s threes are catch-and-shot spot-ups, but he’s working in more off-the-dribble pullups like this:

• We called out Thomas Bryant’s solid play previously, but wanted to make another note. Indiana is starting to run some of the same actions with Bryant that they do for Myles Turner. One wrinkle: Bryant is getting some of his looks from the corner, where Turner does most of his damage above the break. This is a good example of Bryant floating into space. Nice pass by Jarace Walker too!

Phoenix Suns - 117 at Atlanta Hawks - 122

• Full disclosure: I have this unearned belief in the Suns. It’s really an unhealthy relationship at this point. They play crappy, I quit them. They play well and pull me right back in. For that reason, plus the Hawks being shorthanded (especially with forwards), I counted this as a loss for Atlanta. Sigh. Why do you do this to me, Phoenix?

• Less melancholy: The Hawks are still fun! Quin Snyder has them running really good stuff, almost regardless of who is available to play. This group seems to really enjoy playing together too. That’s helping them win games.

• Onyeka Okongwu was dominant in this game. He finished with 22 points and 21 rebounds. 10 of this boards game on the offensive glass, as the Suns had no answer for Okongwu inside. He was outworking Phoenix for plays like this all game:

• With Jalen Johnson and De’Andre Hunter out, Garrison Mathews got some action. He saw increased minutes, as Bogdan Bogdanovic was struggling to get his shots to fall. Mathews delivered with 19 points, including 5-of-8 from behind the arc. This triple was a backbreaker:

• I didn’t forget Trae Young, who had his highest-scoring output of the season with 43 points. While it wasn’t an overly efficient game for Young, he did what a star is supposed to do for a shorthanded team. Young put his team on his back and made things happen.

• Bradley Beal’s up-and-down play as reserve continued. He wasn’t bad in this game, but you didn’t really feel Beal either. We’ll chalk it up to still adjusting to coming off the bench for the first time, but it’s clear Beal isn’t a fan of his new role.

• This might seem like a super simple thing, but this is exactly why Mason Plumlee is starting over Jusuf Nurkic. Plumlee makes these reads quickly and keeps the ball moving. Nurkic is more of a catch-and-survey passer.

• The real bummer of this loss for Phoenix is that they actually played pretty good initial defense in this one. But possessions don’t end until you have the ball, and letting Atlanta grab 20 offensive rebounds sunk the Suns.