1969–70 Indiana Pacers season

1969–70 Indiana Pacers season
Division champions
Head coachBobby Leonard
ArenaIndiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum
Results
Record59–25 (.702)
PlaceDivision: 1st (Eastern)
Playoff finishABA Champions
(Defeated Stars 4–2)
Stats at Basketball Reference
Local media
TelevisionWLWI 13
RadioWIRE

The 1969–70 Indiana Pacers season was Indiana's third season in the ABA and third as a team. The Pacers finished first in the Eastern Division and won their first ABA title in their second ABA Finals appearance in franchise history after previously losing the ABA Finals the previous season to the Oakland Oaks (who would move to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Caps following that season's conclusion due to financial troubles on the Oaks' end).

In the Eastern Division semifinals, the Pacers swept the newly created Carolina Cougars, who were born following new ownership for the previously existing Houston Mavericks agreeing to move that team following their final season under that name to the state of North Carolina as the ABA's first ever regional franchise, in four games. In the Eastern Division finals, the Pacers eliminated their stateside archrivals, the Kentucky Colonels, in five games. The Western Division champion Los Angeles Stars (who made it to the ABA Finals unexpectedly to many people following the team due to them expecting another losing season at the time and only barely making it to the 1970 ABA Playoffs after making it as the #4 seed in their division by the end of the season) appeared in the ABA Championships for the first time, with the Stars being defeated by the Pacers in six games in what later turned out to be the Stars' final games in the city of Los Angeles. Following this season's conclusion, due to over half of the ABA teams from this season moving and/or rebranding their squads to start the 1970–71 ABA season, the Pacers would move from the Eastern Division to the Western Division (which included the recently moved and rebranded Utah Stars, who would become divisional rivals for the Pacers until they folded operations during the 1975–76 ABA season) for the rest of their ABA tenure (excluding a majority of the 1975–76 ABA season leading to there being no divisions at all following the folding of three teams, including the Stars, by the start of December 1975), with them not returning to play as an Eastern team until the 1980–81 NBA season.

Offseason

ABA Draft

Main article: 1969 ABA draft
Player School/Club Team
Willie McCarter Drake University (Sr.)
Dick Grubar University of North Carolina (Sr.)
Tony Masiello Canisius College (Sr.)
Bob Arnzen University of Notre Dame (Sr.)
Bill DeHeer Indiana University (Sr.)
Dave Golden Duke University (Sr.)
Billy Keller Purdue University (Sr.)
Gerald McKee Ohio University (Sr.)
Ron Peret Texas A&M University (Sr.)
John Jamerson Fairmount State College (Sr.)
Jim Stephenson University of Maine (Sr.)

Roster

1969–70 Indiana Pacers roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
SG 12 John Barnhill 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) March 20, 1938 Tennessee State
PF 43 Art Becker 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) January 12, 1942 Arizona State
SF 35 Roger Brown 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) May 22, 1942 Dayton
SG 30 Steve Chubin 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) February 8, 1944 Rhode Island
C 34 Mel Daniels 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) July 20, 1944 New Mexico
PF 33 Ollie Darden 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) July 28, 1944 Michigan
SF 42 Bobby Joe Edmonds 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) March 8, 1941 Tennessee State
SF 30 John Fairchild 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) April 28, 1943 BYU
G 15 Dick Grubar 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 184 lb (83 kg) July 26, 1947 North Carolina
SG 11 Billy Keller 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 177 lb (80 kg) August 30, 1947 Purdue
PG 14 Freddie Lewis 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) July 1, 1943 Arizona State
G 23 Jerry McKee 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) August 4, 1946 Ohio
SF 32 Jay Miller 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) July 19, 1943 Notre Dame
PF 24 Bob Netolicky 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) August 2, 1942 Drake
PG 33 Barry Orms 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) May 1, 1946 Saint Louis
PG 44 Tom Thacker 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) November 2, 1939 Cincinnati
Head coach
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Game Date Opponent Result Pacers points Opponents Record
1
2

[1]

