LeBron James, Anthony Davis key for Lakers after NBA Cup win

LAS VEGAS — The NBA Cup is new, but the lesson it taught was as old as the league itself: to win something of value — and the in-season tournament seems to have quickly established itself as such an event — you We're going to need superstars.

Somehow, the brilliant play of future champions and Hall of Famers LeBron James and Anthony Davis proved to be the deciding factor in the Los Angeles Lakers' 123-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers to win the inaugural edition of the event. result.

Held on a neutral field in December as a single game, it was difficult to really compare Saturday night's game to any type of playoff game. But one thing was certain: it was treated like an elimination game. There were aggressive game plans, heavy minutes and intensity – situations in which James thrived for a long time.

James is undoubtedly one of the greatest winning players in NBA history. He has won nine such matches in a row, dating back over a decade. It's not an accident. He scored an average of 33 points in those moments, this figure reduced slightly by only scoring 24 points, with 11 rebounds, Saturday to finish a tournament that earned him the first NBA Cup MVP award. (As an aside, this fact could pave the way for the trophy to be named after him one day.)

Of course, not all of these games are created equal. A Game 7 of the NBA Finals, which James has won twice, is not the same as winning one game of the play-in tournament or all three tournament games this week.

James, however, has won the last five Game 7s he has played, including two on the road, one of the rarest feats to achieve. The last time James lost a Game 7 was in 2008, when his Cleveland Cavaliers narrowly lost after scoring 45 points in Boston against the eventual champion Celtics.

That's why teams plot, trade, tank and even pray to get their hands on a superstar like Davis, whose 41-point, 20-rebound mega game broke the back of the undersized Pacers. It's only been the Lakers' game plan to put the stars together for the last fifty years or so — and it will be for the foreseeable future.

“We've been doing it together for a long time, five years now, and we're just figuring it out,” Davis said. “We know each other's tendencies. … We feed off each other. On Thursday, LeBron succeeded [scoring 30 points in just 23 minutes in a blowout over the New Orleans Pelicans].

“Tonight it was me, and he still did his thing.”

The Lakers having two superstars is why, regardless of their shortcomings from season to season, they remain such a threat. James has been on better teams; the Lakers won Saturday despite making only two 3-pointers as their shooting remains a problem. But all of his trophies came when he had at least one future Hall of Famer alongside him.

“We've played too many games together, shared too many moments together, played too many big moments together to fail each other,” James said of Davis. “That was everything, especially at the end of my career.”

They failed, of course. Missing the playoffs two years ago, despite injuries, was a disaster. But reaching the Western Conference finals last season when they first had to win in the play-in tournament was a reminder of the star players' confidence in an elimination environment. Just like Saturday night. The Lakers have had their ups and downs early in the season, in part due to player injuries, but this week was a callback to last spring.

Austin Reaves scored 28 points coming off the bench, one of his best performances of the campaign. The length of Lakers defenders Cam Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt could be a factor later this season. The Lakers also had a smart game plan, stifling Tyrese Haliburton with double teams and attacking the Pacers' weakness in defending the paint by relentlessly chasing shots and making 43 baskets in the lane.

Haliburton might be on the other side of the superstar equation one day, but not today. He was stuck facing 26 double teams, robbing him of his ability to play with the downhill aggression that opens up his game and the Pacers' fearsome offense.

Indiana's run in this tournament looked a bit like the Phoenix Suns' perfect 8-0 run in the 2020 bubble in Orlando, Florida. It signaled that the Suns were entering a new era and a year later they were in the Finals.

Let's not anticipate anything with the Pacers, but it feels like they have entered a new phase.

However, these are all details that fit the truth, which is that when James and Davis are healthy and engaged, the NBA's superstar principle applies, even if Saturday's win doesn't count in the rankings regular season official.

“Hell of a double, and one or two could be either one any night,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “At the end of the day, they know how to take it to the next level when everything is on the line.”