In-Season Tournament roundup: Lakers join Pacers in knockout round

The inaugural In-Season Tournament continued Tuesday with five group-play matchups as two teams booked their spots in the knockout round. For an explanation of how the tourney works, including the breakdown of the groups, tap here.

Tuesday’s results

• Raptors 107-126 Magic (Recap)
• Pacers 157-152 Hawks (Recap)
• Cavaliers 122-119 76ers (Recap)
• Trail Blazers 107-120 Suns (Recap)
• Jazz 99-131 Lakers (Recap)

Top performers

Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers): Haliburton torched the Atlanta Hawks in an offensive barn burner with a performance for the ages: 37 points, 16 assists, five rebounds, three steals, and a block for good measure. He was lights out in the third quarter especially, dropping 26 in the frame on 7-of-8 shooting from deep.

Darius Garland (Cavaliers): Cleveland can no longer catch the Pacers in the East’s Group A, but Garland helped keep its hopes of a wild-card berth alive. The Cavs guard poured in 32 points to go with eight assists, five rebounds, and three steals while playing 43 minutes in the overtime win.

Anthony Davis (Lakers): Knowing a victory would clinch Group A in the West for Los Angeles, Anthony Davis put in one of his best shifts of the year so far, dropping 26 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, and two steals against the Jazz in 29 minutes. The 30-year-old didn’t even have to touch the floor in the fourth quarter, which the Lakers entered up 27.

Highlight of the night

Two powerful forces were entirely ineffective against noted Pacers high-flyer Obi Toppin on this play. The first was Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu, and the second was gravity.

Tweet of the night

It’s tough to gauge exactly what Jordan Clarkson was thinking with this pirate-inspired pregame get-up, but the “Inside the NBA” crew let the Jazz guard know that he was wrong, regardless.

Stat of the night

The Pacers ended the night on a high note, but the numbers at the half didn’t exactly foreshadow a good time.

What’s next?

The Pacers and Lakers can rest easy, knowing they’ve already secured passage into the In-Season Tournament’s knockout round by clinching the top spot in their respective groups. As a bonus, L.A. is also assured of home-court advantage in its quarterfinal. However, there are still four more group winners to be determined, plus a wild card from each conference.

The tournament continues Friday with 10 matchups on the sixth of seven group-play game nights.  

You can view the original article HERE.