The 2004–05 NBA season was the Pacers' 29th season in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

, and 38th season as a franchise. The Pacers finished third in the Central Division with a 44–38 record. This season also marked the final season for All-Star guard Reggie Miller. (See '' 2004–05 Indiana Pacers season#Regular season'')

Offseason

NBA Draft

Summary

Before the regular season began, the Indiana Pacers were considered a favorite in the Eastern Conference to possibly reach the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is aw ...

, due to a very deep, talented roster including established names such as Reggie Miller, Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson,

Jamaal Tinsley Jamaal Lee Tinsley (born February 28, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Tinsley played college basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones. Following his senior year, he was draf ...

, etc. Al Harrington, a combination forward who had established himself as one of the best sixth-men in the NBA in the past two years, was dealt in the offseason to the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

in return for swingman Stephen Jackson, after Harrington allegedly demanded that the Pacers start him or trade him.

Roster

Regular season

The Malice at the Palace

The Pacers started off the season in an extremely strong fashion, but they took an unexpected turn at the end of a November 19 game against the defending NBA champion

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

. Towards the end of a blowout over the Pistons (who had eliminated the Pacers in the previous year's Eastern Conference Finals) at

The Palace of Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills, commonly referred to as the Palace, was a multi-purpose arena built in 1988 and located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It was the home of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Detroit Sho ...

, the Pacers' Ron Artest committed a hard foul against

Ben Wallace Ben Wallace most commonly refers to: *Ben Wallace (basketball) (born 1974), American basketball player *Ben Wallace (politician) (born 1970), British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace may also refer to: * Benjamin Wallace (circus owner) (1 ...

. Wallace retaliated by pushing Artest, and Artest ran over to the scorer's table and laid atop it in order to prevent himself from being provoked into an altercation with Wallace. Pistons fan John Green threw a cup of beer at Artest, causing Artest to charge into the stands. The situation escalated to a full-scale brawl, with fans and several Pacers taking part. Stephen Jackson followed Artest into the stands while Jermaine O'Neal struck a fan who came onto the court. Jamaal Tinsley picked up a long-handled dustpan in order to use as a weapon, although he was never forced to use it. The game was called a Pacers victory with 45.9 seconds left on the clock and the score 97–82, and the Pacers left the floor amid a shower of beer and other beverages that rained down from the stands. Artest was suspended for the rest of the season without pay for his role in the 'basketbrawl.' Several of the involved players were suspended by NBA Commissioner

David Stern David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020) was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014. Stern oversaw NBA basketball's growth into one of ...

, but the hardest hit were Artest (suspended for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs), Jackson (suspended for 30 games), O'Neal (25 games), Wallace (6 games) and the Pacers' Anthony Johnson (5 games) (O'Neal's suspension was later reduced to 15 games by arbitrator Roger Kaplan, a decision that was upheld by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels). O'Neal was charged with two counts of assault and battery, while Artest, Jackson, Johnson and David Harrison were charged with one count each. Artest's suspension was the longest in NBA history for any suspension unrelated to substance abuse issues, keeping Artest out of a record 73 regular season games and 13 playoff games.

The Aftermath

After the brawl and the consequences that followed, the Pacers fell downward in the Central Division. They went from a legitimate title contender with a record of 7–2, to a team that hovered around .500 in winning percentage, while the Detroit Pistons eventually became the Central Division champions with a 54–28 record. In addition to all the players rendered unavailable due to suspensions, the Pacers also struggled with several injuries to key players. In one game, the Pacers were forced to activate and dress an injured Jeff Foster even though the coaching staff had no intention of letting him play, just so that they could meet the NBA's requirement that each team has at least eight active players at the start of the game; if they did not activate an eighth player, they would have been forced to forfeit the game. Meanwhile, Fred Jones played 40 or more minutes in six consecutive games, simply because the Pacers did not have any shooting guards in reserve due to an injury to Reggie Miller. Despite the difficulties with the suspensions and injuries, the Pacers earned a sixth seed in the playoffs with a record of 44–38, due to strong play by many talented members of the Pacers' deep bench, including Jones, Anthony Johnson, and Austin Croshere, and a resurgence by Miller, whose career had been dwindling in recent years. Despite Miller's resurgence, he announced in February 2005 through his sister Cheryl Miller that he would be retiring from basketball at the conclusion of the 2004–05 season. Throughout the season, the Pacers signed several different players to replace the bench players who had been promoted to starters, including Michael Curry, Marcus Haislip, and others. In a blowout win over the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

