The 1st annual in-season tournament wrapped up Saturday night as the Los Angeles Lakers edged out the Indiana Pacers 123-109 to claim the first tournament title in league history.
The Lakers rode Anthony Davis’ 41pts/20reb/5ast/4blk night to the championship, but it would be LeBron James who was named the 1st ever MVP of the in-season event.
“We’ve been doing it together for a long time, five years now, and we just figure it out,” Davis said following the game. “We know each other’s tendencies, what we like to do. Obviously in crunch time, we get to our infamous pick-and-roll and it’s tough to stop.
“We feed off one another. Thursday, LeBron had it going. Tonight, it was me, and he still did his thing.”
Both the Pacers and Lakers went 6-0 in tournament games this year, as Tyrese Halliburton used the national audience to announce his entrance into NBA superstardom. The 6’5″ guard is averaging 26.9pts/4.2reb/12.1ast per game this season, as his Pacers squad currently sit at 12-8 on the year. That mark is good for 5th in the Eastern Conference, and due in large part to the former Iowa State alum’s emergence as an All-NBA level talent in 2023-24.
“Yeah, we’re sick, frustrated,” Haliburton told members of the press. “We just got outplayed tonight from the start of the game to the end of the game. Just didn’t do the job on loose balls, didn’t rebound, didn’t get enough stops when needed. They just outplayed us, and it’s frustrating.”
The Lakers used their size to their advantage from the onset as Davis was seemingly able to get any shot he wanted on the evening. The LA heavy crowd in Las Vegas also appeared to play a factor as the Pacers, who have missed the playoffs for 3 straight years, seemed rattled at times under the bright lights.
Indiana outscored Los Angeles 30-6 from beyond the arc, but couldn’t convert on multiple open looks, allowing LA to pull away late. At one point Davis scored 10 straight points to all but seal the Lakers victory down the stretch.
While LA and Indiana gave it their all, the game itself won’t count in the standings for the year as it represents the 83rd contest for both squads.
Both James and Davis alike echoed that the victory was special because they were the “first” to do it, but that their ultimate goal remains to see a similar outcome play out next summer in the NBA Finals.
Indiana is next in action on Monday night agains the Detroit Pistons, while LA will travel to Dallas on Tuesday for a date with the Mavericks.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.