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The Los Angeles Lakers won a new kind of trophy on Saturday in the NBA’s first game of the season.
Led by veterans LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers to win the championship game of the tournament 123-109 in Las Vegas. The game does not count towards each team’s regular game, unlike all other games in the game.
James was named the Most Valuable Player for the tournament, adding another entry to one of the most complicated cases in NBA history.
The Lakers were the best team in the tournament from start to finish. They took care of business every night in the team’s games after being gifted the weakest division in the league, facing three of the four bottom teams in the West and the Phoenix Suns missing Bradley Beal. They finished the season with a league-high +74 point differential.
In the quarterfinals, the Lakers won a close game against the Suns, then eliminated the New Orleans Pelicans in the semifinals.
This was a game where Anthony Davis threatened the Pacers in the paint all night long, especially when Pacers center Myles Turner fumbled. Davis finished with 41 points on 16-of-24 shooting with 20 rebounds, five assists and four blocks, while James added 24 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Those two players matched the combined total of all players (31).
The Pacers had no answer for the Lakers down the stretch. Consider that Los Angeles a) scored 86 points in the paint and b) made 27 free throws. Only 10 of their 123 points came from outside the paint.
As the season’s tournament champion, both Lakers players and coaches will earn $500,000. To LeBron James, not so much. For young Maxwell Lewis, who is making $1.1 million this season, it could be life-changing.
In second place, the Pacers will also receive $200,000 each, in a rare example of everyone at the table winning big in Vegas.