Season standings

1969–70 ABA Eastern Standings
Western Division W L PCT. GB
Indiana Pacers 59 25 .702 –
Kentucky Colonels 45 39 .536 14
Carolina Cougars 42 42 .500 17
New York Nets 39 45 .464 20
Pittsburgh Pipers 29 55 .345 30
Miami Floridians 23 61 .274 36

[2]

Awards, records, and honors

Player stats

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game

Regular season

Player GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% TRB APG PPG
Roger Brown 84 41.6 .498 .333 .813 7.4 4.7 23.0
Bob Netolicky 82 39.3 .483 .286 .683 10.7 1.5 20.6
Mel Daniels 83 36.6 .473 .000 .675 17.6 1.6 18.7
Freddie Lewis 81 35.5 .421 .266 .790 3.4 3.6 16.4
John Barnhill 77 30.8 .394 .261 .664 2.2 4.1 11.4
Art Becker 82 18.3 .521 .000 .810 4.6 0.5 8.9
Bill Keller 82 18.1 .397 .273 .850 2.1 2.9 8.7
Barry Orms 9 15.9 .425 .000 .654 4.1 1.4 5.7
Tom Thacker 70 14.5 .330 .256 .551 3.0 2.6 2.7
Steve Chubin 32 11.9 .441 .500 .833 1.3 2.2 4.2
Ollie Darden 26 11.1 .388 .250 .696 3.5 0.5 4.3
John Fairchild 3 8.7 .167 .500 3.0 0.7 1.0
Jay Miller 52 8.0 .449 .000 .719 1.5 0.3 3.7
Bobby Edmonds 3 4.0 .200 .333 1.3 0.0 1.0
Dick Grubar 2 4.0 .667 0.0 0.5 2.0
Jerry McKee 1 3.0 .000 0.0 0.0 0.0

Transactions

  • October 9, 1969
    • Traded George Peeples and Ron Perry to the Carolina Cougars for Arthur Becker, Spider Bennett and Tony Jackson.
  • October 28, 1969
    • Traded John Fairchild to the Kentucky Colonels for cash.
  • November 11, 1969
    • Traded cash to the New York Nets for Stephen Chubin.
    • Waived Bobby Edmonds.
  • January 22, 1970
    • Drafted Rick Mount in the ?? round (?? pick) of the 1970 ABA Draft.
  • January 31, 1970
    • Claimed Ollie Darden on waivers from the Kentucky Colonels.
  • March 9, 1970
    • Signed Rick Mount.
  • March 17, 1970
    • Stephen Chubin claimed on waivers by the Kentucky Colonels.

Playoffs

Eastern Division Semifinals vs Carolina Cougars[3]

Game Date Location Result Record Attendance
1 April 18 Indiana 123–105 1–0 6,123
2 April 19 Indiana 103–98 2–0 6,341
3 April 22 Carolina 103–98 3–0 3,381
4 April 24 Carolina 110–106 4–0 5,211

Pacers win series, 4–0

Eastern Division Finals vs Kentucky Colonels

Game Date Location Result Record Attendance
1 May 1 Indiana 114–110 1–0 5,939
2 May 2 Indiana 110–121 1–1 7,007
3 May 3 Kentucky 114–110 2–1 3,024
4 May 5 Kentucky 111–103 3–1 3,476
5 May 6 Indiana 117–103 4–1 5,453

Pacers win series, 4–1

ABA Finals vs Los Angeles Stars

Game Date Location Result Record Attendance
1 May 15 Indiana 109–93 1–0 7,881
2 May 17 Indiana 114–111 2–0 9,014
3 May 18 Los Angeles 106–109 2–1 5,780
4 May 19 Los Angeles 142–120 3–1 7,027
5 May 23 Indiana 113–117 3–2 10,548
6 May 25 Los Angeles 111–107 4–2 8,233

Pacers win championship series, 4–2

References

  1. ^ 1969–70 Indiana Pacers Games – Basketball-Reference.com
  2. ^ "1969-70 ABA Season Summary".
  3. ^ "Remember the ABA: 1969-70 Regular Season Standings and Playoff Results".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.