| 1969–70 Indiana Pacers season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
ABA champions | |||
Division champions | |||
| Head coach | Bobby Leonard | ||
| Arena | Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum | ||
| Results | |||
| Record | 59–25 (.702) | ||
| Place | Division: 1st (Eastern) | ||
| Playoff finish | ABA Champions (DefeatedStars 4–2) | ||
Stats atBasketball Reference | |||
| Local media | |||
| Television | WLWI 13 | ||
| Radio | WIRE | ||
| |||
The1969–70Indiana Pacers season was Indiana's third season in theABA and third as a team. Near the end of the regular season, on April 12, 1970, the Pacers would record an ABA record-high 177 points scored in a match played against thePittsburgh Pipers at home; as of March 27, 2025, their 177–135 win against Pittsburgh would be the highest overall scoring game the Pacers ever had when you include their history in the ABA (if you exclude it, however, their highest-scoring game happened on March 27, 2025, against theWashington Wizards in theNBA with a 162–109 blowout win[1]).[2] In fact, the Pacers' 177 points scored would be a professional basketball record for the most points scored by a team (either in the ABA or the NBA) by one team until both theDenver Nuggets (the current iteration of theDenver Rockets) andDetroit Pistons (who previously won the lowest-scoring NBA game ever recorded back when they were theFort Wayne Pistons) would break the Pacers' ABA record on the same night on December 13, 1983, with Detroit winning thehighest-scoring NBA game recorded (as of 2025) over Denver with a 186–184 triple-overtime score, as well as remain a record for the highest scoring effort by a team without going to overtime in either league and would still remain the third-highest scoring effort ever recorded by a current NBA team if the ABA's records were to count alongside the NBA's records.[3] The Pacers finished first in the Eastern Division and won theirfirst ABA title in their second ABA Finals appearance in franchise history after previously losing the ABA Finals the previous season to theOakland Oaks (who would move toWashington, D.C. to become theWashington Caps following that season's conclusion due to financial troubles on the Oaks' end).
In the Eastern Division semifinals, the Pacers swept the newly createdCarolina Cougars, who were born following new ownership for the previously existingHouston Mavericks agreeing to move that team following their final season under that name to the state ofNorth Carolina as the ABA's first ever regional franchise, in four games. In the Eastern Division finals, the Pacers eliminated their stateside archrivals, theKentucky Colonels, in five games. The Western Division championLos 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 the1970 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 ofLos 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 the1970–71 ABA season, the Pacers would move from the Eastern Division to the Western Division (which included the recently moved and rebrandedUtah Stars, who would become divisional rivals for the Pacers until they folded operations during the1975–76 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 the1980–81 NBA season.
| 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.) |
| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Head coach Legend
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| Game | Date | Opponent | Result | Pacers points | Opponents | Record |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Eastern Division Semifinals vsCarolina Cougars[6]
| 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 vsKentucky 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 vsLos 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
