The championship game of the NBA Cup, the league’s in-season tournament, comes to you from the city that never sleeps on the hardwood. It’s the Indiana Pacers making the trip to take on the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday night with $500,000 per player and the title on the line. Indiana advanced to the title game as they downed the Bucks 128-119 in the semifinals Thursday afternoon, winning outright as a 5.5-point underdog. Los Angeles punched their ticket to the title game as they pulverized the Pelicans 133-89 to easily cover the line as a two-point favorite Thursday night. In the all-time regular season series between the teams, the Lakers own a 64-34 advantage, including a 112-111 road win in the most recent matchup on February 2, 2023.
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Indiana punched their ticket to the championship game as they knocked off Milwaukee in the semifinals Thursday afternoon. The Pacers entered Friday 12-8 on the season and stood second in the Central Division, two games behind the Bucks for the top spot in the division. Against Milwaukee, Indiana trailed by two after the opening quarter, took a 12-point lead at the half but was outscored 43-28 in the third quarter to trail by three entering the final stanza. The Pacers took the lead for good at 107-106 on a Bruce Brown jumper with 6:15 to play and they pulled away in the last couple minutes to earn the win. Indiana shot 49% from the field, including seven of 33 from three-point range, and held a 51-46 advantage on the boards in the game. Tyrese Haliburton led Indiana with 27 points, seven rebounds and 15 assists in the win.
For the year, Indiana is 1st in the league in scoring offense with 128.4 points per game this season. The Pacers are 29th in rebounding with an average of 40.1 boards a night while they are 1st in assists by dishing out 30.2 dimes per contest. Indiana is 29th in scoring defense as they allow an average of 124.9 points per game on the year. Tyrese Haliburton leads the Pacers in scoring with 26.9 points plus 12.1 assists per game. Bennedict Mathurin (13 points), Buddy Hield (13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists), Myles Turner (17.1 points, eight rebounds, 2.1 blocks), Jalen Smith (10 points, 5.5 rebounds) and Bruce Brown (12.6 points, 4.4 rebounds) are solid scoring options this season. Aaron Nesmith (11 points), Obi Toppin (13 points), Jordan Nwora, T.J. McConnell, Andrew Nembhard and Isaiah Jackson are other rotation pieces for Indiana. The Pacers are 1st in the league in field goal percentage as they are shooting 50.8% from the floor as a team. Indiana is 4th in the league in threes per gam e as they splash 14.8 triples per contest and the team is 6th by shooting 38.1% from beyond the arc on the year.
Nesmith (knee) left the game against the Bucks Thursday afternoon and has been ruled out for this contest. Smith (heel) has missed the last four games and is questionable for this contest so watch for information about whether he will play here.