Indiana Pacers: 4 historical teams to emulate next season

The 2013-14 “Beautiful Game” San Antonio Spurs will teach the Indiana Pacers about selfless excellence

The 2013-14 NBA season is not a good walk down the memory lane for Indiana Pacers fans. While that perspective brings light to the Blue and Gold’s rapid downfall after an excellent first half of the campaign, a lot of fans still remember that season as the year of the San Antonio Spurs.

Against some of the most difficult opponents in the league back then, the 2013-14 Spurs managed to steamroll through the competition with their selflessness and intelligence on the court as a core virtue. Search the web for “best passing NBA team”, and odds are you’ll be flooded with some frenetic and zen-like clips of what many dub as the “Beautiful Game”.

It’s easy to look at that San Antonio team on paper and say that their talent was heads-and-shoulders above most, but context deeply applies here. That Gregg Popovich-led squad was led by the Big Three who were all past their primes and a young Kawhi Leonard who was still far from a star. What made them such an all-time team was their incredible depth which includes a mighty bench squad, masterful coaching which directed a champion without a single player averaging north of 30 minutes per game and most importantly, their lack of an ego as a collective.

The Indiana Pacers can’t possible replicate their trademark ball movement and balance, but their selflessness is the perfect blueprint for the team next season. Like that Spurs team, they are not the most talented or most athletic, but if the players manage to get over themselves and are willing to sacrifice for the guy next to them, the Blue and Gold could march into a memorable campaign next season.