The Lakers’ Old Formula beat them to the NBA Finals

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most successful franchises in NBA history. They have won 17 championships, tied for most in league history. They have reached 32 Finals, 10 more than any other team. They listed at least one future Hall of Famer within the first 68 years of the franchise’s existence.

However, imagine how much the Lakers could have accomplished if the NBA had handed out its trophies in the fall, instead of the spring. Because after LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and a tough defense led the Lakers to the title in October 2020, the same formula that gave the Lakers the start of the NBA Cup, ended the league’s first round of the season, in early December 2023.

Behind a 41-point, 20-rebound, four-block performance from Davis, the Lakers beat the Pacers 123-109 in Las Vegas on Saturday. The Lakers players are now over $500,000, thanks to the IST winnings, and the franchise is now the champion of the NBA championship. Hopefully they can bottle up the same energy that propelled them to the IST title and use it next spring.

“First to do, first to win.” We know that’s not true,” Davis said and a smile afterwards.

Although not as important as the annual battle for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, the first IST summit represented a “dream finish,” as he put it. My friend Danny Chau—a matchup between LeBron’s Lakers and the Cinderella Pacers, led by young Tyrese Haliburton, who have already defeated the Cavaliers, 76ers, Celtics, and Bucks in the playoffs. advancing to the championship game. The matchup is a clash of ages, of market sizes, of playing styles. “LeBron played Goliath much like David in his day, and Indiana’s 123.5 offensive rating was his slingshot,” Danny wrote.

But Davids can’t win if they shoot 24 percent in 3-points, and the night of the shooting and the strength of the Lakers’ defense combine to destroy the Pacers, not long after the first 90 seconds of the game. LA held Indiana to a miserable 80 of 100 in the half, Cleaning the Glass—the Pacers’ worst half-court all-time. a game this season, and 10 points below their previous low.

Indiana was able to get out in transition, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the half-court humiliation. In all before garbage time, the Pacers were rated just 101.9, per CtG. It was only their fifth game with a score below 117—or, if IST figures were to be reckoned with. counted-and they are unsurprisingly 0-5 in those contests.

Haliburton finished the night with 20 points and 11 assists, but a strong tactic from Lakers coach Darvin Ham largely took the ball out of the guard’s hands and prevented the Pacers’ offense from scoring. a permanent skin.

The 2019-20 Lakers won the title for many reasons: chemistry and focus on the ball, hot streak throughout the postseason, strong contributions from winning players like Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell- Pope. But that team’s recipe for success was simple: LeBron plus AD plus the third-ranked defense in the league, which coach Frank Vogel emphasized from the start of the season.

“We’re a defensive team. We want to be—we want to be the best defensive team in the league,” LeBron said at the start of the 2019-20 campaign, and that promise extended all the way. Fast forward to the 2022-23 playoffs, and the Lakers are the seventh team to reach the conference finals because of the same process. The 2023-24 Lakers remain long and physical, with waves of healthy big wings surrounding Davis at center, and this is how they will win again in the spring: They are 22nd in offense this season, but defensively, they are seventh and within striking distance of second.

On the other side of the court on Saturday, meanwhile, the Lakers overwhelmed the Pacers with size and relentlessness, resulting in a game that stretched the boundaries of what’s possible in the NBA. modern.

Of the Lakers’ 123 points in this game, 86 were scored in the paint—the most by any team in a game this season—and the other 27 were scored at the free throw line. Do the math, and there are only 10 points to go—the Lakers’ only 10 points from outside the paint all game. And they won! Comfort! In 2023!

This type of incident does not happen in the modern NBA. The Lakers attempted just 13 3-pointers against Indiana, the fewest for any team in any game since March 2021. They made just two threes, the fewest ever. a winning team since February 2020.

But the reasons for this process were clear and convincing. Entering Saturday night, the Lakers ranked 30th in the league in 3-pointers, 29th in attempts, and 26th in shooting. They don’t need anyone to focus their offense from beyond the arc. Instead, they press closer to the skin; Davis and LeBron d tie for the third time in the NBA in the restricted area.

Meanwhile, the Pacers like to run opponents off the line and rush them toward the basket. They are shooting just 26 percent from long range, per CtG, which is the lowest number in the league at 4 percent. But the Pacers’ opponents made 41 percent of their shots at the rim—the high sign in league with signs.

