The Los Angeles Lakers have been the most dominant team during the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament as they swept group play and advanced to the Championship game.
The Lakers boat raced the New Orleans Pelicans in the semifinals and will face off against the young and fast Indiana Pacers, who upset the Milwaukee Bucks.
Unlike Los Angeles and New Orleans, Indiana found themselves in a close game against Milwaukee but they pulled off the win after Tyrese Haliburton sunk a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute to ice things.
Darvin Ham has the tough challenge of working with the coaching staff to find a way to slow down the high-octane Pacers, and had nothing but high praise for them and Haliburton.
“No thoughts. Definitely no recipe,” Ham said when asked how to stop Haliburton and the Pacers. “I would just say it’s refreshing to see a young player of his magnitude. He’s had a hell of a year, past 12 months, being named an All-Star, being selected to the USA team. He’s just out there hooping. I watched a little bit of that game today. We’ll dig into it more overnight and tomorrow, and as we go into our meeting tomorrow.”
“They are just out there having fun. They have got a bunch of young, high-level talent that’s just out there having fun playing together, playing hard, making plays. And so we are definitely going to have our hands full. A huge win for them knocking off Milwaukee, and we can’t take them for granted by any stretch. We’ll do our preparation and come up with a good recipe that won’t be shared once we land on something. But I can tell you the two main ingredients going up against this team: Again, we have to be ready to make multiple efforts and we definitely have to have a next-play mentality.”
Ham would go on to further discuss the recipe for beating the Pacers after Friday’s workout.
“Obviously, from a strategic standpoint and for the sake of not revealing too much, two of the ingredients that show up in that recipe are making multiple efforts and having a next-play mentality. That’s key because they’re a fast team. They play with a lot of pace. They have a lot of guys that can function at a high level off the dribble, a lot of pick-and-rolls.
“So, you definitely have to be — have your track shoes on, come with the energy, the level of discipline we try to play with each and every time we step on the court. We’ve got to be able to be ready, able and ready to make multiple efforts as well as have a next-play mentality, because you can do things well and the end results still not go in your favor. But just moving on to the next possession and trying to make the next possession better than the last, whether it was good, bad, or indifferent.”
Anthony Davis’ echoed Ham’s comments, and added that he’s looking forward to their game. “They are a good ballclub, Davis said. “We were actually talking about maybe last week that they score a lot of points. A lot of 140s and things like that, 130s. Obviously, the head of the snake is Tyrese, with good role players around him who complement him very well.
“They are young. They are scrappy. They get out and run, and they play the right way. So it’s going to be a test for our defense, for sure. But it’s going to be an exciting game.”
Haliburton obviously has the respect of the Lakers, especially from his Team USA teammate Austin Reaves who believes he’ll be MVP some day. Los Angeles has been on a roll, but Indiana won’t go down very easily.
Lakers undecided about raising banner if they win In-Season Tournament
Not only do the players get $500,000 for winning the In-Season Tournament, but the winning team will also be awarded the first-ever NBA Cup. Given it’s a championship, raising a banner is in play though the Lakers are unsure if they would erect one if they win.
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