2003–04 Indiana Pacers season

NBA professional basketball team season March 2026 August 2023 Indiana Pacers 2004 yes 61 21 central 1 1 Rick Carlisle Larry Bird Conseco Fieldhouse Fox Sports Net Midwest, WTTV WIBC Eastern Conference finals(lost to Pistons 2–4) INDThe 2003–04 Indiana Pacers season was the Pacers' 28th season in the National Basketball Association, and 37th season as a franchise.2003–04 Indiana Pacers During the offseason, former Pacers head coach Larry Bird was named President of Basketball Operations. One of Bird's first moves in his new position was to fire head coach Isiah Thomas, after Thomas had led the Pacers to first-round playoff exits for three consecutive years. The defensive-minded Rick Carlisle, former head coach of the Detroit Pistons, was announced as Thomas' replacement. Also during the offseason, the Pacers acquired Scot Pollard from the Sacramento Kings in a three-team trade and signed free agent Kenny Anderson. The Pacers got off to a fast start winning 14 of their first 16 games, and finished the season with a record of 61–21, which was worthy of the Eastern Conference first seed in the playoffs, guaranteed home-court advantage throughout the playoffs for the first time since 2000, and a new all-time franchise-best win–loss record. Jermaine O'Neal was named to the All-NBA Second Team, the first Pacer ever to do so, and even finished third in the MVP voting, which was the highest in the voting any Pacers player had ever reached. Ron Artest was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team, and also was named Defensive Player of the Year, the first Pacer ever to receive this award. Both O'Neal and Artest were selected for the 2004 NBA All-Star Game, with Carlisle coaching the Eastern Conference. Second-year guard Fred Jones won the Slam Dunk Contest during the All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. In the first round of the playoffs, the Pacers swept the 8th-seeded Boston Celtics 4–0. They proceeded to defeat the 4th-seeded Miami Heat 4–2 in the second round, earning the Pacers their sixth spot in the Eastern Conference finals in 11 years. The Pacers fell 2–4 in the Eastern Conference finals to the eventual NBA champions, the 3rd-seeded Detroit Pistons, who were coached by former Pacers coach Larry Brown. PRO BASKETBALL; Flagrant Foul Helps Pistons Put Away The Pacers New York Times June 2, 2004 https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/02/sports/pro-basketball-flagrant-foul-helps-pistons-put-away-the-pacers.html?mcubz=1 August 29, 2017 Following the season, Al Harrington was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, while Anderson went along with him signing as a free agent with the Hawks. NBA draft 2003 NBA draft Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 2 49 James Jones SF United States Miami Roster Indiana Pacers #1D1E4B #FFFFFF #FFD300 #1D1E4B 13 Kenny Anderson basketball PG 6 0 168 1970-10-09 Georgia Tech 23 Ron Artest SF 6 7 244 1979-11-13 St. John's 24 Jonathan Bender SF 6 11 202 1981-01-30 Picayune Memorial HS (MS) 2 Jamison Brewer PG 6 4 184 1980-11-19 Auburn 27 Primož Brezec C 7 2 252 1979-10-02 Slovenia 44 Austin Croshere PF 6 9 1975-05-01 235 Providence College 10 Jeff Foster basketball C 6 11 250 1977-01-16 Texas State 3 Al Harrington PF 6 9 230 1980-02-17 St. Patrick HS (NJ) 8 Anthony Johnson basketball PG 6 3 190 1974-10-02 Charleston 20 Fred Jones basketball