on January 4, 2005, Jermaine O'Neal scored a career high in points, with 55. During the fourth quarter, however, he asked to be removed from the game out of respect for Reggie Miller, because he did not wish to break Miller's franchise record of 57 points, which was set during the

1992–93 NBA season Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

. An important reason for their strong finish was the re-acquisition of Dale Davis in March, who had been released by the New Orleans Hornets after being traded there by the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

. He played the final 25 games of the regular season and every playoff game, contributing a strong presence at center. However, Davis' signing coincided with an injury to Jermaine O'Neal that would knock him out for virtually the remainder of the regular season—indeed, O'Neal's first missed game due to his injury was Davis' first game back with the Pacers. So despite the adversity they had gone through, the Pacers made the playoffs for the 13th time in 14 years. In the first round, Indiana defeated the Atlantic Division champion

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of ...

in seven games, winning Game 7 in Boston by the decisive margin of 97–70. The Pacers then advanced to the second-round against the Detroit Pistons, in a rematch of the previous year's Eastern Conference Finals. The series featured games back at The Palace of Auburn Hills, the scene of the brawl that many assumed at the time had effectively ended the Pacers' season. After losing game 1, the Pacers won the next two games to take a 2–1 lead. However, the Pacers could not repeat their victories against the Pistons and lost the next 3 games, losing the series 4–2.

The End of An Era

The Pacers' last game of the playoffs was on May 19, 2005, at home; Reggie Miller, in his final NBA game, scored 27 points and received a huge standing ovation from the crowd. Despite Miller's effort, the Pacers lost, sending Miller into retirement without an NBA Championship in his 18-year career, all with the Pacers. Next season, Miller was honored by the Pacers during halftime of a game against the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Pacific Division (NBA), P ...

on March 30, 2006, when his #31 jersey was retired and he was presented with a

Bentley Continental GT The Bentley Continental GT is a grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British automaker Bentley Motors since 2003. It was the first car released by Bentley under Volkswagen AG management, after the company's acquisition in 1998, and the fi ...

. After the 2004–05 season, the Pacers completed a major overhaul of their roster, including moving Ron Artest, Anthony Johnson, Fred Jones, Austin Croshere,

James Jones James Jones may refer to: Sports Association football *James Jones (footballer, born 1873) (1873–1955), British Olympic footballer * James Jones (footballer, born 1996), Scottish footballer for Wrexham *James Jones (footballer, born 1997), Wel ...

, and others over the next year. Indeed, the Indiana Pacers' 2004–05 campaign, with the retirement of Reggie Miller and the Pacers' last winning season record until

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, marked the end of an era in Pacers basketball.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

, - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , April 23 , @

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

L 82–102
, Stephen Jackson (25) , Dale Davis (10) , Anthony Johnson (5) ,

FleetCenter TD Garden is a multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after its sponsor, TD Bank, a subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Ontario. It opened in 1995 as a replacement for the original Boston Garden and has been k ...

18,624 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 2 , April 25 , @

W 82–79
, Reggie Miller (28) , Anthony Johnson (7) , Anthony Johnson (7) ,

18,624 , 1–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 3 , April 28 ,

W 99–76
, Reggie Miller (33) , Jermaine O'Neal (11) , Anthony Johnson (8) ,

Conseco Fieldhouse CNO Financial Group, Inc. (formerly Conseco, Inc. (from Consolidated National Security Corporation)) is a financial services holding company based in Carmel, Indiana. Its insurance subsidiaries provide life insurance, annuity and supplemental h ...

