The inaugural NBA in-season tournament will ultimately go down as a success, which especially stands true for the Lakers. On Saturday night, LeBron James and company emerged with a 123-109 victory over the Pacers behind a dominant showing by Anthony Davis and an excellent performance from Austin Reaves, who was sick ahead of the game.
After Reaves poured in 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting while scoring all but two of the team’s bench points, James made sure everyone was ready to debate the newest edition of Michael Jordan’s “flu game.”
LeBron James in the background: "Who had the better flu game: AR [Austin Reaves] or MJ [Michael Jordan]?! It's up for debate!"
— Oh no he didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) December 10, 2023
Reaves: "I'm gonna let LeBron keep talking and I'm gonna continue to talk about the game." 😆 pic.twitter.com/D34EWLlqFs
James can be heard yelling, “Who had the better flu game? AR or MJ? It’s a debate!”
The Lakers had a stellar run during the first-ever in-season tournament, going 4–0 in group play with a +74 point differential. They followed that up by defeating the Suns 106-103 in the quarterfinals and the Pelicans 133-89 in the semifinals.
