| 1975–76 Indiana Pacers season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Head coach | Bobby Leonard | ||
| Arena | Market Square Arena | ||
| Results | |||
| Record | 39–45 (.464) | ||
| Place | Division: 3rd Conference: 5th | ||
| Playoff finish | First Round (lost toColonels 1–2) | ||
| Local media | |||
| Television | WTTV 4 | ||
| Radio | WIBC | ||
| |||
The1975–76Indiana Pacers season was Indiana's ninth season and last in theAmerican Basketball Association (ABA). One noteworthy thing involving the Pacers this season was that they were the team to have been forced to cancel a game against the recently rebrandedSan Diego Sails franchise after the Sails played in only 11 total games before closing up their franchise on a night where the Pacers were scheduled to play against them in San Diego. Despite later finishing the season with a losing record (which would be their first since theinauguralABA season), the Pacers would be the fifth and final team to make it to the1976 ABA Playoffs (being four games ahead of theSpirits of St. Louis despite them having a bunch of star players to their squad), which was the final playoffs ever done in ABA history. Once there, they would lose the quarterfinal round in what would become their final playoff series match against their original ABA rivals (the only other team that would stay put with their team name starting from the initial 1967-68 ABA season, as well as play in every ABA Playoff event, up until this point in time), theKentucky Colonels 2–1. After that point, the Pacers would ultimately become the final ABA team out of what were considered the four strongest ABA teams in that point in time (theDenver Nuggets,New York Nets, andSan Antonio Spurs) to survive theABA-NBA merger and join theNational Basketball Association (NBA) for the following season, with their ABA dynasty they had early on in the league playing a part in them surviving the merger from the ABA to the NBA.
The next time the Pacers would make the playoffs would be in1981, five years after their original establishment in the NBA, which would also be around the time where they would return to the Eastern Conference after first starting out in the Eastern Division back in the ABA's early days and then playing in the Western Division from 1970 until division play was abolished during the season following the rivalingUtah Stars' departure from the league, and then playing in the NBA's Western Conference from 1976 until 1980. However, they would be the last ABA team to reach theNBA playoffs by that point in time after both the Nuggets and Spurs debuted in the1977 NBA playoffs following the ABA-NBA merger and the Nets (who would end up moving back toNew Jersey following the1976–77 NBA season, but keep the Nets name after first starting out their ABA tenure as theNew Jersey Americans) made their playoff debut in1979.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position(s) | Nationality | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Dan Roundfield | PF |  United States | Central Michigan |
| 2 | 17 | Charles Jordan | SF | United States | Canisius College |
| 2 | 18 | Jim Lee | PG | United States | Syracuse |
| 3 | 27 | Ken Tyler | PG | United States | Gonzaga |
| 4 | 37 | Brian Hammel | G | United States | Bentley College |
| 5 | 47 | John Ramsay | F | United States | Seton Hall |
| 6 | 57 | Mike Flynn | PG/SG | United States Morocco | Kentucky |
| 7 | 67 | Cliff Pratt | G | United States | Shaw University |
| 8 | 77 | Bill Andreas | SF | United States | Ohio State |
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head coach Assistant(s) Legend
|
| Team | W | L | PCT. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver Nuggets * | 60 | 24 | .714 | — |
| New York Nets * | 55 | 29 | .655 | 5 |
| San Antonio Spurs * | 50 | 34 | .595 | 10 |
| Kentucky Colonels * | 46 | 38 | .548 | 14 |
| Indiana Pacers * | 39 | 45 | .464 | 21 |
| Spirits of St. Louis | 35 | 49 | .417 | 25 |
| Virginia Squires † | 15 | 68 | .181 | 44 |
| San Diego Sails † | 3 | 8 | .273 | — |
| Utah Stars † | 4 | 12 | .250 | — |
| Baltimore Claws † | 0 | 0 | .000 | — |
Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team
† did not survive the end of the season.
Bold – ABA champions[1]
| 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 | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don Buse | 84 | 40.2 | 3.8 | 8.2 | 4.1 | 0.4 | 12.5 |
| Billy Knight | 70 | 39.6 | 10.1 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 28.1 |
| Len Elmore | 76 | 34.1 | 10.8 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 14.6 |
| Dave Robisch | 76 | 31.8 | 8.8 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 13.4 |
| Billy Keller | 78 | 29.6 | 2.9 | 3.9 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 14.2 |
| Darnell Hillman | 74 | 29.3 | 9.1 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 13.4 |
| Bo Lamar | 35 | 25.9 | 2.8 | 3.9 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 15.6 |
| Travis Grant | 34 | 16.7 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 9.6 |
| Mike Flynn | 67 | 16.4 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 6.3 |
| Tom Owens | 16 | 15.2 | 4.3 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 6.5 |
| Bob Netolicky | 4 | 13.3 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 4.8 |
| Charles Jordan | 71 | 12.0 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 5.2 |
| Dan Roundfield | 67 | 11.4 | 3.9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 5.1 |
| Ed Manning | 12 | 11.2 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 5.0 |
| Nathaniel Barnett | 12 | 6.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 2.3 |
| 1976 playoff game log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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First Round: 1–2 (home: 1–0; road: 0–2)
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| 1976 schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pacers lose series, 1–2[2]
