The Lakers and Pacers will face each other in the NBA Cup final
The Los Angeles Lakers, thanks to 30 points from the indefatigable LeBron James, beat New Orleans 133 to 89 this Thursday and will face the Pacers in the final of the inaugural tournament of the NBA season.
James, who will celebrate his 39th birthday on December 30, was extremely efficient, hitting nine of his 12 attempts, including four three-pointers. He scored his 30 points, with five rebounds and eight assists, in less than 23 minutes of play.
He sat for the entire fourth quarter as both teams pulled their starters. The Lakers took control of the game, outscoring the Pelicans 43-17 in the third period.
The other semifinal of the new tournament was quite different: Tyrese Haliburton scored 27 points to propel the Pacers to a 128-119 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks in a game that featured 16 lead changes, including seven in the fourth quarter.
Haliburton added 15 assists, with no turnovers, and Myles Turner scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Indiana, sixth in the Eastern Conference regular season standings, had knocked off the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics in the quarterfinals and followed that up with another dazzling performance against the Bucks who trailed by 37 points and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 10 rebounds.
“I think that was the goal of the season tournament, to see a young group like ours compete and fight,” Haliburton said. “I think we’re shocking the whole world. Nobody expected us to be here except the guys in the locker room.”
The Bucks appeared to take control, scoring 43-28 in the third quarter to take a 94-91 lead into the final period. Damian Lillard, who had only scored four points in the first half, scored 20 in the second half for Milwaukee.
But in a very tight fourth quarter, a layup from Turner allowed the Pacers to take a 115-112 advantage with 2:19 left in the game. Haliburton added a layup and a step-back three-pointer for the Pacers to extend the lead to 122-114 with 49.5 seconds before the buzzer.
Still in December
The season-long tournament, designed to spice up the start of the long NBA season, proved a perfect showcase for the Pacers, who have never won an NBA title.
“We’re in an inaugural championship game. This game will go down in history. It’s a lot of fun for us. But we didn’t just come here to play one game, play two games, compete. We’re came here to win,” Haliburton replied.
For the Lakers, whose 17 NBA titles are tied with the Celtics for the most titles in history, it’s an opportunity to get into the thick of the new competition.
But James said the Lakers won’t be distracted by the long-term goal of capping his 21st NBA season with another title in June.
“This is a new milestone in NBA history, taking place in December, and nothing extraordinary. I understand this tournament season has been great, but we are still in December. This is another game to get better at and we want to try to win this game because we are a team that wants to get better every game, every quarter, every possession.”
The Pelicans held off the Lakers’ hot start, their 13-8 rebounding advantage in the first quarter helping New Orleans take a 30-29 lead by the end of the period.
James responded by making three straight three-pointers to open the second quarter. He scored 18 of his 21 first-half points in the second half — his most in any quarter this season — and the Lakers took a 67-54 halftime lead .
Anthony Davis added 16 points and 15 rebounds and Austin Reaves scored 17 points.
“We continue to improve, but most importantly we continue to be healthy. Guys are buying into what we want to do defensively. We help each other, we share the ball offensively and we Let’s just play Lakers basketball right now.”
2023-12-08 07:03:56
#Lakers #Pacers #face #NBA #Cup #final
