2015 NBA scores: Rodney Stuckey’s 34 points leads Pacers to 6th straight win

The bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoff picture is not exactly an area most watch closely. It's the middle child of the NBA. It exists, but does anyone actually care? Does it really matter who among the Heat, Nets, Pacers and Hornets make the playoffs?

But as it turns out, people maybe should care. The Pacers have now won six in a row and nine of their last 10, the latest being a 118-86 shellacking of the Magic on Tuesday. They've lost just three games since the start of February and have also beaten some of the best teams in the league. The Cavaliers twice. The Warriors. The Bulls. The Pelicans in New Orleans.

But the team that the Pacers are putting on the floor now is clearly not the same one that was losing at the beginning of the season. Rodney Stuckey is now playing as well as he ever has. He had 34 points in 30 minutes off the bench Tuesday against the Magic to go along with seven assists and six rebounds. He's averaging 19 points, four rebounds and four assists over his last 10 games. Overall, Indiana has increased its ball movement during the past month and better efficiency from the floor has been the result.

A year ago, the Pacers were the top seeded team struggling against a plucky upstart, the Atlanta Hawks, in the playoffs. Now it looks like the roles are reversed. A month ago, it seemed impossible that anyone would care about the Pacers come playoff time. Now, if they do in fact hold on and make it in, they're a team no one wants to play.

The Spurs continue to surge. Their 117-107 home win over the Raptors on Tuesday was the sixth victory in a row. At 40-23, San Antonio is now just three games behind the Rockets for third place in the West. As has been the case during this win streak, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard led the way. Parker carved up the Raptors for 23 points and nine assists, while Leonard had a team-high 24 points to go along with 11 rebounds and five steals. The Spurs appear to be rounding into shape, which should strikes fear into the rest of the league.

The Mavericks are in trouble. Dallas lost by 33 points at home to the Cavaliers, which is really bad. Since acquiring Rajon Rondo from the Celtics in December, the Mavericks are 22-17. But they're just 9-9 in their last 18 games and look like a team headed nowhere. The once-prolific offense has fallen off with Rondo and his bricky jump shot now taking up space and the defense still isn't great. You never want to count out Rick Carlisle or Dirk Nowitzki, but Dallas appears to be the weakest playoff-bound team in the West.

Cleveland's defense is no joke. Two things have played a role in the Cavaliers' second-half turnaround. The first is LeBron James' post-Miami vacation health. The second is that the team has improved on the defensive end of the floor, thanks in large part to the Timofey Mozgov trade. Tuesday night was a perfect example: Cleveland held Dallas to 40 percent shooting. The Mavericks also hit just five of 20 shots from behind the three-point line and also turned the ball over 16 times. Check out Dallas' shot chart from the game. SO MUCH RED.

What's crazier? How high Davis gets here, or that your initial reaction to the play is "Of course he dunked that, he's Anthony Davis!"

Who knew Brook Lopez could still get up there and dunk like this?

Jazz 87, Knicks 82 (SLC Dunk recap | Posting and Toasting recap)