We finally made it to Vegas for the In-Season Tournament Semi-Finals where the Bucks take on the Pacers and the Lakers play the Pelicans. I hope Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) is on the floor of the blue court since he was the face of the commercials and is the Goat. The Bucks got here by shooting the absolute lights out of the ball, shooting 60% from three to beat the Knicks. Malik Beasley has revived his career from the Lakers curse and shot 6-10 from three last game raising his season average to 46%. The Knicks were holding teams to 105 points per game this year and let up 146 to the Bucks. It’s hard to beat a team when they actually do not miss. Now the Bucks get to play a significantly worse defensive team in Vegas with their matchup of the Indiana Pacers.
The Lakers got here in a different, more controversial way. The Lakers were leading almost all game until the Suns clawed back and took their first lead since the first quarter with 5 minutes left. Lebron was playing out of his mind and Reaves hit a huge three to put the Lakers up 4 with 15 seconds left. With 6 seconds left, the Suns double teamed Austin Reaves in the backcourt and when the ball was seemingly out of his possession, the refs rewarded Lebron and the Lakers a timeout. In my opinion, Reaves did not have any control of the ball and the game should have been tied with under 5 seconds left. However, that does not matter at all and the Lakers booked a trip to Vegas to play the Pelicans.
The first game tips off at 5 pm eastern time. This is awesome for the people on the east coast that watch NBA basketball. The Bucks play the Pacers in a game that has the highest over under ever at 257 points. It is pretty ironic that this NBA game has the highest o/u ever while the Thursday Night Football game has one of the lowest o/u ever at 30 points! The Bucks and Pacers will be a track meet and if the Bucks shoot anywhere near as close as they did when they played the Knicks they will win by 20. In this game, the Pacers have no one that can guard Giannis. Not that there are many players to ever play in the NBA that can, the Pacers don’t have one option that can even contain the Greek Freak. Indiana did a great job on defense against the Celtics and Aaron Nesmith stepped up to put the straps on Tatum. Unfortunately, Nesmith is only 6’5 and may not be able to do as much damage on the defensive end guarding Giannis. On the flip side, opposing Point Guards have been dominating the Bucks all year. Haliburton, with all the media spotlight on him, should put up some crazy numbers again tonight. The Pacers need to roll the dice and have a near perfect shooting night from Buddy Hield and Bruce Brown to compete tonight. The Bucks are a terrifying team when they have their offense figured out and flashed that potential last game. As much as I would love to see the Pacers win this game and Hali to compete for the finals, I think the Bucks take care of business tonight.
In the late game, the Pelicans take on Lebron James and the Lakers. When I wrote the preview, I said the last thing I want is for the Lakers to win due to the discourse around the IST championship and what it means for Lebron’s legacy. This has already started with Chris Boussard saying this would make Lebron the clear GOAT. As I do think this is a big deal to win the inaugural IST, I don’t think it is a huge legacy booster. In the game, you have the Pelicans team coming off their best win of the season. Fully healthy, the Pelicans depth is insane with their wings. The Pelicans matchup really well with the Lakers as they have the size and athleticism to keep up with AD and Bron. I expect this game to be similar to the Suns-Lakers game on Tuesday, coming down to the final few minutes. The Pelicans need Zion to step up and be aggressive from the jump. Zion did not do much in the Kings game but will need to go all in if the Pelicans want to go to the finals. The video of reporters asking how Brandon Ingram and Zion would celebrate if they win and the two of them laughing their ass off should be enough for me to believe in Zion.
The boring finals would be Lakers-Bucks. These two teams I do not love watching in all honesty even though they are two of the best teams in the league and could be a potential NBA Finals matchup. If you know me, you know I have been a Lebron hater for a long time now. What he is doing this year is insane and I have been way more appreciative of what he is doing now that I don’t live with Bron fans (wouldn’t trade those arguments for the world) but I still do not want to see him win anymore. I also do not want to see Bucks win going back to my thoughts about them having real Championship aspirations compared to the Pacers. The best part of these games tonight is it allows me to not watch a second of that disgusting Thursday Night Football matchup that features the starting Quarterbacks of Mitch Trubisky and Bailey Zappe. My official prediction for the inaugural In-Season Tournament finals is Pelicans-Bucks.
JakesTakes 
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