18,345 , 2–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 4 , April 30 ,

L 79–110
, Stephen Jackson (24) ,

(9) , Anthony Johnson (7) ,

18,345 , 2–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 5 , May 3 , @

W 90–85
, Jermaine O'Neal (19) , Jermaine O'Neal (10) ,

(7) ,

18,624 , 3–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 6 , May 5 ,

L 89–92 (OT)
, Jermaine O'Neal (26) , Dale Davis (14) , Anthony Johnson (4) ,

18,345 , 3–3 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 7 , May 7 , @

W 97–70
, Stephen Jackson (24) , Jeff Foster (12) , Jermaine O'Neal (6) ,

18,624 , 4–3 , - , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , May 9 , @

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

L 81–96
, Jermaine O'Neal (22) , Jeff Foster (13) ,

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

Miller A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...

(3) ,

22,076 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 2 , May 11 , @

W 92–83
, Jermaine O'Neal (22) , Jeff Foster (20) ,

(12) ,

22,076 , 1–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 3 , May 13 ,

W 79–74
, Reggie Miller (17) , Jeff Foster (12) ,

(6) ,

18,345 , 2–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 4 , May 15 ,

L 76–89
, Stephen Jackson (23) , Jermaine O'Neal (13) , Anthony Johnson (6) ,

18,345 , 2–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 5 , May 17 , @

L 67–86
, Jermaine O'Neal (14) , Dale Davis (12) ,

(5) ,

22,076 , 2–3 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 6 , May 19 ,

L 79–88
, Reggie Miller (27) , Jermaine O'Neal (11) ,

(10) ,

18,345 , 2–4 , -

Player statistics

Season

Playoffs

Player Statistics Citation:

Awards and records

* Jermaine O'Neal,

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is a basketball exhibition game hosted every February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's star players. It is the featured event of NBA All-Star Weekend, ...

Additions

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Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Atlantic Division (NBA) ...

, , SG , - style="height:40px" , Dale Davis , , style="font-size: 80%", Signed as free agent , ,

, , C , - style="height:40px" ,

John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...

, , style="font-size: 80%", Signed as free agent , ,

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

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Tremaine Fowlkes Tremaine J. Fowlkes (born April 11, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player at the small forward position. Fowlkes was drafted out of Fresno State by the Denver Nuggets with the 54th pick of the 1998 NBA draft, though he did n ...

, , style="font-size: 80%", Signed as free agent , ,

, , SF , - style="height:40px" , Eddie Gill , , style="font-size: 80%", Signed as free agent , , Portland Trail Blazers, , PG , - style="height:40px" , Marcus Haislip , , style="font-size: 80%", Signed as free agent , ,

, , PF , - style="height:40px" , David Harrison , , style="font-size: 80%", Draft selection , ,

, , C , - style="height:40px" , Stephen Jackson , , style="font-size: 80%", Trade , ,

, , SF , - style="height:40px" ,

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, , style="font-size: 80%", Signed as free agent , ,

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was estab ...

, , SF

Subtractions

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" , - align="center" bgcolor="#dddddd" , style="width:140px", Player , , style="width:70px", Departed , , style="width:210px", New team, , style="width:70px", Position , - style="height:40px" , Kenny Anderson , , style="font-size: 80%", Signed as free agent , ,

, , PG , - style="height:40px" ,

Jamison Brewer Jamison Rudy Van Brewer (born November 19, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. A point guard, he played four years in the National Basketball Association. College career Brewer played two years of college basketball, atte ...

, , style="font-size: 80%", Signed as free agent , ,

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associa ...

, , PG , - style="height:40px" ,

Primož Brezec Primož Brezec (born October 2, 1979) is a Slovenian retired professional basketball player. He is a 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall center. Brezec has played eight seasons in the NBA. Professional career Europe/Asia Brezec grew up in Sežan ...

, , style="font-size: 80%", Expansion draft , ,

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

, , C , - style="height:40px" , Al Harrington , , style="font-size: 80%", Trade , ,

, , PF * An NBA team is normally not allowed to carry more than 12 active players and three inactive players on its roster at any time during the season, but the Pacers were granted an exception to this rule by the NBA due to the Pacers' unusually high number of injured and suspended players.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004-05 Indiana Pacers Season Indiana Pacers seasons Pace Pace

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...