2003–04 Boston Celtics season

Season of National Basketball Association team the Boston Celtics August 2023 March 2026 Boston Celtics 2004 36 46 Atlantic 4 8 Jim O'Brien John Carroll (interim) Chris Wallace Boston Basketball Partners L.L.C. Fleet Center First round(lost to Pacers 0–4) BOS Fox Sports Net New England WWZN The 2003–04 Boston Celtics season was the 58th season for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association.2003-04 Boston Celtics During the offseason, the Celtics acquired Raef LaFrentz, a teammate of Paul Pierce from the University of Kansas, from the Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics roster move continued in December when Tony Battie and Eric Williams were both traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ricky Davis. In February, Mike James was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Lindsey Hunter and Chucky Atkins in a three-team trade involving the Atlanta Hawks. However, Hunter was waived after the trade and later re-signed with the Pistons. The team also released Vin Baker, who signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks. Celtics head coach Jim O'Brien resigned after a 22–24 start to the season. He was replaced by John Carroll for the remainder of the season. However, the Celtics would lose 12 of their first 13 games under Carroll. When General Manager Danny Ainge stated that the Celtics would be better off missing the playoffs, the statement seemed to motivate the team as they posted a 9–5 record in March. The Celtics, despite finishing fourth in the Atlantic Division with a low 36–46 record, qualified for the playoffs as the number 8 seed, making them the first NBA team to reach the playoffs with a below .500 record since the 1996–97 Los Angeles Clippers, who were swept by the Utah Jazz that postseason. They were swept in four games by the Indiana Pacers in the opening round. Pierce was selected for the 2004 NBA All-Star Game. Following the season, Carroll was fired as coach and replaced by Doc Rivers, who also fired by the Orlando Magic after 1–10 start. Neither of the Celtics' home playoff games against Indiana sold out, an increasingly rare occurrence among any NBA playoff teams by the 2000s. The team only drew over 17,300 to Game 3 and about 16,400 to Game 4, thousands of tickets below the FleetCenter's capacity of 18,624. (In fact, neither did Indiana, who only drew as high as 17,000 to Game 2.) Draft picks 2003 NBA draft Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 16 Troy Bell (traded to Memphis) PG Boston College 1 20 Dahntay Jones (traded to Memphis) SG Duke 2 56 Brandon Hunter PF Ohio Roster Boston Celtics 2003–04 #00703C white #C5B358 #000000 7 Chucky Atkins PG 5 11 160 South Florida 1974–08–14 11 Marcus Banks PG 6 2 200 UNLV 1981–11–19 13 Dana Barros SG 5 11 163 Boston College 1967–04–13 30 Mark Blount C 7 0 230 Pitt 1975–11–30 12 Ricky Davis SF 6 6 195 Iowa 1979–09–23 56 Brandon Hunter PF 6 7 260 Ohio University 1980–11–24 20 Jumaine Jones SG 6 8 218 Georgia 1979–02–10 45 Raef LaFrentz C 6 11 240 Kansas 1976–05–29 0 Walter McCarty PF 6 10 230 Kentucky 1974–02–01 4 Chris Mihm C 7 0 265 Texas 1979–07–16 43 Kendrick Perkins C 6 10 270 Clifton J. Ozen HS (TX) 1984–11–10 34 Paul Pierce G/F 6 7 235 Kansas 1977–10–13 5 Michael Stewart basketball C 6 10 230 University of California, Berkeley 1975–04–25 44 Jiří Welsch SG 6 7 208 Czech Republic 1980–01–27 Jim O'Brien John Carroll (interim) John Carroll Lester Conner Joe Gallagher Dick Harter Frank Vogel https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2004.html 2004–02–19 Regular season Season standings BOS BOS Playoffs Boston Celtics 2004 yes Boston Celtics First Round yes yes no 0 2 0 2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 | April 17 | @ Indiana | L 88–104 | Paul Pierce (20) | Paul Pierce (10) | three players tied (4) | Conseco Fieldhouse16,605 | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | April 20 | @ Indiana | L 90–103 | Paul Pierce (27) | Mark Blount (10) | Chucky Atkins (6) | Conseco Fieldhouse17,347 | 0–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | April 23 | Indiana | L 85–108 | Ricky Davis (16) | Mark Blount (8) | Ricky Davis (7) | FleetCenter17,680 | 0–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | April 25 | Indiana | L 75–90 | Paul Pierce (27) | Mark Blount (13) | Walter McCarty (5) | FleetCenter16,389 | 0–4 |- BOS yes 2004 Player statistics Regular season Boston Celtics |- | style="text-align:left;"|Chucky Atkins† | 24 || 24 || 33.0 || .418 || .351 || .778 || 1.9 || 5.3 || 1.1 || .0 || 12.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Vin Baker† | 37 || 33 || 27.0 || .505 || .000 || .732 || 5.7 || 1.5 || .6 || .6 || 11.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Marcus Banks | 81 || 2 || 17.1 || .400 || .314 || .756 || 1.6 || 2.2 || 1.1 || .2 || 5.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Dana Barros | 1 || 0 || 11.0 || .667 || || 1.000 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || 6.