On December 10, Beijing time, the finals of the first NBA Midseason Championship were staged, and the two sides were the Los Angeles Lakers and the Indiana Pacers. In the end, the Lakers defeated the Pacers 123-109 to win the first midseason championship.
Full-court stats: On the Lakers' side, Anthony Davis played the strongest game of his Lakers career, he scored 41 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks, and became the first player to have this output in a single game since Chamberlain in 1971;James had 24 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and also won the MVP of this midseason. In addition, Reddish had 9 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks, Prince had 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Russell had 13 points and 7 assists, and Reeves had 28 points and 3 assists.
On the Pacers' side, Haliburton had 20 points and 11 assists, Mathurin 20 points, Nesmith 15 points and 3 rebounds, Isaiah Jackson 10 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks, Hield 8 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Toppin 13 points, Turner 10 points and 7 rebounds, Brown 4 points and 2 steals, and McConaughey 8 points, 9 assists and 3 steals.
The specific score is -33 (Lakers behind).
Game Recap: After the opening 5-all, Davis and LeBron took turns scoring, and the Lakers took the lead. Haliburton and Toppin each hit three-pointers to tie the game, Davis added two more and Prince hit a 3-pointer to lead a 9-2 spurt as the Lakers pulled away from the lead again. Turner dunked to stop the bleeding, and the two teams scored a few points each, with Hield and Jackson combining for four points to put the Pacers up 29-30. Reaves hit four straight free throws to give the Lakers a five-point lead at 34-29 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, McConnell hit two mid-range shots to close the gap by one point again. Reaves and James scored 4 consecutive breakaways, and then James scored by himself, and the Lakers led 46-38. Toppin hit a three-pointer, Haliburton made a series of free throws, and Mathurin made a foul from beyond the three-point line, and the Pacers made all three free throws to make it 52-54. James was forced off the court after three fouls, and Reaves exploded to score nine straight points, and he scored 15 points in the quarter to give the Lakers a 65-60 lead in the first half.
In the third quarter, the Lakers opened up the difference, Davis dunked violently, and the Lakers led 74-63 to 11 points at 9:42, and the Pacers called a timeout. After the timeout, the Pacers chased a seven-point deficit, and Reaves made a layup with 3:16 left to give the Lakers a double-digit lead at 84-73. After a timeout, the Pacers closed the gap, and the Lakers led by eight points at 90-82 at the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Reddish broke through at the beginning of the game, and the Pacers ushered in a small explosion on the offensive end, Mathurin scored four points in a row, and Toppin followed up with three points from the outside. McConnell also scored a breakthrough pick-and-roll, and the margin was narrowed. Russell scored four points in a row from mid-range and breakaway, and James made a basket to interrupt the rhythm of the Pacers. But the Pacers didn't give up yet, Haliburton and Turner hit two three-pointers from the outside, and the difference was close to 3 points. Fortunately, Reddish's bottom line was not afraid at all, and then he also used color to make a strong kill under the thick eyebrows basket and scored 8 points in a row, trampling the suspense of the game under his feet!The Lakers eventually defeated the Pacers 123-109 to claim the inaugural Midseason Championship championshipIn the end, James won the MVP!
Starting line-ups:
Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Bruce Brown, Buddy Hield, Obi Toppin, Myles Turner.
Lakers: D'Angelo Russell, Torrien Prince, Cam Reddish, LeBron James, Anthony Davis.
Netizen message: This game can be seen from the Pacers, a team without a strong center to protect the frame has no future. You can score without the inside, but you don't have anyone to guard the inside, and the Lakers shoot so badly, you can't beat him. So it can also be seen why the Lakers were shaved by the Nuggets last time, and the Lakers did not have a real center. Now that the big center in the league is not worth much, I don't understand why the Lakers are obsessed with letting AD play center. Why did AD play well today, because the opponent didn't have a center, he didn't have to spend so much physical strength on defense!If the Lakers want to go far, they must solve the problem of their own center, or the Pacers will be the mirror. Today's AD state is so good, or is Haliburton casually killed inside, the Lakers inside is really anxious!
The Lakers' dominance has come, through this game, it can be seen that the Lakers' defense has championship strength, the offense is still close to exploding, the guard line Russell is too soft, suitable for playing downwind, Xiao Li is weak and has poor defense, it is exactly what Vincent's three-point and defensive needs to be, if Vincent sends it, the Lakers have almost no shortcomings. Defensively, the absolute top blue-collar defenses Vanderbilt and Reddish, the final defensive big man, the slumping but still top-notch old Zhan, Prince and Hachimura are decent. Looking forward to the Lakers continuing to work hard!