The 2016-17 Indiana Pacers were one of the most boring teams, ever

The Indiana Pacers hovered around .500 the entire 2016-17 season, making them one of the most exceptionally unexceptional teams ever, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Pick your musical accompaniment for this dive into the mediocrity of the Indiana Pacers 2016-17 season. Your options are current pop music, early-2000s alternative rock, or mid-90s alternative rock.

According to FiveThirtyEight.com, that Pacers team was exceptionally unexceptional. You can follow that link to see their method for determining that, but the idea is that they were as close to league average as statistically possible.

A combination of Larry Bird’s questionable choices, players not being on the same page, and the then landscape of the NBA made Paul George’s last season with the Pacers was a forgettable one with a 42-40 record followed by a four-game sweep in the playoffs.

Pacers painfully breaking even

Going off Basketball-Reference‘s numbers, Indiana’s 15th ranked offensive rating of 108.6 was countered by a 16th ranked defensive rating of 108.8. That’s a -0.2 net rating for the math impaired.

And you may thank that means Indiana played a bunch of close games, but according to NBA Miner, Indiana had an 8-7 record in games decided by five points or fewer. They posted a 4-2 record in games decided by three points or fewer and a 23-19 record in games decided by 10 or more.

Getting back to the point of how painfully breaking even the Pacers were on the season, they had around the league average of 10-point or more comebacks wins and losses with their 9-8 record. For every comeback win, there was almost always a game they blew a 10-point or better lead. For what it is worth, they had five 15-point (and one 20-point) comeback wins, and zero losses.

As far as that 42-40 record, Indiana did have a 7-game win streak that season, but a six-game losing streak followed it. There were three times the Pacers rattled off a 5 or more game streak before matching it with a winning or losing streak.

The Pacers spend 85.4 of the season within two games of .500 or 70 games. They sat at a .500 record after 18 of their games, around 22 percent of the season.

Stuck in the middle

If you’re still listening to the musical accompaniment, you hopefully got the point of how in the middling that Pacers season was.

And that’s why it wasn’t fun at all for the fans, players, coaches, or anyone involved.

That Pacers team was blah. Other than it being Paul George’s final season with the Pacers, there isn’t much to remember about it.

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Because everything is professional wrestling in my mind, I can’t help but think of what the worst thing in wrestling is: Getting no reaction.

If you’re cheered, of course, you’re over and that’s easier to work with. If you’re booed, you can turn that into something. If the crowd isn’t filled with trolls, booing can even be a sign of respect for ‘villains’ that you appreciate how well they do their jobs. If nothing else, you can turn a negative reaction into something entertaining.

That’s one of the reasons why last year’s team was so loved. They didn’t win a title, but they weren’t boring and the season wasn’t a slog. The team engaged the fan base and created a reaction.

But being boring is a sin in both sports and sports entertainment. And that’s ultimately what the Pacers were two seasons ago. They weren’t good, but they weren’t even worthy of booing.