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Tony Battie† | 23 || 6 || 21.8 || .479 || 1.000 || .697 || 5.1 || .9 || .3 || .9 || 5.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Mark Blount | 82 || 73 || 29.3 || .566 || || .719 || 7.2 || .9 || 1.0 || 1.3 || 10.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Kedrick Brown† | 21 || 10 || 19.4 || .455 || .375 || .615 || 3.2 || 1.2 || .8 || .1 || 5.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Ricky Davis† | 57 || 5 || 29.4 || .488 || .380 || .732 || 4.2 || 2.6 || 1.2 || .2 || 14.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Brandon Hunter | 36 || 12 || 11.3 || .457 || .000 || .442 || 3.3 || .5 || .4 || .0 || 3.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Mike James basketball, born 1975† | 55 || 55 || 30.6 || .418 || .381 || .800 || 3.2 || 4.4 || 1.3 || .0 || 10.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Jumaine Jones | 42 || 2 || 8.9 || .344 || .295 || .609 || 1.6 || .3 || .3 || .2 || 2.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Raef LaFrentz | 17 || 1 || 19.3 || .460 || .200 || .769 || 4.6 || 1.4 || .5 || .8 || 7.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Walter McCarty | 77 || 23 || 24.7 || .388 || .374 || .756 || 3.1 || 1.6 || .9 || .3 || 7.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Chris Mihm† | 54 || 16 || 17.4 || .500 || || .644 || 5.1 || .2 || .5 || .8 || 6.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Kendrick Perkins | 10 || 0 || 3.5 || .533 || || .667 || 1.4 || .3 || .0 || .2 || 2.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Paul Pierce | 80 || 80 || 38.7 || .402 || .299 || .819 || 6.5 || 5.1 || 1.6 || .7 || 23.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Michael Stewart basketball† | 17 || 0 || 4.2 || .400 || || .500 || .6 || .0 || .1 || .1 || .3 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Jiří Welsch | 81 || 68 || 26.9 || .428 || .381 || .743 || 3.7 || 2.3 || 1.2 || .1 || 9.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Eric Williams basketball, born 1972† | 21 || 0 || 24.4 || .435 || .344 || .716 || 4.5 || 1.2 || 1.0 || .0 || 11.6 |} Playoffs Boston Celtics |- | style="text-align:left;"|Chucky Atkins | 4 || 4 || 33.3 || .436 || .300 || .895 || 3.5 || 3.8 || .8 || .0 || 13.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Marcus Banks | 4 || 0 || 15.0 || .438 || .400 || 1.000 || 1.8 || 1.8 || .5 || .3 || 5.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Dana Barros | 1 || 0 || 1.0 || .000 || || || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Mark Blount | 4 || 4 || 36.3 || .486 || || .737 || 9.3 || 1.0 || 1.5 || 2.0 || 12.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Ricky Davis | 4 || 0 || 30.8 || .400 || .400 || .688 || 3.0 || 3.5 || .5 || .0 || 11.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Brandon Hunter | 3 || 0 || 3.3 || 1.000 || || || 1.0 || .3 || .0 || .3 || .7 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Jumaine Jones | 2 || 0 || 14.0 || .333 || .000 || || 2.5 || 1.0 || .0 || .0 || 2.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Walter McCarty | 4 || 4 || 31.8 || .478 || .400 || || 5.3 || 2.0 || .5 || .5 || 7.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Chris Mihm | 4 || 0 || 16.3 || .318 || || .600 || 4.5 || .0 || 1.0 || 1.0 || 5.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Paul Pierce | 4 || 4 || 40.5 || .342 || .294 || .839 || 8.8 || 2.5 || 1.3 || 1.0 || 20.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Michael Stewart basketball | 1 || 0 || 2.0 || || || || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .0 |- | style="text-align:left;"|Jiří Welsch | 4 || 4 || 26.0 || .478 || .250 || 1.000 || 3.0 || 2.3 || .5 || .0 || 8.0 |} † Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Celtics only. Transactions Trades July 29, 2003 To Cleveland CavaliersJ. R. BremerBruno Šundov2005 second-round pick To Boston CelticsJumaine Jones October 20, 2003 To Dallas MavericksTony DelkAntoine Walker To Boston CelticsRaef LaFrentzChris MillsJiří Welsch2004 first-round pick December 15, 2003 To Cleveland CavaliersTony BattieKedrick BrownEric Williams To Boston CelticsRicky DavisChris MihmMichael Stewart2005 second-round pick February 19, 2004 To Boston CelticsChucky Atkins (From Detroit)Lindsey Hunter (From Detroit)2004 first-round pick (From Detroit) To Atlanta HawksChris Mills (From Boston)Željko Rebrača (From Detroit)Bob Sura (From Detroit)2004 first-round pick (From Detroit) To Detroit PistonsMike James (From Boston)Rasheed Wallace (From Atlanta) Free agents AdditionsPlayerDate signedFormer teamMike JamesJuly 25Miami Heat SubtractionsPlayerDate signedNew TeamVin BakerFebruary 18New York KnicksLindsey HunterFebruary 25Detroit Pistons References See also 2003–04 NBA season Category:Boston Celtics seasons Boston Celtics Boston Celtics Boston Celtics Celtics Celtics