Which statistic indicates a team's ability to retain possessions?

The turnover ratio is a crucial statistic as it directly measures a team's ability to retain possessions throughout a game. Essentially, this metric evaluates how many turnovers a team commits compared to how many possessions they maintain, which is integral to determining overall efficiency and control during a game. A lower turnover ratio indicates that a team makes fewer mistakes that lead to lost possessions, allowing them to maximize their scoring opportunities.

In contrast, while other statistics such as scoring average, rebound differential, and field goal percentage provide insights into various components of the game, they do not specifically quantify possession retention. For instance, scoring average merely indicates how many points a team scores on average, but does not reflect how many possessions they had or how many they lost. Rebound differential assesses the difference between a team's offensive and defensive rebounds, while field goal percentage measures shooting efficiency. Neither of these statistics accurately conveys possession retention like turnover ratio does. Therefore, focusing on turnover ratio is essential for understanding a team's ability to maintain control over the game and its overall performance.