The Los Angeles Lakers, fueled by a monster game from Anthony Davis, on Saturday beat the upstart Indiana Pacers 123-109 to win the first edition of the NBA in-season tournament.
Davis scored 41 points and pulled down 20 rebounds while superstar LeBron James added 24 points and 11 rebounds for the 17-time NBA champion Lakers, who added the first NBA Cup to the club trophy case.
For the league’s all-time leading scorer James, it was a brand new accolade in the 21st season of a career that has included four NBA titles and four NBA Most Valuable Player awards.
Photo: AP
The 38-year-old got the nod as Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
“We made history,” James said as he celebrated on court with his teammates. “Anytime you’re on the right side of history, you take it. The first in-season tournament belongs to the Los Angeles Lakers.”
Led by Davis and James, the Lakers out-muscled the Pacers, never letting them get their high-octane offense to fully fire.
They outscored the Pacers 86-44 in the paint and got the better of them on the boards 55-32.
“We wanted to be the first to win this,” Davis said. “We know it’s not the real thing, but we keep taking steps in the right direction. The first to do it, we’ll take it.”
The Lakers completed an unbeaten run through the tournament, which started with all 30 NBA teams drawn into six groups for round-robin play.
All games, except Saturday’s final, counted toward the regular-season standings, and James said the Lakers’ performance as the event ramped up the intensity in what can be a lackluster part of the long NBA season would only help them when the time comes to make a playoff push.
“I think every moment we grew,” James said. “The in-season tournament, 7-0, it’s been high-intensity games and we’ve just grown.”
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