During the last few minutes of the NBA In-Season Tournament championship game on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, Anthony Davis slammed his chest and yelled into the crowd. His run helped win the game.  

It was the same spot where LeBron James had raised his arms and asked the crowd to make noise when the Los Angeles Lakers first started pulling away from the Indiana Pacers.

The Lakers’ great duo brought the house down at the end of the first event, beating the Indiana Pacers 123–109 to win the NBA Cup.

Though records will be broken, James said, “Being the first to do something will never be broken.” He said this during a ceremony on the court after the win. “We won the In-Season Tournament for the first time. It’s great to do it with such a fantastic group of people and with such a historic franchise.”

The experienced Lakers never trailed after the first minute. The young Pacers had a hard time with how tough James and Davis made the game.

In Thursday’s playoff win over the Pelicans, James stole the show, and he was named tournament MVP. But against the Pacers, it was Davis’ turn to steal the show.

The 6-foot-10 big man scored 41 points and grabbed 20 rebounds, which was the most on the season. He kept going after the Pacers’ lack of size.

James said, “That was a display of dominance like Shaquille O’Neal.” “I believe AD got his idea from the big guy sitting there by our bench.”

Los Angeles had the lead for almost the whole game, but Indiana was always close enough that Los Angeles could never really get ahead. The Pacers didn’t make a move until the middle of the fourth quarter, even though the Lakers swarmed star point guard Tyrese Haliburton to keep him in check. Haliburton had 21 points and 11 assists.

With six minutes left, center Myles Turner, Haliburton’s best friend, made a 3-point shot that made the score 102-99. Darvin Ham, the coach of the Lakers, called a break, and it looks like that helped his team calm down.

Los Angeles went on a 13-0 run, with Davis getting 12 of those points. This is when his chest-thumping moment went viral, in which he said, “I’m him.”

“It’s a huge shot in the arm,” Ham said before the NBA Cup win. “We appreciate that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA leadership came up with this idea.” Adding this much focus and energy to the season so early on was a great idea…It definitely helps us keep building our energy, unity, and continuity.

When we look back at the group rounds, the Lakers won all seven games they played in. Before the season, there were big doubts about whether the players would agree with the new plan. But most of them quickly changed their minds.

James, the oldest and most famous player in the NBA, was a big part of that because he accepted the tournament and felt it was worth going for the title. The winning cheque for $500,000 to all the players on the winning team wasn’t bad either.

“These are my youngest players, my rookies and second-year guys. Some of them have never been to a playoff game, and some of their paychecks aren’t as big as some of the older guys on the team,” James said.

“They asked me right away when I got off, ‘So, when do we get our money?'” ‘I don’t know,’ I said. But I guess I do. I’m not going to tell them yet.”

They could have just asked Silver, who thanked Las Vegas for hosting the first event and then gave James his MVP award.

“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t come with a franchise,” Silver joked to James about how the star has always wanted to own a Las Vegas team.

The local expansion team might not come for a few more years, but the three days that the In-Season Tournament was held here showed how much the league cares about the area. A lot of UNLV students were given free tickets to Saturday’s championship game and were taken there by bus by the NBA. Before the game, the NBA sent a message of support to the school in response to the shooting earlier this week.

As part of the league’s party, kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Nevada put the medals around the Lakers’ necks. James asked the little boy who was working with him to quickly sign the t-shirt before he left the court. 

After that, James danced on a stage with his teammates while gold confetti fell on them. He then raised both the NBA Cup and the MVP award into the air.

James said, “I don’t think it’s even about won the MVP.” “For us to win this, we need to work together.”