The storyline couldn’t have been written any better.
Last night, the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Lebron James, won the inaugural In-Season Tournament; beating out the Indiana Pacers, and rising star, Tyrese Haliburton. Lebron, who entered his 21st year in the NBA this season, rightfully earned MVP honors – adding to his long list of accolades. How fitting.
And this is no shade to LBJ at all. One can’t deny his greatness, but we all know how much the NBA loves a good headline. All of that aside, Lebron averaged 26.8 points on 58.8% shooting from the field, throughout the entire IST. That’s no easy task. How it all played out was rather quite fitting for the King.
While many still grapple at the idea of what an IST trophy all means when there’s a much bigger prize to be won, the IST, as a whole, was a success. For fans and viewers, alike, it created a sense of urgency and excitement in the middle of a long season, heading into highly anticipated Christmas Day games.
It ignited a sense of competition amongst teams who otherwise might’ve just coasted through games this early in the season with nothing to play for but regular season tallies in the win column.
But back to the game that was played. Despite a 20-point game from Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin, with additional help from Obi Toppin, Aaron Nesmith, Myles Turner and Isaiah Jackson, the Pacers were out-paced, offensively. Anthony Davis churned out 41 points on top of Lebron’s 24 points, Austin Reaves’ 28, and D’Angelo Russel’s, 13 – in an eight-man rotation.
Check out the highlights below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTyJHrNsQro
