2023-24 NBA In-Season Tournament (NBA Cup)

Result

Box score

Bench (10+ points): Austin Reaves (28)

Bench (10+ points): Bennedict Mathurin (20), Aaron Nesmith (15), Isaiah Jackson (10)

Tournament MVP

LeBron James

Final context

The inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament crowned its first champion on December 9, 2023, when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers 123-109 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Both finalists arrived unbeaten in the new competition: the Lakers went 4-0 through West Group B in round-robin group play, then beat the Phoenix Suns 106-103 in the December 5 quarterfinal before routing the New Orleans Pelicans 133-89 in the December 7 semifinal. Indiana, the East Group A winner at 4-0, beat the Boston Celtics 122-112 in its December 4 quarterfinal and then outlasted the Milwaukee Bucks 128-119 in a high-scoring December 7 semifinal to reach its first tournament final. The championship game was tight for three quarters before the Lakers pulled away. Los Angeles led 34-29 after one and 65-60 at halftime, with LeBron James in early foul trouble that limited his minutes. Indiana clawed within five points late in the third quarter, at which point James, playing off the bench in a substitution pattern forced by his fouls, sparked a run capped by an alley-oop feed to Anthony Davis that restored an 11-point cushion, and the Lakers took a 90-82 lead into the fourth. Indiana again cut the margin to just a couple of points early in the final period, but center Myles Turner fouled out with 4:09 remaining, and Davis answered by scoring 10 points during a decisive 13-0 Lakers run that pushed the lead to 16 and effectively ended the contest. Los Angeles dominated inside all night, outscoring Indiana 86-44 in the paint and also winning the fast-break battle against a Pacers team that had led the league in transition scoring. Davis was the game's best player by a wide margin, finishing with 41 points on 16-of-24 shooting, 20 rebounds, four blocks, and five assists — reportedly the first player in 36 years to post a line of at least 40 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks in a game, and only the third Laker ever to reach 40 points and 20 rebounds in the same game, after Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain. James, however, was named the tournament's first-ever MVP based on cumulative performance across all seven games he played (he averaged roughly 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists on 56.8% shooting and 60.6% from three over the tournament), finishing the final itself with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Austin Reaves added 28 points off the bench despite playing through flu-like symptoms. For Indiana, Tyrese Haliburton had 20 points and 11 assists, and Bennedict Mathurin scored 20. Commissioner Adam Silver had designed the tournament to inject stakes and drama into the traditionally slow November-December stretch of the NBA schedule; winning players earned $500,000 apiece, with Pacers players receiving $200,000 each as runners-up. The Lakers' path to the final had already generated controversy: their quarterfinal win over Phoenix turned on a disputed no-call on a potential Suns timeout in the closing seconds, which Silver later confirmed had been officiated correctly. Los Angeles raised a championship banner at Crypto.com Arena on December 19, and the final itself drew 4.58 million viewers on ABC, the most-watched non-Christmas NBA regular-season game since 2018.

Sources

• Wikipedia — 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament
• NBA.com — NBA In-Season Tournament Tracker: Lakers win NBA Cup
• Boston.com — Lakers win NBA In-Season Tournament title, beating Pacers in final
• ESPN — Lakers 123-109 Pacers (Dec 9, 2023) Game Recap
• NBC Los Angeles — Lakers cash in on inaugural in-season tournament with 123-109 win
• ESPN — box scores/results for the Lakers' and Pacers' quarterfinal and semifinal games (gameIds 401607490, 401607493, 401607491, 401607494)