Indiana Pacers: 5 takeaways from the 2018-19 NBA season

2. Real camaraderie was established

It’s easy to say this team “came together” judging by how they held things down after the All-Star break, but the advanced stats continue to show that this Indiana Pacers team really played together.

A lot of the team’s highlight plays were two-man game, screen-and-roll dumps to Sabonis or fast break buckets. But what doesn’t always show up on the highlights are the assists. The team finished the season at seventh in the NBA in overall assist-to-turnover ratio and ninth in overall assist ratio, according to NBA.com.

These stats are the results of unselfish play and everyone stepping up to the plate when it came to playing a role. The fact that the team managed 48 wins was due to efficiency and smart decisions on offense.

All of that is to say that the members of this Indiana Pacers crew have a great sense of one another’s abilities, which is a big reason Pritchard and the front office made no blockbuster trades in February. They want to keep this group together.