The 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. 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

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 2 49 James Jones SF Miami

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Playoffs

|- 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

|- 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

|- 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

Player statistics

Regular season PlayerC82 79 1,961 610 64 71 27 497 23.9 7.4 .8 .9 .3 6.1SG 81 2 1,508 126 173 65 18 397 18.6 1.6 2.1 .8 .2 4.9SG 80 80 2,254 188 249 65 11 800 28.2 2.4 3.1 .8 .1 10.0PF 79 15 2,441 508 131 80 22 1,048 30.9 6.4 1.7 1.0 .3 13.3PF 78 78 2,788 778 164 59 199 1,566 35.7 10.0 2.1 .8 2.6 20.1PF 77 0 1,051 243 52 24 14 387 13.6 3.2 .7 .3 .2 5.0SF 73 71 2,714 385 272 152 50 1,333 37.2 5.3 3.7 2.1 .7 18.3PG 73 7 1,598 130 202 64 8 450 21.9 1.8 2.8 .9 .1 6.2C 61 3 678 164 10 23 26 106 11.1 2.7 .2 .4 .4 1.7PG 52 43 1,378 136 303 84 17 432 26.5 2.6 5.8 1.6 .3 8.3PG 44 31 905 81 125 26 5 262 20.6 1.8 2.8 .6 .1 6.0SF 21 0 271 40 9 5 11 148 12.9 1.9 .4 .2 .5 7.0C 18 0 72 15 3 0 3 28 4.0 .8 .2 .0 .2 1.6PG 13 1 160 11 17 7 0 32 12.3 .8 1.3 .5 .0 2.5SF 6 0 26 2 0 1 0 7 4.3 .3 .0 .2 .0 1.2

Playoffs PlayerPF16 16 604 146 19 8 36 307 37.8 9.1 1.2 .5 2.3 19.2SG16 16 455 37 45 18 3 161 28.4 2.3 2.8 1.1 .2 10.1PG16 16 422 46 80 28 3 129 26.4 2.9 5.0 1.8 .2 8.1C16 13 307 105 12 13 5 58 19.2 6.6 .8 .8 .3 3.6PF16 2 427 102 12 23 9 152 26.7 6.4 .8 1.4 .6 9.5PG16 0 332 34 34 13 4 73 20.8 2.1 2.1 .8 .3 4.6SF16 0 200 28 7 2 14 77 12.5 1.8 .4 .1 .9 4.8SF 15 15 584 98 48 21 16 276 38.9 6.5 3.2 1.4 1.1 18.4SG 14 0 263 33 16 7 7 66 18.8 2.4 1.1 .5 .5 4.7PF 13 2 214 40 12 4 3 63 16.5 3.1 .9 .3 .2 4.8PG 4 0 19 1 1 1 0 4 4.8 .3 .3 .3 .0 1.0C 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