The Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers will face off for the inaugural National Basketball Association (NBA) In-Season Tournament championship.
The Lakers cruised to a 133-89 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2023-2024 NBA regular season at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Monday (Feb. 8).
The Lakers will face Indiana in the Finals of the In-Season Tournament on Tuesday at the same venue.
The in-season tournament is new to the NBA this year.
The 30-team league is divided into six groups, with a group stage followed by a quarterfinal tournament to determine the winner.
Each player on the winning team will receive $500,000 (approximately $650 million), while the runners-up will receive $200,000 each.
Today’s games between the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans, and the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks served as both regular-season games and in-season tournament quarterfinals.
The Lakers were led by LeBron James with 30 points and eight assists and Anthony Davis with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds.
The Lakers shot 35 three-pointers on the night, making nearly half of them (17). New Orleans, on the other hand, made just seven of their 31 three-point attempts.
The Lakers, who also won their third straight regular season game, improved to 14-9 and moved into fourth place among the 15 teams in the Western Conference.
In the earlier Eastern Conference game, Indiana defeated Milwaukee 128-119.
Indiana was led by Tyreese Halliburton’s 27 points and 15 assists and Myles Turner’s 26 points and 10 rebounds to outlast Milwaukee, which was countered by Yannis Adetokunbo’s 37 points and 10 rebounds. 먹튀검증
[8-day NBA stats]
Indiana 128-119 Milwaukee
LA Lakers 133-89 New Orleans