LeBron James made it known he was truly invested in winning the NBA Cup from the very beginning, despite it being a new tournament without any history whatsoever.
Tonight, he achieved his goal, with the Lakers beating the Pacers 123-109 in the championship game and James winning tournament MVP honours in the process.
“We made history, anytime you’re on the right side of history, you take it,” said James, who finished the game with 24 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
The only player more impressive than James this particular night was his co-star Anthony Davis, who dominated with 41 points, 20 rebounds, five assists and four blocks.
James had some thoughts on that too, saying Davis put in a “Shaq-like performance” and meant “everything” to him and his career.
“I mean, especially at the later stages of my career, to be able to get a young, hungry, alpha male to go out there and just do the things that he do is definitely giving me an opportunity to be able to not only watch as he’s continued to grow, but also be able to try to inspire him as well as he continued to grow in his career and vice versa.
“I feel like when we’re on the floor together, we’re healthy, we know what we’re capable of doing. We just played too many games together. We’ve shared too many moments together, played in too many big moments together to fail each other.”
With the NBA In-Season Tournament now done and dusted, the Lakers will resume the regular season when they face the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.
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