And just like that, the NBA In-Season Tournament (IST) is down to two teams and one final game.
On Saturday night, the Los Angeles Lakers will look to add yet another win to their ever-increasing list of historic accomplishments. They'll do so against the upstart Indiana Pacers, looking to do something they've never done since leaving the ABA — win an actual championship in the NBA.
On the one side, breakout superstar Tyrese Haliburton, leader of Cinderella, playing near perfect basketball as the Pacers take down the 76ers, the Celtics, and the Bucks. On the other side, LeBron James. Goliath among men, practically an expectation in a tournament Finals for two decades and counting.
This is the stage set for Saturday night, and it is grandiose.
The IST championship game is set to steal the show on a Saturday night in December that would have otherwise been reserved for a Heisman ceremony and Army-Navy post-game. When has the NBA ever stolen the nation's attention on a Saturday night in December — for something happening on the court, not on social media or on a buzzy tweet from the league's news breakers?
That's what the In-Season Tournament has done, and many pundits whether we'd ever get here, or if anyone would even care.
This In-Season Tournament is the first of its kind in the NBA. It's been done in the WNBA, in the MLS, in domestic soccer leagues around the world. But despite its success and tradition elsewhere, many wondered if the tournament would be more than a blip on the radar in the NBA.
Would the players care?
Why would the players treat these games as anything other than just another cold Tuesday night in December? Because of the $500,000 prize money? Would that even move the needle for some of these guys that make that amount in a single game check?
Would the fans care?
Why get invested in some random Friday night November games on jazzed-up IST courts with confusing groups and tiebreakers? What's to gain from just another competition to lose and one whose legitimacy probably wouldn't count in a win anyway when we all know the one thing that really matters?
Be real — it's not like the Los Angeles Freaking Lakers are about to hang an 18th banner up in the rafters next to the 17 NBA championship banners and pretend this measures up if they win Saturday night. The Lakers are the Lakers. In the grand history of things, this would ultimately measure up like winning the NIT or the WWE Intercontinental Championship belt.
For the Pacers? I dunno, man. I've been to a few games in Indianapolis and taken note of the banners hanging there. I'm pretty sure the Pacers throw a banner up for an IST Championship.
The questions were calculated, but fair.
Would an IST win really matter? Would anyone really care about this newfangled tournament in a world where every conversation ultimately leads back to rings?
For the diehard fans, the answer was always going to be yes. It was worth it for the memorable runs young teams like the Magic and Rockets put together before just missing out in group stage. It was worth it for that awesome Pelicans–Kings game Monday night, an actual playoff setting with huge stakes for two of the league's exciting young teams.
It was worth it for the world to finally see Tyrese Haliburton unveiled on a huge stage on national television.
For basketball nerds like me, that alone would've been enough. We love our basketball, and we would've been watching anyway.
But if we're being honest with ourselves, we still wondered how legitimate an In-Season Tournament might really be in the end. Would it count as an actual accomplishment, something worthy of celebration? Or would The Big Franchises, the ones with all the banners, just roll their eyes and sneer at the IST winner like so many fan bases did when the Timberwolves won a play-in game to make the postseason a few years ago and celebrated raucously like the top-five win in franchise history it was?
Not everyone's history is equal, but no one wants to catch the side-eye of hoity-toity Boston and LA fans.
All of those questions were fair, and they all mattered as recently as a few days ago.
None of them do anymore, because the In-Season Tournament absolutely, definitely matters now.
And it matters because LeBron James thinks it matters.
We probably should've taken note when the Lakers went 4-0 in group games, but those games count for the regular season too and every win counts in the crowded West. The Lakers won their four games by a combined 74 points, so we never really got to see them pushed to step on the gas pedal or show their cards or intentions on how much they were truly going for this.
Tuesday night settled any remaining questions.
We finally got another meaningful LeBron vs. Kevin Durant showdown, and it was fantastic. The game was back-and-forth the whole way and James was at his best from the start. He filled up the box score with 31 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists, and five steals, a line matched only 20 times in league history, and never by anyone within eight years of LeBron's age.
The Lakers won by three and moved on to Thursday night's semifinal in Las Vegas, and the game was over before it even started. James was spectacular with 30 points on just 12 shots, adding eight assists and doing it all in only 23 minutes in a blowout 133-89 win over the Pelicans.
LeBron looked like King James from the moment he took the court.
He donned his crown in warmups and did a little dance, focused and locked in from the jump. He looked like Playoff LeBron, and Playoff LeBron is a stone cold killer, here to win games and take names, and few have ever gotten in his way. The 38-year-old James looked good as ever in moments, barreling through the lane, making defensive plays, leading the way with effort and play-making.
This was Vegas. This was a first-of-its-kind knockout tournament for a guy who never got to play college ball or March Madness. This was national TV with all the spotlight and all the world watching.
That's where LeBron has lived for two decades now, and when James is like that it's appointment viewing, and has been for an entire generation.
The NBA In-Season Tournament matters now because LeBron James thinks it matters, and if LeBron thinks it matters, then it matters for every other basketball player, both now and in the future.
Players don't want to win the dunk contest because of the goofy trophy and the piddly paycheck. They want to win the dunk contest because Michael Jordan did, and Doc before him. They want to win the 3-point shootout because Larry Bird won the first three contests, once in his warm-up jacket.
Players want to win the All-Star Game MVP because of the Hall of Fame players who have gone hard and won it before. And now, they want to win it because they win a trophy named after Kobe Bryant, a guy who went hard in every All-Star Game he ever played in — because it was the All-Star Game, and it mattered, and now it continues to matter because Kobe thought it mattered.
Love LeBron or hate him, root for or against him Saturday night, but the outcome barely matters now.
LeBron James has legitimized the NBA In-Season Tournament in a way that maybe only one other player in NBA history every could have. Because he wants it, and if LeBron is going all out to win a thing, then by God, everyone else better put everything on the line too.
The NBA In-Season Tournament matters now — because LeBron says it matters. And that alone is enough.
