The Indiana Pacers defensive rating currently sits at 102.4, the second-best figure in the entire league. No team has finished a season with that strong of a number since the 2015-16 season. What the Pacers are doing on the non-glamorous end of the floor is remarkable.
Good defense can be hard to truly appreciate. Forcing the other team to score a low amount of points is good, obviously, but it is really hard to do. Often times it is overly simplified to anecdotes like “it’s a make or miss league” or “defense wins championships” but rarely does anyone say how teams get it done on that end of the floor.