The Los Angeles Lakers are tied for the most NBA championships with the Boston Celtics. However, as of Saturday night, they are the only team in NBA history to have won the NBA Championship.

The Lakers won the inaugural in-season tournament with a 123-109 victory over the Indiana Pacers at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night, thanks to a spectacular performance by Anthony Davis, who had 41 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 blocks.

LeBron James was crowned tournament MVP with 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists.

These two teams entered Saturday’s final game with identical 6-0 records in the in-season tournament, but they accomplished so in very different ways. The Lakers punished their opponents, outscoring them by more than 20 points per game, because to the size and muscle of James and Davis. Meanwhile, Indiana had beaten the four top seeds from previous year’s Eastern Conference playoffs – the Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, and Milwaukee Bucks – on their path to the championship game, riding the league’s quickest pace and best offense.

Not unexpectedly, both sides played to their strengths in Saturday’s contest. The Lakers, one of the league’s worst 3-point shooting teams, largely stopped trying until Taurean Prince hit a corner 3 late in the third quarter, becoming the third club this season to fail to make a 3-pointer in a half. Instead, they crushed the Pacers on the inside, outscoring them 86-44.

They also used their height and length on the perimeter to harass Tyrese Haliburton, the tournament’s breakout star, who finished with 20 points and 11 assists but couldn’t equal the impact he has had on games all season.

Meanwhile, Indiana outscored the Lakers 30-6 from beyond the arc and, surprisingly, held a 29-27 advantage at the free throw line, an area where Los Angeles typically crushes its opponents. While the Pacers had the advantage in 3-point shooting, they only shot 10-for-41 from beyond the arc, missing numerous open opportunities that may have changed the course of the game.

But it was Los Angeles’ massive physical advantage on the inside that proved decisive in the game. Davis, who seemed to do whatever he wanted throughout the game, was the driving force behind this. Davis did this by fouling Myles Turner and finally fouling him out of the game with 4:09 remaining.

By then, Davis had put the game out of reach, scoring 10 straight points as part of a 13-0 run that gave Los Angeles their greatest lead of the game, 115-99, with 3:11 remaining.

Despite the fact that the game was scheduled as a neutral venue, the audience was heavily in favor of the Lakers, as Las Vegas is about four hours northeast of Los Angeles and is traditionally a Lakers town.

Despite winning the NBA Championship, the Lakers did not win the NBA standings. Saturday’s game, the 83rd of the season for the Lakers and Pacers, did not figure in the league’s regular-season standings, and none of the numbers from the game will count toward regular-season totals.

What matters is that the Lakers become the inaugural in-season tournament champions. The victory closes up a tournament that has done all the league thought it would do over the last four weeks and has established itself as a permanent fixture on the NBA’s calendar in the future.

The Lakers will always be the first team to win the championship.

“I don’t think it’s even about the MVP, I think it’s about us coming together to win this thing,” James said to ESPN’s Malika Andrews at the trophy presentation. This is the [first] in-season tournament. Records will be broken, but being the first to do something will never be broken. And we’re the first champions of the in-season tournament, which no one can ever top, and it’s amazing to do it with a historic organization and a great cast of witty, engaged, competitive individuals over here.”