The first-ever In-Season Tournament Final is set for Saturday night. The matchup will see the only two undefeated teams: The Indiana Pacers and the Los Angeles Lakers. The final is set to tip off at 8:30 PM EST on ABC.
The in-season tournament has seen a mixed reaction from fans. But stars of each respective team Tyrese Haliburton and LeBron James have vocally been in favor of the new addition. And it’s reflected by their ascended level of play.
With the game set in stone for Saturday in Las Vegas, let’s take a look at the path each team took to get to this point.
Pacers’ path to the NBA Cup
The Pacers have already been turning heads this season with a game-breaking level of offensive efficiency. They have the highest-scoring offense with 128.4 points per game but are also allowing a second-worst 125.2 points per game.
But the real shining star out of Indiana has been Tyrese Haliburton. On the year, the young guard is putting up 26.9 points and 11.9 assists per game shooting an absurd 52% from the field and 45% from three.
But he has ascended in tournament play, averaging 27.8 points and 13.7 assists throughout the in-season tournament. As a playmaker, he’s been otherworldly, with a total of 82 assists and only 11 turnovers through tournament play.
Monday’s quarterfinal matchup was only Haliburton’s second-ever nationally televised game. And he did not disappoint. The Pacers eliminated the Eastern Conference juggernaut Boston Celtics and Haliburton recorded his first career triple-double.
The Pacers beat the Bucks on Thursday in the semifinals. And now advancing to the in-season tournament final, this young core has a unique chance at a high-stakes game.
“The in-season tournament is probably the first time that I’m really competing to win a championship on the NBA level,” Haliburton told ESPN in an interview a few weeks back. “I’ve never made the playoffs or anything, so right here it gives me the chance to be able to do that, and that’s exciting for me.”
Lakers path to the NBA Cup
The Lakers have been an up-and-down team so far this season, sitting at 14-9. But they’ve been elite in the in-season tournament. Though they advanced past Phoenix on Tuesday under some controversial circumstances, they removed all doubt in Thursday’s semifinal matchup.
The Lakers embarrassed New Orleans in a 44-point win, which saw LeBron James score 30 points in just 22 minutes.
The Lakers are somewhat of an inverse of the Pacers playstyle-wise. They’re more geared towards defensive efficiency, with the eighth-best defense in the league. Anthony Davis has anchored them in the post and has been aided by versatile wing defenders Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish.
James has been a very vocal supporter of the tournament throughout the run, calling NBA Commissioner Adam Silver a “genius” for the idea of the tournament.
Tale of the Tape
This Pacers vs Lakers matchup will be a first for this season, and will also be the only game that won’t count towards NBA Standings. But of course, the winner of the in-season tournament final will hoist the first-ever NBA Cup and each player will receive $500,000.
As mentioned earlier, this will be a high-octane Indiana offense against a stout Los Angeles defense. Expect the Lakers to have a bit of a home-court advantage, as Las Vegas is only a four-hour drive from Crypto.com Arena.
Indiana is no stranger to outgunning intense defenses as their victories over Boston and Milwaukee show that they’re battle-tested. But I feel like they’re ready to make their mark in a big way.
“There’s definitely some more juice to those games, and it’s exciting. It’s an exciting time for the league and you know, I think we’re all trying to push the in-season tournament to be a bigger thing because everybody wants there to be some meaning to it,” Haliburton said.
No matter the result, I think fans agree that the in-season tournament has provided high-level competitive basketball early in the season. And with some small tweaks, I think it is here to stay.
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