SG 6 4 210 1979-03-11 Oregon 33 James Jones basketball, born 1980 SF 6 8 215 1980-10-04 Miami (FL) 31 Reggie Miller SG 6 7 185 1965-08-24 UCLA 7 Jermaine O'Neal PF 6 11 260 1978-10-13 Eau Claire HS (SC) 62 Scot Pollard C 6 11 278 1975-02-12 Kansas 11 Jamaal Tinsley PG 6 3 195 1978-02-28 Iowa State USA Rick Carlisle (Virginia) https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/IND/2004.html 2004–03–10 Regular season Season standings IND IND Playoffs Indiana Pacers 2004 yes #000080 #FFD700 Indiana Pacers First round no yes yes #FFD700 #000080 2 0 2 0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | April 17 | Boston | W 104–88 | O'Neal, Artest (24) | Jermaine O'Neal (11) | Jamaal Tinsley (7) | Conseco Fieldhouse16,605 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 2 | April 20 | Boston | W 103–90 | Jermaine O'Neal (22) | Al Harrington (13) | Reggie Miller (7) | Conseco Fieldhouse17,347 | 2–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 3 | April 23 | @ Boston | W 108–85 | Harrington, Bender (19) | O'Neal, Foster (7) | Ron Artest (5) | FleetCenter17,680 | 3–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 4 | April 25 | @ Boston | W 90–75 | Ron Artest (22) | Foster, Harrington (7) | Jamaal Tinsley (7) | FleetCenter16,389 | 4–0 |- Indiana Pacers Conference Semi-finals no yes #FFD700 #000080 3 0 1 2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | May 6 | Miami | W 94–81 | Ron Artest (25) | Jeff Foster (10) | Jamaal Tinsley (5) | Conseco Fieldhouse18,345 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 2 | May 8 | Miami | W 91–80 | Ron Artest (20) | Harrington, O'Neal (9) | Jamaal Tinsley (9) | Conseco Fieldhouse18,345 | 2–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | May 10 | @ Miami | L 87–94 | Jermaine O'Neal (29) | Jermaine O'Neal (9) | Jamaal Tinsley (5) | American Airlines Arena20,115 | 2–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | May 12 | @ Miami | L 88–100 | Jermaine O'Neal (37) | Artest, Tinsley (8) | Jamaal Tinsley (5) | American Airlines Arena20,128 | 2–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 5 | May 15 | Miami | W 94–83 | Jermaine O'Neal (22) | Jeff Foster (16) | Jamaal Tinsley (8) | Conseco Fieldhouse18,345 | 3–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 6 | May 18 | @ Miami | W 73–70 | Ron Artest (27) | Jermaine O'Neal (13) | Jamaal Tinsley (3) | American Airlines Arena20,136 | 4–2 |- Indiana Pacers Conference finals no yes #FFD700 #000080 1 2 1 2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | May 22 | Detroit | W 78–74 | Jermaine O'Neal (21) | Jermaine O'Neal (14) | Jamaal Tinsley (5) | Conseco Fieldhouse18,345 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | May 24 | Detroit | L 67–72 | Reggie Miller (21) | Jeff Foster (9) | Anthony Johnson (4) | Conseco Fieldhouse18,345 | 1–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | May 26 | @ Detroit | L 78–85 | Jermaine O'Neal (24) | Jermaine O'Neal (9) | Jamaal Tinsley (4) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 1–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 4 | May 28 | @ Detroit | W 83–68 | Ron Artest (20) | Jermaine O'Neal (13) | Jamaal Tinsley (5) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 2–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 5 | May 30 | Detroit | L 65–83 | Artest, Jones (13) | Ron Artest (11) | Jamaal Tinsley (5) | Conseco Fieldhouse18,345 | 