The In-Season Tournament was met with initial skepticism once the idea began to grow legs, but the actualization and execution of the event has been successful. Players want the $500,000 prize pool for winning the NBA Cup and are playing like it. Fans are into it, treating this tournament like the big event it was billed to be. And soon, the world will be watching the the final of the inaugural In-Season Tournament take place on Saturday night when the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers square off in a rematch of the 2000 NBA Finals.
The Pacers have been the fun, upstart young team capturing the hearts of basketball fans around the globe thanks to the scintillating, dazzling and genius play of burgeoning superstar Tyrese Haliburton. They lead the league in offensive rating and it isn't close; their lead on second place is the same as the gap from second to eighth.
The Lakers might be the team that can actually slow them down, however. They rank seventh in the league in defensive rating. Anthony Davis is arguably the best defensive player in the league, regularly in two places at once. That is crucial when defending this potent Indiana offense, as is the on-ball versatility and off-ball disruption provided by LeBron James.
But there's another player for Los Angeles who could make a major impact on this game. He certainly has since returning from injury in just the last three games. Who is the Lakers' X-factor for the In-Season Tournament final?
Jarred Vanderbilt
The Vandalorian, otherwise known as Jarred Vanderbilt, has been truly exceptional for the Lakers since he made his season debut on December 2nd against the Houston Rockets. Vanderbilt has only scored three points in three games played this season, but he is impacting the game everywhere else, especially defensively. In the three games Vanderbilt has played this season, Los Angeles has absolutely put the clamps on opponents.
When Vanderbilt is on the floor, the Lakers have a defensive rating of 101.3 points allowed per 100 possessions. That ranks in the 99th percentile of Cleaning the Glass' lineup data. But that's not all. Before Vanderbilt's debut, the Lakers ranked 16th in rebound percentage, only grabbing half of available rebounds.
A three-game sample size is tiny, but Vanderbilt has long been one of the best rebounders in basketball. It's hardly coincidence Los Angeles has pulled down 51.6% of rebounds since he's been healthy, ninth in the NBA over that timeframe.
The film backs up the data as well. And this possession in the Lakers' In-Season Tournament quarterfinal win over the Phoenix Suns encapsulates Vanderbilt's value perfectly.
Vanderbilt begins the possession guarding Devin Booker, but a pick-and-roll forces Vanderbilt to peel onto Drew Eubanks on the roll. Vanderbilt cuts him off then switches onto Nassir Little after Eubanks hands it off to him. Little hands it back to Booker and Vanderbilt switches back onto Booker, making all that action Phoenix ran pointless and churning precious seconds off the shot clock. Vanderbilt then sticks with Booker on his drive and forces a Booker turnover and foul. He single-handedly stalled that possession.
The Lakers are going to need as much of that as they can against the Pacers. Haliburton looks like Steve Nash reincarnated and is an absolute maestro in pick-and-roll. Los Angeles needs its best defenders on him, a distinction that definitely applies to Vanderbilt. He will be absolutely vital for the Lakers if they want to win the In-Season Tournament Championship Game on Saturday.
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