NBA In-Season Tournament Final Preview
by Joseph King | by Joseph King
In-Season Tournament Final Overview
The NBA In-Season Tournament is the first of its kind, an idea that has been in development by commissioner Adam Silver for a number of years. The goal was to create a competitive and meaningful cup competition, not too dissimilar to what soccer leagues have around the world with their domestic cups. The tournament has largely been a success, with many of the games producing some highly-entertaining matchups.
We're down to the final two who will face off at the neutral venue of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, home to the NHL franchise the Vegas Golden Knights. As with the previous knockout rounds, the final is a single elimination event with overtime to be played should the game finsih level at the end of the regulation 48 minutes.
The players on the winning team will be awarded with $500,000 each while the players of the losing team take home $200,0000 each.
How to watch
Those located in the United States can catch the action by tuning into either ABC or ESPN. If you're watching from the UK, you can find the In-Season Tournament Final live on TNT Sports. For other countries and locations, you can stream the event by heading over to either the official ESPN App or subscribe to NBA League Pass. If you're unable to watch the game live, another great option to still stay up-to-date with the action as it unfolds on the court is to use SportyTrader's NBA Livescore page!
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Indiana Pacers
The Pacers advanced to this stage of the competition following a pair of massive upsets as they knocked off the two bookmakers’ betting favorites. They upset the Celtics in the first round with a 122-112 victory and followed that up with a 128-119 win over the Bucks in the semi-final.
It was an incredibly impressive performance by this young Pacers team who are well ahead of schedule. They’re up to sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 12-8 record after finishing the previous campaign 12 games below .500 and in 11th-place. Led by Tyrese Haliburton, who could be in line for a number of awards and accolades this season, Indiana has the league’s top-rated offensive. They’ve been absolutely scorching teams this season with their run-and-gun style ranking them first in overall pace. The Pacers are averaging the most points in the NBA at 128.4, nearly six points higher than the second-place Hawks, and also sit atop the adjusted offensive rating rankings (119.4). However, their focus on offensive firepower has come at a cost as Indiana also ranks dead-last in the NBA in adjusted defensive rating (118.4).
Their style of play has resulted in a common theme in Indiana this season: high-scoring games and high points totals. The bookmakers have started to adjust to this in the last month as it’s now rare to see a total below 230 points with this team involved.
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Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers come into this matchup as the betting favorites after an impressive run to the final. LA were able to edge by the Phoenix Suns 106-103 in the first round before blowing out the New Orleans Pelicans 133-89 in the semi-final. LeBron James turned back the clock yet again in the semi-final win, racking up an impressive statline of 30 points, eight assists and five rebounds in just 23 minutes of action.
The Lakers cruised through the group stage with a perfect 4-0 record and have started to turn things around in the regular season after a bumpy start. Darvin Ham’s team is now 7-3 in the last 10 games and is riding a three-game winning streak. They’ve built their record up to 14-9 which places them fourth in the Western Conference. Most of the Lakers’ success this season has come when playing in front of the home crowd at the Crypto.com Arena where they have a 10-2 record. Vegas isn’t too far of a hike for the Lakers faithful so expect there to be a good amount of Purple and Gold in the crowd.
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Our Prediction
The final presents a brilliant matchup of contrasting styles with the young, upstart and fast-playing Pacers taking on the older, more measured and defensive-focused Lakers squad. It also sees one of the game’s brightest young stars in Tyrese Haliburton facing off against the ageless wonder that is King James. Haliburton has been simply faultless and is the current favorite to win the IST MVP award. The 23-year-old is averaging 27.8 points per game, 13.7 assists and 5.5 rebounds in this tournament. We lean towards the Pacers on the +4 point spread as we believe this line should be much closer to a pick'em.
We’re going to focus our attention now on the total for this game which currently sits at 240.5 points. The Pacers have seen 16 of their 20 games so far go over the posted total (80%). They’re averaging 128.4 points per game which rises to 131.3 in their last three games. Indiana is allowing the second-most points per game in the NBA at 124.9. While the Lakers are a more defensive-oriented team, we saw what they can do in the semi-final as they dropped 133 points on the Pelicans, 110 of which came in the first three quarters.
Our prediction for the NBA In-Season Tournament: Over 240.5 points with lean towards Pacers +4 on the spread. Head over to SportyTrader's NBA betting tips page to see the latest analysis from our experts. All season long and completely free of charge!
Current betting odds
- Los Angeles Lakers -4 - 1.91
- Indiana Pacers +4 - 1.91
- Lakers to win - 1.57
- Pacers to win - 2.55
- Over 240.5 total points - 1.91
- Under 240.5 total points - 1.91
Keep on top of the latest odds by checking out our NBA betting odds page.
Odds found on bet365
