The Lakers Lift the Inaugural NBACup

The tournament MVP was LeBron James, who also contributed 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists.

Both of these teams used drastically different strategies to finish the in-season tournament with identical 6-0 records going into Saturday’s title game. The Lakers punished their opponents, outscoring them by more than 20 points per game coming into the contest thanks to the size and strength of James and Davis. With the fastest tempo and finest offensive in the league, Indiana, on the other hand, had defeated the four best seeds from the previous year’s Eastern Conference playoffs—the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, and Milwaukee Bucks—en route to the championship game.

It was to be expected that both teams played to their strengths throughout Saturday’s match. Being one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league, the Lakers basically gave up trying 3-pointers until Taurean Prince made one late in the third quarter. With that basket, the Lakers became just the third club this season to go without a 3-pointer in a half. Rather, they outplayed the Pacers inside, outscoring them 86–44 in the paint.

Tyrese Haliburton, the tournament’s breakthrough star, was relentlessly dominated by them despite his size and length on the perimeter. Haliburton finished with 20 points and 11 assists, but his impact on games has been palpable throughout the competition.

In contrast, Indiana outscored the Lakers 30–6 from three-point range and, shockingly, had an advantage of 29–27 at the free throw line, an area where Los Angeles usually has the upper hand. The Pacers had the advantage in 3-point shooting, but they only shot 10 for 41 from outside the arc, missing numerous open opportunities that could have altered the tone of the game.

However, Los Angeles’s obvious size advantage inside the arena turned out to be the game-winning factor. Davis, who appeared to do whatever he pleased during the game, was the main reason for that. Among other things, Davis fouled Myles Turner, eventually putting an end to the contest with 4:09 remaining.

By then, Davis had put the game out of reach, scoring 10 straight points during a 13-0 run that gave Los Angeles their biggest lead of the game, 115-99, with 3:11 left in the game.

Despite being a neutral site game, Las Vegas is usually a Lakers town and is around four hours northeast of Los Angeles, therefore the crowd on Saturday night was largely in favor of the Lakers.

The Lakers did not win the NBA standings even though they had won the NBA Cup. The Lakers and Pacers’ match on Saturday, which will mark their 83rd meeting of the season, was not included in the league’s regular-season standings, nor will any of the game’s statistics be applied to regular-season totals.

The Lakers winning their first-ever in-season tournament does matter, though. With the win, the tournament has fulfilled the league’s expectations for the last few weeks and established itself as a long-term fixture on the NBA schedule.

During the trophy ceremony, James said to ESPN’s Malika Andrews, “I don’t think it’s even about the MVP, it’s about us coming together to win this thing,” This is the [first] in-season competition. Being the first to accomplish something will never be broken, even though records will be broken. Nobody will ever be able to top that, and it’s fantastic to be doing it with a historic brand and a fantastic group of humorous, dedicated, and competitive men over here. We are also the inaugural victors of the in-season tournament.”

When LeBron was asked about AD’s 41 PTS and 20 REB performance in the In-Season Tournament Championship:

“That was a Shaq-like dominant performance.”

Lebron James Lifted the trophy for Lakers post game https://x.com/Lakers/status/1733707661194277225?s=20

“Its possible to chase your dreams regardless of what your dream is, don’t let anybody tell you that it’s not possible” Austin Reaves

Darvin Ham on the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament 

“Shout out to NBA, Adam Silver and crew, who took this idea and made it to reality.. with Playoff atmosphere/ NCAA tournament being in the neutral city, I dig it it was beautiful experience”

Fans also Loved this new experience with such intense games at this point of the NBA season was something unaccustomed for them and they followed In-season games more passionately.