2–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 6 | June 1 | @ Detroit | L 65–69 | Jermaine O'Neal (20) | Artest, O'Neal (10) | Anthony Johnson (7) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 2–4 |- IND 2004 yes Player statistics Regular season Player POS Position GP Games played GS Games starter MP Minutes played REB Rebounds AST Assists STL Steals BLK Blocks PTS Points MPG Minutes per game RPG Rebounds per game APG Assists per game SPG Steals per game BPG Blocks per game PPG Points per gameJeff Foster basketballC82 79 1,961 610 64 71 27 497 23.9 7.4 .8 .9 .3 6.1Fred Jones basketballSG 81 2 1,508 126 173 65 18 397 18.6 1.6 2.1 .8 .2 4.9Reggie MillerSG 80 80 2,254 188 249 65 11 800 28.2 2.4 3.1 .8 .1 10.0Al HarringtonPF 79 15 2,441 508 131 80 22 1,048 30.9 6.4 1.7 1.0 .3 13.3Jermaine O'NealPF 78 78 2,788 778 164 59 199 1,566 35.7 10.0 2.1 .8 2.6 20.1Austin CrosherePF 77 0 1,051 243 52 24 14 387 13.6 3.2 .7 .3 .2 5.0Ron Artest Metta Sandiford-ArtestSF 73 71 2,714 385 272 152 50 1,333 37.2 5.3 3.7 2.1 .7 18.3Anthony Johnson basketballPG 73 7 1,598 130 202 64 8 450 21.9 1.8 2.8 .9 .1 6.2Scot PollardC 61 3 678 164 10 23 26 106 11.1 2.7 .2 .4 .4 1.7Jamaal TinsleyPG 52 43 1,378 136 303 84 17 432 26.5 2.6 5.8 1.6 .3 8.3Kenny Anderson basketballPG 44 31 905 81 125 26 5 262 20.6 1.8 2.8 .6 .1 6.0Jonathan BenderSF 21 0 271 40 9 5 11 148 12.9 1.9 .4 .2 .5 7.0Primož BrezecC 18 0 72 15 3 0 3 28 4.0 .8 .2 .0 .2 1.6Jamison BrewerPG 13 1 160 11 17 7 0 32 12.3 .8 1.3 .5 .0 2.5James Jones basketball, born 1980SF 6 0 26 2 0 1 0 7 4.3 .3 .0 .2 .0 1.2 Playoffs Player POS Position GP Games played GS Games starter MP Minutes played REB Rebounds AST Assists STL Steals BLK Blocks PTS Points MPG Minutes per game RPG Rebounds per game APG Assists per game SPG Steals per game BPG Blocks per game PPG Points per gameJermaine O'NealPF16 16 604 146 19 8 36 307 37.8 9.1 1.2 .5 2.3 19.2Reggie MillerSG16 16 455 37 45 18 3 161 28.4 2.3 2.8 1.1 .2 10.1Jamaal TinsleyPG16 16 422 46 80 28 3 129 26.4 2.9 5.0 1.8 .2 8.1Jeff Foster basketballC16 13 307 105 12 13 5 58 19.2 6.6 .8 .8 .3 3.6Al HarringtonPF16 2 427 102 12 23 9 152 26.7 6.4 .8 1.4 .6 9.5Anthony Johnson basketballPG16 0 332 34 34 13 4 73 20.8 2.1 2.1 .8 .3 4.6Jonathan BenderSF16 0 200 28 7 2 14 77 12.5 1.8 .4 .1 .9 4.8Ron Artest Metta Sandiford-ArtestSF 15 15 584 98 48 21 16 276 38.9 6.5 3.2 1.4 1.1 18.4Fred Jones basketballSG 14 0 263 33 16 7 7 66 18.8 2.4 1.1 .5 .5 4.7Austin CrosherePF 13 2 214 40 12 4 3 63 16.5 3.1 .9 .3 .2 4.8Kenny Anderson basketballPG 4 0 19 1 1 1 0 4 4.8 .3 .3 .3 .0 1.0Scot PollardC 3 0 13 4 0 1 0 2 4.3 1.3 .0 .3 .0 .7 Transactions Additions Player Acquired Former teamPosition Kenny Anderson Signed as free agent New Orleans Hornets PG Danny Ferry Trade San Antonio Spurs PF Anthony Johnson Signed as free agent New Jersey Nets PG James Jones Draft selection rookie SF Scot Pollard Trade Sacramento Kings C Subtractions Player Departed New teamPosition Danny Ferry Waived none PF Tim Hardaway Retired none PG Ron Mercer Trade San Antonio Spurs SF Brad Miller Trade Sacramento Kings C Erick Strickland Signed as free agent Milwaukee Bucks PG Awards and records Ron Artest – NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, All-NBA Third Team, All-Star Game, NBA All-Defensive First Team Rick Carlisle – East All-Star Team Game Head Coach Jermaine O'Neal – All-NBA Second Team, All-Star Game References Category:Indiana Pacers seasons Pace Pace Indiana