The Lakers won the inaugural In-Season Tournament on Saturday, and they did so by essentially big brother-ing the precocious Pacers into submission.
Here are the key numbers from Los Angeles’s 123–109 win: The Lakers attempted only 13 three pointers (and made two of them), out-rebounded Indiana 55–32, and outscored them in the paint 86–44. For fans in rocking chairs yearning for the old days of inside-the-arc basketball, Saturday night must have been a delight, as the Lakers won the NBA’s newfangled tournament the old fashioned way.
The game’s best performer was a Shaq-like Anthony Davis, who recorded 41 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks in 41 minutes of work. Anybody wondering how seriously stars would take the IST only needed to watch Davis in the championship game—snarling after big defensive plays and emphatically exclaiming “I’m him!” after a big fourth-quarter bucket.
