The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 94-87 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Saturday, securing their sixth win in the past seven games.

Cavaliers third-year point guard Darius Garland recorded a 23-point, 11-assist double-double in the win. The game remained close with the exception of the third quarter, when Cleveland led 31-23. Garland contributed 13 points and three assists after shooting 5 of 6 from the field (FGs) in this quarter.

"We've got a target on our back now," Garland said. "Everybody wants to beat us, so we have to play the full 48 minutes. Coach let us know that after the game because we let up a little bit."

The Cavaliers had an absolute size advantage in the front court in Saturday's game thanks to the existence of Jarrett Allen, Lauri Markkanen and Evan Mobley. Though Markkanen left the game in the second quarter after spraining his right ankle, Allen and Mobley still dominated the paint for their team. Allen had 14 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks. Mobley got 15 points and 17 rebounds.

"We just came out there and we fought like dogs," Mobley said. "That's what we have to do. Me being attack-minded, it just comes natural. We try to dominate the paint and play our brand of basketball, and we did."

Losing was not news for the Thunder, who were 14-31 before Saturday. Nor was it a problem for the team since they are in the middle of tanking. However, the slow growth of the team's young men poses some concerns. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 29 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals on Saturday night, seemed to be the only one on the right track. Josh Giddie again shot below 30 percent in FGs (3-12), failing to reach double digits in points, rebounds or assists. Luguentz Dort was equally cold (3-10 in FGs) before he was ejected for elbowing Kevin Love in the face.

CP3 makes top 5 on another assists record list

The Phoenix Suns beat the Indiana Pacers 113-103 at Footprint Center on Saturday for their sixth straight win.

Chris Paul went 8-11 in FGs, including 8-9 within the key, to get 18 points, 16 assists and four steals for the Suns. This was the 99th time for the 36-year-old veteran to deliver at least 15 assists in one game. It's the fifth-most in NBA history behind that of John Stockton (293), Magic Johnson (189), Steve Nash (110) and Oscar Robertson (106).

When Paul was running the game in such a smooth way, his teammates, especially big-man finishers, could benefit a lot from it. Suns starting center JaVale McGee had a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds. Backup center Bismack Biyombo got 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Only six Suns players in history have scored 20+10+5 off the bench before Biyombo.

"We're just trying to pile up wins," Paul said. "We could have been a little more solid down the stretch." The Suns are 36-9 after Saturday's win and hold a lead of 3.5 games over the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference. The last time the Suns achieved such a record happened in the 2006-07 season.

The Pacers again kept their best players on the bench. The total salaries of their starting lineup this season were around $18.1 million. By contrast, the six guys who didn't play on Saturday night are making $86.1 million this season.

It looks like the Pacers are very serious about rebuilding.

Are Bucks the 'Bad Boys' of today's NBA?

The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Sacramento Kings 133-127 at Fiserv Forum on Saturday without Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Khris Middleton became the offensive spine for the Bucks by dropping five triples to get 34 points and five assists. Another five of his teammates had double-digit points as well, including Donte DiVincenzo who contributed 20 points off the bench.

On the Kings side, De'Aaron Fox sat out this game due to an ankle injury, leaving Tyrese Haliburton more space to release his energy on the floor. Though the team lost by six points in the end, Haliburton was one of the best-performing Kings after putting down a double-double of 24 points and 12 assists.

Compared with the competition on the court, the Bucks' argument with the Chicago Bulls on Twitter drew more attention. In the Bulls' 94-90 loss to the Bucks on Friday, Alex Caruso of the Bulls suffered serious injury after he was fouled by Grayson Allen. The Bulls announced later that Caruso will undergo surgery to fix a right wrist fracture and will be out for six to eight weeks.

However, before the Bulls released the statement on Twitter, the Bucks posted a promotion video of Allen eating a pie on their page. Soon both the Bulls and a lot fans began to criticize the post before the Bucks deleted it. Hours later, the Bulls found that they were blocked by the Bucks on Twitter.

What happened on Friday was not the first controversial move by Allen in his basketball career. He has been known for fouls like that since playing at Duke. Coach Mike Krzyzewski once had to call the opponents to apologize for Allen's move and banned him from the following game. After Allen came to the NBA, his defense has been the same. Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks used to fire at Allen on Twitter for trying to trip him up on the floor.

Allen is not the only Buck blamed for allegedly trying to hurt other players in the game. The team's ace Giannis Antetokounmpo has been criticized for elbowing and undercutting for a while. One of the cases happened in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Brooklyn Nets last season. Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving suffered a serious injury after landing on Antetokounmpo's left foot before he was ruled out for the series.

Though both players and the Bucks kept denying that their moves were intentional, moments like these seem to be happening more often in the Bucks' games. It may remind some fans of the Detroit Pistons in the 1980s and 1990s, who had been known for playing games like this. That team was nicknamed the "Bad Boys."