Saturday’s final of the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament features a matchup of two teams — and star players — at different ends of the aging spectrum.
For the Indiana Pacers and 23-year-old All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who had thrived in relative obscurity, this run has been a national introduction. Meanwhile, 38-year-old LeBron James has provided another reminder of how dangerous he still is in big game settings.
Although some might dispute the big game label, James has taken this tournament seriously from the start, imbuing the idea with credibility. He played with a Game 7 level of effort and focus during Thursday’s semifinal win at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, drawing three charges in a game for just the second time in the past decade according to Second Spectrum tracking via ESPN Stats & Information.
A win Saturday in the NBA Cup championship (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN2/ESPN app) will either add more hardware to the Lakers’ 17 championships, including one in 2020 during the James-Anthony Davis era, or provide a first NBA crown for a Pacers franchise that won three titles in its ABA days but came up short in its only NBA Finals appearance in 2000 against — who else? — the Lakers.
Let’s break down what we’ve learned about both teams during their in-season tournament runs and what it says about their chances of hoisting the NBA Cup.
At best in tournament
For two teams sitting above the play-in games in their respective conference standings (Indiana at 12-8, tied with the New York Knicks, and Los Angeles at 14-9), both the Pacers and Lakers have performed far better during in-season tournament play than in the rest of their schedule.
Thursday’s 44-point domination of the New Orleans Pelicans was the Lakers’ third win by at least 27 points in six tournament games — more than any other team has across all games this season. (The Lakers have only one win by more than 10 points outside the tournament.)
Indiana’s tournament run hasn’t been as dominant. The Pacers’ six wins have come by a combined 59 points, but that’s still impressive when considering the caliber of opposition they have navigated. The Pacers beat the four teams with the best odds to win the Eastern Conference, taking down the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers…
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