This is it. Every regular season game has been building up to this. For the first time ever in the NBA, a December 9th game is a MUST WATCH. This game features one of the league’s most storied franchises (the Lakers) . It also features a player who anyone born after 1996 would probably call the GOAT. We also have a Pacers team that has been scorching nets all across the league this season. These two teams are set to face off for the first ever NBA Cup Final. I’m going big for this first NBA In-Season Tournament championship, and making three bets in one game. The first is on the Lakers to win straight-up. The second is on the Over 240.5 total. And the third is on Lebron to be crowned the first ever NBA In-Season Tournament MVP. I’ll be making each of these as separate, one unit bets. 

I think the Lakers are going to win this game. They are the more experienced team. They went through the bubble championship in 2020, which sets a big precedent for them playing in neutral arenas. Plus, the Lakers are the league’s most easily bandwagoned team. Fans will show up to Vegas in droves to cheer anytime Lebron or AD do anything, effectively making this a home game for them. I’m again betting on the Lakers star duo to put the team on their backs and withstand the firepower that the Pacers are going to show up with. AD’s presence in the paint against the Pelicans was huge. He recorded two monster blocks and challenged near every look the Pels had in the paint all night. They’re going to need him to have an equally big performance tonight if they want to win. Indiana leads the league in points in the paint at 59.8. However, going against the size of the Lakers, and then having to make shots around a hungry AD, is going to make things difficult for them on the interior. And with Lebron in full Finals mode, the Pacers would need a miracle to stop the two of them. 

I still think this game is going over 240.5. Rick Carlisle is too good a coach to knowingly send his guys to war in the paint with AD. Instead, we imagine they are going to be chucking three’s like there’s no tomorrow, and at 41% they’ll probably end up making a good few of them. With Haliburton playing as ungodly well as he has been recently, racking up 28 assists with no turnovers in his last two games, the Pacers should be on track to put up a good fight. They’recoming into this game knowing that to have a chance, they’re going to have to run the Lakers into the ground, and then shoot them out of the gym. Also consider, the Pacers have the worst paint defense in the league, and no answer for Lebron or AD, and you get a recipe for a higher scoring game. 

If the Lakers do end up winning, the MVP crown could go to no one else but the King. The metrics for who gets MVP are completely unknown for this. At the end of the day, it’s going to be a selection committee who somehow weighs performance against ‘value’. They will 

choose the guy who did the best. Lebron has been that guy during this In-Season Tournament. Every commentator has brought up the fact that before the year ends, he’s going to be 39, and he’s still managing to average 27, 8 and 8. Any other Laker would have to put up near 60 points to even come close to him in this. Simply put, if the Lakers win, it’s got to be Lebron who gets the MVP.