Pacers and Lakers Set for In-Season Tournament Championship

Read Time:3 Minute, 11 Second

After nearly a month of group play games and knockout stage games, the first In-Season Tournament Championship has been set. The Indiana Pacers and Los Angeles Lakers will play on Saturday night to crown the inaugural IST champion. Both teams had a long time to go undefeated in group play before facing tough challenges in the quarterfinals and semifinals. For the NBA, the matchup will feature one of the most mainstream and popular teams in all of sports and one of the best young teams in the NBA.

In Thursday’s first semifinal matchup, the Indiana Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 128-129 in a very competitive back-and-forth game. On Indiana’s side, Tyrese Haliburton continued to shine in what is his coming out season. Haliburton led all Pacers with 27 points, 15 assists, seven rebounds, and zero turnovers. This is the second game in a row where Haliburton has had double-digit assists (accounting for half of the Pacers’ assists) and no turnovers. With another strong IST performance under his belt, Haliburton has not only proven he should be on the All-Tournament team but should be a strong contender for tournament MVP as well. Big man Myles Turner showed out for the Pacers as well, putting up 26 points along with 10 rebounds.

On the Bucks side, Giannis Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 37 points and 10 rebounds, his fourth 30+ point game in a row. Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton would finish with 24 and 20 points, respectively. The bench would be a weak spot for the Bucks, with only three players scoring and none of those players scoring more than five points. Indiana’s bench would outscore Milwaukee’s 43-13. In a report from Chris Haynes, there was some tension in the Bucks locker room following their loss to the Pacers. Bobby Portis would challenge both rookie coach Adrian Griffin and the rest of the team. Even though the team has been good overall this season, they have had some growing pains on both ends of the court.

The second semifinal game was a 44-point blowout that was already over by halftime. Lakers superstar LeBron James would continue to show why he is beating Father Time. He would lead all scorers with 30 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in just 23 minutes. Anthony Davis would put up a quiet 16 points and 15 assists. One of the biggest surprises for the Lakers would be Taurean Prince, who finished with 15 points, shooting 5-8 from three. The Lakers bench would have a good night with Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura finishing with 17 and 12 points, respectively. Everyone on the Lakers bench scored, having extended minutes due to the blowout.

For New Orleans, the team couldn’t compete on either end of the court in the 133-89 loss. As a team, the Pelicans would shoot 35% from the floor and under 25% from three. All three Pelicans stars would struggle on the floor. Zion would finish with 13 points and Ingram and McCollum would finish with 9 points. No Pelicans player would finish with 15 or more points. Trey Murphy III would lead all Pelicans players with 14 points off the bench.

For Indiana and Los Angeles, the championship game will count as the 83rd game of the season. Even though the championship will be played on a neutral site, the Lakers will have the home-court advantage from the crowd, something seen in their matchup against the Pelicans. Up to this point in the tournament, the league has seen the overall tournament as a success. These early season games felt more important compared to previous seasons, and both semifinal games in Las Vegas had over a 90% attendance rate.