On Saturday, December 9, the Los Angeles Lakers captured the first-ever National Basketball Association (NBA) Cup.
Anthony Davis poured in 41 points and grabbed 20 rebounds as the Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers by a score of 123-109 in the first-ever NBA Cup championship game. Davis’ memorable performance was aided by a 24-point, 11-rebound and four-assist performance from LeBron James. James secured MVP honors while both Davis and James were named to the all-tournament team.
“We’ve been doing it together for a long time, five years now, and we just figure it out,” Davis said after he and James accounted for more than of the team’s points and rebounds.
“We know each other’s tendencies, what we like to do. Obviously in crunch time, we get to our infamous pick-and-roll and it’s tough to stop.”
While the city of Los Angeles celebrated, the NBA Cup championship game did not pan out how many in Indianapolis had hoped. After taking down the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks in the first two rounds of the NBA Cup, the Pacers were held to their lowest point total since November 1. Additionally, Pacers’ star Tyrese Haliburton was held to 19 points, his lowest point total since Thanksgiving.
“We just got outplayed tonight from the start of the game to the end of the game,” Haliburton said.
“Just didn’t do the job on loose balls, didn’t rebound, didn’t get enough stops when needed. They just outplayed us, and it’s frustrating.”
The Pacers will return to the court on Monday, December 11 at 7 p.m. in Detroit. Meanwhile, the Dallas Mavericks will welcome the NBA Cup Champions to American Airlines Arena on Tuesday, December 12.