The matchup when the Lakers got the ball, it was between an unstoppable force and something that not only moved, but also excited. The result is a massacre by the bank. The Lakers outshot Indiana 55 to 32. And Davis, Austin Reaves, and LeBron—the top three scorers in the game on any team—combined for 93 points despite only one shot outside the paint all night: a midrange goal from Reaves.

The result was LeBron’s worst game last week, when he eliminated the Suns and Pelicans in the first round of the IST. Against Indiana, he needed 21 shots to reach 24 points and committed more turnovers (six) and fouls (five) than assists (four). But he remained unstoppable in transition and provided valuable contributions on the defensive end, throwing two passes from the usually turnover-free Haliburton early in the first quarter.

For LeBron’s play throughout the tournament, he was rightly named the MVP of the season opener. The league must decide which of its growing number of individual honors will be named after LeBron when he retires (if perhaps it would be more correct to retire him, given his terrible performance at the age of 38); maybe, if the IST continues to grow up, this award will be the LeBron James Netflix / Amazon / Apple In-Season Tournament MVP Trophy.

(Or maybe he’ll return to Vegas soon as expansion team manager, if King James’ long-rumored plans come to fruition. While the MVP award goes to LeBron.)

But if the NBA had given out an MVP award just for this championship game, Davis, not LeBron, would have won. The Pacers’ Myles Turner is a good center in the NBA, but before his defection, he seemed like a better fit as a JV player with Davis on Saturday. Davis is only the second player on record with at least 40 points, 20 rebounds, six assists, and four blocks in a game, per Stathead—and the first (Joe Barry Carroll in 1987) needed four overtimes to reach those numbers.

It was Davis that the Lakers traded three good players and three first-round picks back in 2019. It was Davis that co-led the Lakers to a championship the following year, and he the second youngest player. chosen by the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team a year later. This is Davis who can help LeBron win another championship if they team up.

After last season, Davis once again showed his doubles prowess throughout the entire campaign. He absolutely terrorized the Grizzlies and Warriors in the first two rounds, creating a one-man defense around the basket and forcing opposing teams to make four shots. add their team needed to try to match Davis’ unique status. For stretches last spring, he looked like one of the strongest defenders of the 21st century.

But the question, as Davis always has, is whether he can keep up that effort. After last season, he scored 30-plus points in a row, but followed those games with just 12, 16, 11, and 18 points for a combined 40 percent. During this period, it is often confused from night to night.

The Lakers will need Davis at his best, with additional help, if they want to make a real run at the 2023-24 title. The Lakers may be the IST champions, but they are just 14-9 in the regular season, with the league’s 15th-best net.

The 22nd offense isn’t strong enough to win four rounds. The Lakers won’t walk their way to 80-plus points in the paint against the Pacers; At some point, one would think, they’ll need to get out of last 3-pointers in the game. The entire league wonders if the Lakers can do anything to improve their offense before the trade deadline.

But in the course of the opening round, they proved that they should, at best, remain among the top contenders in a general championship race. LeBron with AD with a high defense is very good.

Along the way, the intra-season tour has created a symbiotic relationship for LeBron’s Lakers and the NBA. From one perspective, IST gave the Lakers an opportunity to test themselves in a professional-caliber environment at the beginning of the season-as well as a nice amount of money.

And from the other side, LeBron’s approach to the league’s practice session as something to win, to be serious, and important, received a vocal stamp of approval. “Players like LeBron, Steph, other big players in this league are embracing this from day one, it makes a big difference to the players,” Silver said when asked about the success of IST on Saturday.

Sports cups were not dropped from heaven on Mount Sinai or created from scratch by the Big Bang. It’s not important. Instead, it is important because people decide they are important and worth trying. LeBron could have escaped the IST game; he’s certainly accomplished enough in his NBA career without needing another undecided trophy. But the league’s popularity worried, so others worried, and so LeBron helped legitimize the tournament and make his victory even more prominent.

There may be changes in the future, but the NBA isn’t turning around right now, and why? The first IST was a tremendous success—for the league and the Lakers, who will now spend the next seven months trying to achieve another historic victory: becoming the first team to win the IST-Larry O ‘Brien twice.