The Los Angeles Lakers captured the first NBA In-Season tournament championship after defeating the Indiana Pacers in the In-Season Finals 123-109 on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
LeBron James was named In-Season tournament MVP. However, the championship game was about the play of Anthony Davis.
The eight-time All Star was special; he had 41 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks.
“AD(Anthony Davis), just wanting us to enforce our will, impose our will on both sides of the ball, and he’s the guy to do that,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “He’s our anchor. He’s a guy that carries a big load in terms of our points in the paint. What did we have tonight, 86 points in the paint, and just not settling.”
Davis is happy to win an In-Season title; however, he wants to be a champion at the end of the season.
“I just try to do everything I can to win a basketball game,” he said. “Obviously, my teammates put me in a great position to be successful. Obviously, this is special for us, just winning the inaugural In-Season Tournament. But we want to also win the same thing in June.”
The duo of James and Davis combined for 65 points for the Lakers on Saturday night, and this duo won a championship with the Lakers in 2020, and now the two have an In-Season tournament title.
“I think the sky is the limit,” Ham said about the duo of James/Davis. “A hell of a one-two punch, and that one or two could be either one of them on any given night. And at the end of the day, they know how to take it to that next level when everything is on the line. So we want to make sure, we talked about being the first, being on the right side of history and being the first to do something.”
James, who averaged 26.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 7.6 assists in In-Season Tournament play, has been with Davis for five years now, which is longer than his time with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami and Kyrie Irving in Cleveland; James feels the Lakers can do big things when both players are healthy.
“Everything, especially at the later stage of my career, to be able to get a young, hungry alpha male to go out there and just do the things that he does,” James said about Davis. “It’s definitely given me an opportunity to be able to not only watch as he’s continued to grow, but also be able to try to inspire him as well as he continue to grow in his career and vice versa. I feel like when we are on the floor together and we’re healthy, we know when we’re capable of doing.”
Obviously, an In-Season tournament title is not the same as winning the NBA Finals, but it’s an accomplishment and maybe something the Lakers can build on.
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