And then there were four.
The NBA In-Season Tournament (IST) has reached its own Final Four for the first time ever and heads to Las Vegas for the ultimate showdown.
Thirty teams were whittled to eight by group play, and eight teams spent the last two nights battling in the NBA's first ever version of March Madness. December Daftness, if you will, a one-game winner-take-all loser-goes-home knockout tournament the likes of which the NBA has never before seen.
Already, the IST knockout rounds have featured a little bit of everything.
Knockout play started out with a bang, with the Pacers absorbing all the Celtics punches early and hanging just long enough to deliver a stunning knockout blow late, with Tyrese Haliburton's stardom unveiled before a national audience. Indiana gave the IST its first signature capital-M Moment with Haliburton's big finish, punctuated by his four-point play late, a long outlet for a dunk, and an insane home crowd reaction.
Now, that's a Moment.
Monday night concluded with an excellent Kings vs. Pelicans game that felt a bit like two elite mid majors going blow for blow. Sacramento and New Orleans may not be the biggest markets, but they delivered with a memorable back-and-forth game between two high-level teams playing great basketball.
Tuesday started with a blowout — even March Madness has blowouts — thanks to a scorching hot 61% 3-point shooting night by the Bucks, then ended with a rare LeBron vs. Durant mano-a-mano showdown that came down to the final possessions and even gave us a referee controversy late on a phantom timeout call in a Lakers win.
That's March Madness in a nutshell: great basketball, wild one-game variance, controversy, and intense pressure waiting for that big moment in a knockout tournament. The quarterfinal rounds delivered because- shocker!- knockout tournaments with high-level basketball always deliver.
And now the NBA has its first Final Four, and it's a doozy.
The Lakers are Duke.
Like them or hate them, you have an opinion on the Lakers. Your mom has an opinion on the Lakers. The neighbor's kid has an opinion on the Lakers.
You can love them, you can hate them, you can feel any way you want about LeBron James and the legacy unfolding night after night right before our eyes — but you're absolutely going to feel it, and you're sure as heck tuning in to watch what happens next.
The Final Four just feels complete when Duke is there. When they win, it's memorable. When they lose, it's even more memorable. When they play at all, it's memorable.
LeBron and the Lakers? They're Duke, no doubt about it. It's honestly shocking Austin Reaves didn't play for Duke.
The Bucks are Gonzaga.
What used to be a mid major market is now a thriving dynasty competing at the highest level year after year, competition after competition. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, may be a bit off the grid like Spokane, Washington, but don't tell the fans that, and don't tell the teams.
Gonzaga used to be the plucky underdog, but they're giants now. So too with the Bucks, ever since the arrival of Giannis Antetokounmpo as a perennial MVP favorite.
Milwaukee entered the season among the title favorites and is just now starting to figure everything out with Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo clicking, perhaps at just the right time. Gonzaga's no mid major these days, and neither are the Bucks. They're the blue blood favorites now too, as much as anyone.
The Pelicans might be Houston.
The Cougars are newer on the scene, like the Pels since drafting Zion Williamson, but they are fierce, and they're an absolute son of a gun to play against.
Houston is deep and plays nasty defense, defense that comes in waves, exhausts opponents by the end of the night. The Lakers are about to feel that on Thursday night.
LeBron's going to get 35 minutes of "Not On" Herb Jones making his life miserable, and Jose "Grand Theft" Alvarado will be an absolute dick at the point of the attack with Dyson Daniels filling in off the bench as Trey Murphy brings elite 3-and-D skills to round everything out.
The Cougars win with a defensive identity and play inside the arc, much like the Pelicans. They have just enough offense to get by, and if Zion is dominating inside and Brandon Ingram's shots are falling, New Orleans can win this with their own brand of ball.
And that leaves the Pacers as this tournament's plucky, lovable underdogs. Call them Curry-era Davidson, or plug in a favorite memorable Cinderella from pretty much every March Madness ever.
The NBA's first Final Four would never have felt right without a Cinderella, and Cinderella needed a star.
Enter Tyrese Haliburton.
Before Monday, Haliburton had never even played a game on TNT. He made his first time count, recording his first career triple-double against the best team in the league in a signature performance, dropping 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists on a helpless Celtics defense without turning it over once.
March Madness makes stars, and Tyrese Haliburton might be the IST's first star. Like Steph Curry at Davidson, he and the Pacers were never supposed to make it this far, but darn it if they might not keep winning some more.
Haliburton knocked out the defending MVP in group stage. He knocked out the IST's version of the No. 1 overall seed in the first knockout. Are Giannis and Dame up next? LeBron and Brow in the finals?
Why not? Haliburton might be the best player left in the entire tournament the way he's playing right now. Forget about March Madness. Haliburton and the Pacers are bringing Hoosiers back to Indiana.
The NBA only scheduled the Pacers for one national television game all season. Now the Pacers will get a second in one week, and they might get one more Saturday night if Haliburton has anything to do with it.
So that's our first ever NBA Final Four: One perennial blue blood in the Lakers, a new blue blood in Milwaukee, a defensive mid major in the Pelicans, and Tyrese Haliburton and the Cinderella Pacers.
It's the NBA's first ever Final Four, and it's perfect.
And the best part about March Madness is that anything can still happen.
See you in Vegas.
