Pacers impress in run to in-season tournament finals
Photo Credit: NBA.com
The NBA in season tournament just wrapped up, and while deservingly so the Los Angeles Lakers will be the talk of the tournament as they won it all and LeBron James wins the inaugural in season tournament MVP, one thing to not forget about the whole tournament was the run the Indiana Pacers went on to make it all the way to the finals where they’d eventually lose to LeBron and the Lakers.
A very impressive run considering the teams that Indiana had to defeat on their path to making the in season tournament finals. Some of those teams included the favorites in of the eastern conference, the Milwaukee Bucks losing to the Pacers in the semi finals and the Boston Celtics prior to that. Indiana also won the group play stage, which saw them beat out Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit and Atlanta to move onto the next round.
The Pacers took the tournament serious from the beginning, even franchise player Tyrese Haliburton acknowledged how he hadn’t been in the postseason so far in his young career so this was his first chance to chase a championship. Haliburton showed out through the entirety of the tournament averaging 28.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 13.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game on 50.5% shooting throughout tournament play. Really leading the charge for Indiana offensively and perhaps even putting some more eyes on his game individually after he performed so well on the slighter brighter lights that the in season tournament provided.
Haliburton and the Pacers truly highlight what is possible of the in season tournament. Experience that can hopefully be a building block for the rest of their season and beyond. I along with many others look forward to seeing what the rest of the season and possibly the post season looks like for the Indiana Pacers after we seen their success in this in season tournament. I think the first ever NBA in season tournament could not have went much better, as Indiana provided a team that not everyone thought was going to be in the championship, against the Lakers and LeBron James whom are expected to be always competing at the highest level.
