The flow of the game. Rhythm. Tempo. Feel. The psychology of the game. Something the analytics miss. But very real. Soccer gives the best example, IMO, with Germany and Brazil. Germany's system is very much like analytics. It's a consistent machine. Hard to break. Pretty much the same from kickoff to the final whistle but teams start to get mowed down in the end. Brazil is like music. Their tempo and pace swell during the game like a great dance. They will go for long periods of time slowing the pace down and it's infectious. The other team usually slows down to that pace....then wham....they suddenly quicken the tempo and the other team looks like their in a trance.
In basketball, you can see it by who is dictating the game. When a team is flowing, that's the feel. The rhythm. I noticed in your pregame writeup a few games back you mentioned something like it wasn't that the Pels D was vastly improved, it was that the opponents were shooting below percentage. They were shooting below percentage because we disrupted their rhythm. Players and coaches constantly reference this.
Rondo is amazing at this. Curry is a master of it on the level...casual dribble up court then a sudden quick hitch for a surprise shot. You'll notice he also dictates the tempo of the entire game. Ball has the best sense of this with Ingram showing he is second. There have been multiple games that the opposing teams were dictating the play and disrupting our rhythm. Ball entered in and it solidified. This is what Jrue lacks. It's why he is such a great player but just diminishes when controlling the offense. It also explains why he ends quarters so awkwardly. Maybe Zion will have it. I didn't watch him much in college. I don't know. But Ball is currently the lone man on the team that excels in it.