Lakers Win the First Ever In-Season Tournament
The Los Angeles Lakers are the first team to hoist the NBA Cup, defeating the Indiana Pacers in the in-season tournament championship game.
Quick Summary of the Rules
-Teams are split up into three groups of five teams within their conference
-Throughout November teams will play four games- everyone within their group
-The team that wins their group moves onto the knockout stage PLUS two wildcard teams
-A bracket with the eight teams remaining will form based on seeding
-Single elimination
-Players and Coach on the winning team will receive $500,000 each
Recap
Knockout Stage Teams:
1 Seeds- Lakers and Bucks
2 Seeds- Kings and Pacers
3 Seeds- Pelicans and Celtics
4 Seeds- Suns and Knicks
Semifinals:
Pelicans 89 Lakers 133
Pacers 128 Bucks 119
Championship:
Pacers 109 Lakers 123
The Pacers came into the matchup 6-0 in the in-season tournament and looked to give the Lakers trouble behind their star guard Tyrese Haliburton who averages 26.3 PPG, 12.3 APG (League Lead), and 4.2 REB. However, the two-headed monster of Anthony Davis and LeBron James was too much to handle for this Pacers squad as the Lakers were in control the entire game. Davis finished with a 40-piece double-double (41 points on 67% shooting, 20 rebounds, 5 assists) and James tacked on a double-double of his own (24 points, 11 rebounds 4 assists). James would go on to win the in-season tournament MVP.
The Lakers popped the champagne and will raise a banner in honor of their victory.
The Lakers are 14-9 on the season and sit in the 6th seed in the Western Conference. They have been solid all season but dominated the in-season tournament going 7-0 with a +135 scoring margin.
My Opinion
The in-season tournament seems to be a huge hit with fans and the players. Usually, players early on in the season may not be going 100% since it is a long season and they need to conserve themselves, but the tournament brought out a competitive playoff spirit from these guys. Having guys play for money and a championship will definitely do that. I would suggest more games being played in the first stage rather than just four, resulting in the tournament lasting longer. We are roughly 25 games in and it is already over so I feel like I don’t care as much to watch games until closer to playoff time.
More Rewards for the Champion?
I have seen a lot of suggestions on how the winners should be rewarded, in addition to the money and the trophy.
Idea 1: Automatic bid to the playoffs
-Very interesting idea. Would suck if a really bad team gets hot at the right time and wins it all and now you have a 20-62 team in the playoffs, but adds a cool Cinderella story to the mix. This would give players even more incentive to play harder and can provide a lot of entertaining games. Could prevent tanking as well as bad teams may see it as their only shot to make the playoffs and rack off some wins in the group stage. The question is what seed do you put them? Play-in game? 6 seed?
Idea 2: Team moves up 1 seed in the playoffs
-Obviously, the team would need to make the playoffs for this to matter, but assuming they do for the sake of it. Don’t know how I feel about this one.
Idea 3: Hosting All-Star Game
-Reasonable thing to do for the winner. Something small, but a cool idea.