Anthony Davis shines as Los Angeles Lakers win inaugural In-Season Tournament, LeBron James named MVP

LeBron James was named tournament MVP as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers to the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament title.

Anthony Davis contributed 41 points and added 20 rebounds, five assists and four blocks as the Lakers overcame the Pacers 123-109.

James registered 24 points and 11 rebounds on a historic night for the 17-time NBA champions and now maiden In-Season Tournament winners.

"Records will be broken but one thing that will never be broken is being the first to do something," James said after the game. "We're the first champions of the In-Season Tournament and nobody can ever top that.

"It's great to be able to do it with such a historical franchise and even better to do it with a great, great cast of funny, engaged, competitive men over here."

Davis dominated the court in the final and afterwards said the Lakers were determined to become the first team to win the cup.

“It sounds great,” he answered when asked what it feels like to be the champions. “The first to do it, the first team to win it.

“We know it’s not the real thing, but we keep taking steps in the right direction. I think Indiana is a great basketball club and they’ve shown what they can do all season, but our energy, our efforts to start the game, our focus was off the charts.

“The first to do it, we’ll take it!”

After a closely fought game and six minutes left on the clock, the Pacers managed to close the gap to three points before a devastating flurry of 13 from the Lakers took the game out of their hands.

Austin Reaves came off the bench for the Lakers to add a clinical 28 points, helping to oust efforts of 20 points from Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin - the Pacers' biggest hitters.

Haliburton gave an honest review after the game and was critical of the Pacers’ performance in Las Vegas.

"We're sick, frustrated. We just got outplayed tonight from the start of the game to the end of the game,” he said. "Just didn't do the job on loose balls, didn't rebound, and didn't get enough stops when needed.

“They just outplayed us, and it's frustrating."

This year’s In-Season Tournament is the first edition of its kind, with the final the only game that doesn’t count towards the regular season standings.

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