Why the Indiana Pacers are so great at 'taking things personal'

“After you have a run like last year, then you get swept in the ECF, and all the conversation is about how you don't belong there … guys are gonna be (ticked) off. I think we do a great job of taking things personal.”

But it goes deeper than that. When you take a close look at the way Indiana’s roster is made up, it's rife with players who’ve been continually doubted and shed aside time and time again throughout their careers. 

Of course, it all starts with Haliburton, who may currently look like a modern day Michael Jordan with the way he's been delivering in the clutch all playoffs long, but it wasn’t that long ago that he was a three-star recruit coming out of high school. It wasn't that long ago that he was taking a tumble on draft night because of his funky (in appearance only) jumper. It wasn’t that long ago that, following a season and a half of expectation-defying basketball in Sacramento, Haliburton was awarded by being shipped cross-country to Indiana. Since then, all Haliburton has done is make two All-Star teams, an All-NBA team, and imbue Indiana with the most relevant and exciting era of basketball since Reggie Miller was in town. 

And most of Haliburton’s teammates in Indiana are made of a similarly resilient ilk. And with each upset and come-from-behind victory, this roster construction only continues to look less and less like a coincidence. 

Take Aaron Nesmith or Obi Toppin, for example. Right now, they may seem like crucial, indispensable members of a historically elite offense currently competing for a championship, but it wasn’t that long ago that they were shipped off by Boston and New York, respectively, more so for what they couldn't provide for the team that drafted them than anything else. Or look at T.J McConnell, an undrafted player who’s moulded himself into one of the most steady and dependable backup point guards in the league. Or look at starting center Myles Turner, a player who's dealt with an almost unparalleled onslaught of trade rumors seemingly since the time he first put on a Pacers jersey, and how has he responded? By evolving into one of the more impactful 3-and-D bigs in the league and continuing to be a unicorn in a league full of them.

The list goes on and on, but the common theme is, the Indiana Pacers’ roster, from top to bottom, has been through some real trials and tribulations. Haliburton may try to claim that he and his teammates’ proclivity for taking things personally stems from their youth and perhaps an overuse of social media, but it's becoming clearer and clearer that it goes far deeper than just that.