‘King James’ and LA Lakers battle Tyrese Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers for first NBA Cup
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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will be the man to watch as they battle the Indiana Pacers for the inaugural NBA Cup.
PHOTO: AFP
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LAS VEGAS – Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers’ scintillating run to the NBA (National Basketball Association) Cup final on Dec 9 (Dec 10 morning, Singapore time) has brought them nose to nose with a league great in LeBron James and a legendary franchise in the Los Angeles Lakers.
The NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament has been a coming-out party for Haliburton and the Pacers, one of 10 NBA franchises never to win a league championship.
Having dispatched the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, the young Pacers can expect their stiffest test yet from all-time scoring leader James and the Lakers, winners of 18 league titles.
Indiana coach Rick Carlisle, who describes the Pacers as “somewhere on the climb” to becoming title contenders, said the match-up with the Lakers is just what his young team needs.
James, who turns 39 on Dec 30, delivered a 30-point masterclass in the Lakers’ 133-89 semi-final thrashing of the New Orleans Pelicans, a performance that Carlisle said showed the four-time NBA champion is “in his prime still”.
“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “It’s an amazing run of longevity and, in his case, greatness. He’s the all-time leading scorer, and that’s what we’re up against tomorrow.
“We’re up against him and Anthony Davis and a lot of other very good players that are on a real uptick right now competitively.
“We’ve got our hands full. But if you’re the Indiana Pacers and you’re in the process of making the climb and you want great experience, this is the kind of challenge that you’ve got to love.”
Haliburton, who grew up a James fan, calls him “the gold standard of basketball players”.
“Like any kid born in 2000, LeBron was my favourite player growing up,” he said. “That’s the great part about being in the NBA, it is getting to compete against your idols on a nightly basis. I really look forward to that.”
Former fan aside, Haliburton and his young teammates would love to play spoiler to the Lakers’ bid to add a new piece of hardware to their stuffed trophy case.
“We’re not supposed to be here and nobody expected us to be here,” the point guard, averaging a career-best 26.9 points per game, added. “We’ve been probably looked at to lose the majority of our tournament games.
“Boston game we definitely weren’t supposed to win. Milwaukee, we definitely weren’t supposed to win. That’s just been part of the storybook of this. It’s not done yet.”
The Pacers will be hoping to wear down the Lakers with the up-tempo offence that has entertained fans and exhausted rivals in four group-stage wins and the knockout rounds.
Haliburton has emerged as the chief orchestrator of an offence that is averaging more than 128 points per game. He leads the league in assists with more than 12 per game, and had 15 – without a turnover – along with 27 points in the semi-final win over the Bucks.
To beat the Pacers, “you definitely have to have your track shoes on, come with the energy,” said Lakers coach Darvin Ham.
But he was also confident that with the Lakers coming into form after early-season injuries and, with James leading the way, they have the tools to get the job done.
“You hear and feel LeBron’s presence all over the place, and the guys respond,” Ham added. AFP
