Lakers Win First NBA Cup in League History
Las Vegas — The Los Angeles Lakers are the NBA’s first In-Season Tournament champions after a dominating 123-109 win over the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
The Lakers earned IST medals, the NBA Cup trophy and $500,000 for each rostered player.
“We made history. Any time you’re on the right side of history, you take it,” LeBron James said.
In his 21st season in the NBA, LeBron continued to raise his stock of excellence with no sign of slowing down, earning the IST's first MVP trophy.
After a 24-point, 11-rebound outing in the title game, LeBron’s IST average was 26.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists while shooting 60.6% from three and 56.8% from the field.
The Lakers title-game championship was largely thanks to the Shaq-like dominance of Anthony Davis, as LeBron described it.
Davis finished with a game-high 41 points and 20 rebounds while shooting 16-for-24 (66.6%) from the field. Davis’ dominance on the defensive end earned him four blocks while contributing as a passer with five assists.
During the fourth quarter of the IST title win, Davis’ was on display, screaming, “I’m him,” after cutting from the high post for a layup to put the Lakers up 16 at 113-99 with 3:10 remaining.
“If Bron is our Tom Brady on offense, Anthony Davis is our Ray Lewis,” head coach Darvin Ham said. “He anchors our defense; he plays middle linebacker; he communicates; he does all of that.”
Despite reports of feeling under the weather going into the championship game, Austin Reaves put on an explosive effort from the Lakers bench, scoring 22 points at the half.
Reaves finished with 28 points on 9-of-15 from the floor and had 12 attempts from the charity strike, going 10-for-12.
D'Angelo Russell was the only other Laker to score in double figures with 13 points, seven assists, and four rebounds in his 31 minutes of action, along with his get-back on former Nuggets champion Bruce Brown from a season ago.
Despite only making two threes on the night as a team on 2-for-13 (15.4%), the Lakers' dominance in the paint and elite defense against the league's hottest offense. They scored 86 of their 123 points inside while holding the Pacers offense to 36.8% (35/95) overall from the field.
The Lakers' title game win does not count toward their season record, as they remain 14–9 but have 500,000 reasons to celebrate in Las Vegas.
Their next game is on Tuesday on the road at American Airlines Center against the Dallas Mavericks at 4:30 p.m. on TNT and Spectrum SportsNet.
