The 1971–72 Indiana Pacers season was the fifth season of the franchise while out in the American Basketball Association. The Pacers would end their season with a worse record when compared to their previous season with an eleven-game decrease in wins. However, Indiana still finished the season with a second-place finish in the Western Division (behind only the defending champion Utah Stars) before winning their second ABA title in three years. In the division semifinals, the Pacers required all seven games played in order to eliminate the Denver Rockets, who finished their season with a 34–50 record. Then, in the Western Division Finals, the Utah Stars were eliminated in seven games, getting revenge on the Stars for the division finals loss they had to them last season. Finally, the New York Nets appeared in the ABA Finals championship series for the first time in franchise history, thought the Nets were defeated by the Pacers in six games in the only series the Pacers didn't take to seven games this season. This would lead to the Pacers winning their second championship in three years, as well as their third ABA Finals appearance in four years after missing out on playing in the 1971 ABA Finals.
Offseason ABA Draft
This draft was the first ABA draft to have a properly recorded historical note of every round in their draft available. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 2 18 Darnell Hillman PF/C United States San Jose State 3 24 John Mengelt SG United States Auburn 4 42 Jim Cleamons PG/SG United States Ohio State 5 53 Clarence Glover SF United States Western Kentucky 6 64 Jeff Halliburton SG United States Drake 7 75 Dean Meminger PG United States Marquette 8 86 Vic Bartolome G United States UCLA 9 97 Tom Crosswhite F United States Dayton 10 108 Larry Weatherford G United States Purdue 11 119 Jim England G United States Tennessee 12 129 Jeff Smith F United States New Mexico State 13 138 Rick Katherman F United States Duke 14 147 Clarence Smith F United States Villanova 15 156 Rich Walker G United States Bowling Green State 16 164 Tom Bush C United States Drake 17 172 Jim Irving G United States Saint Louis 18 179 Bob Bissant G United States Loyola University (New Orleans) 19 185 Rudy Benjamin G United States Michigan State 20 190 Slick Pinkham PG United States DePauw This draft was notable for Indiana due to the Pacers using the final selection that was done in this draft to select a gag name portmanteau player from DePauw University named "Slick Pinkham", who was actually a made-up individual that was a combination of head coach Bobby "Slick" Leonard and Dick Tinkham (the latter of whom actually attended DePauw University and even played basketball for them) to essentially prank the entire American Basketball Association for that specific draft. Their draft period was also notable for them acquiring power forward George McGinnis, a junior from Indiana University as an undrafted prospect; McGinnis would prove to be a key player for the Pacers during the early 1970s while in the ABA, to the point of being one of four Pacers players to have his number retired with the team as of 2025 (and one of three Pacers players to have their number retired while playing in the ABA alongside former Minnesota Muskies draft pick Mel Daniels and Roger Brown, who had previously been banned from the NBA due to perceived involvement in the 1961 NCAA University Division men's basketball gambling scandal).
Roster
<noinclude>
Regular season ABA Schedule Game Date Opponent Result Pacers points Opponents Record 1 2 1971–72 Indiana Pacers Games – Basketball-Reference.com
Season standings + 1971–72 ABA Western Standings Western Division W L PCT. GB Utah Stars 60 24 .714 – Indiana Pacers 47 37 .560 13 Dallas Chaparrals 42 42 .500 18 Denver Rockets 34 50 .405 26 Memphis Pros 26 58 .310 34
Player stats
Regular season PlayerGPMPGFG%3P%FT%TRBAPGPPGRoger Brown 78 38.3 .478 .308 .805 6.4 3.9 18.5Mel Daniels 79 37.6 .505 .000 .703 16.4 2.2 19.2Freddie Lewis 77 35.2 .428 .310 .861 4.2 4.7 15.4Bob Netolicky 83 35.0 .479 .211 .724 9.2 1.0 15.1George McGinnis 73 29.8 .465 .158 .645 9.7 1.9 16.9Rick Mount 78 27.3 .443 .317 .828 2.0 2.9 14.3Billy Keller76 22.8 .426 .331 .879 2.2 3.5 9.7Darnell Hillman 73 19.0 .488 .200 .644 6.5 0.7 7.1Larry Cannon 28 17.1 .383 .167 .718 1.2 2.6 6.6Don Sidle 27 14.6 .503 .000 .633 3.5 0.4 6.5Wayne Chapman 7 10.9 .389 .500 .500 0.7 1.6 2.6Arvesta Kelly 4 10.3 .333 1.8 0.5 1.5John Barnhill 19 10.2 .322 .114 .533 1.0 0.8 3.6Marv Winkler 20 7.8 278 .500 .571 0.8 0.6 2.0Mike Price 4 6.3 .333 1.3 0.3 1.5
ABA Playoffs ABA Western Division Semifinals vs. Denver Rockets Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 March 31 Indiana 102–95 1–0 6,103 2 April 1 Indiana 105–106 1–1 6,521 3 April 4 Denver 122–120 2–1 5,304 4 April 6 Denver 96–112 2–2 6,109 5 April 8 Indiana 91–79 3–2 9,4286 April 9 Denver 99–106 3–35,815 7 April 13 Indiana 91–89 4–38,643 Pacers won series, 4–3
ABA Western Division Finals vs. Utah Stars Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 15 Utah 100–108 0–1 9,854 2 April 17 Utah 109–117 0–2 11,780 3 April 19 Indiana 116–111 1–2 7,489 4 April 22 Indiana 118–108 2–2 13,007 5 April 24 Utah 130–139 2–3 12,526 6 April 26 Indiana 105–99 3–3 8,103 7 May 1 Utah 117–113 4–3 12,724 Pacers won series, 4–3
ABA Finals vs. New York Nets Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 May 6 Indiana 124–103 1–0 7,483 2 May 9 Indiana 115–117 1–1 10,079 3 May 12 New York 114–108 2–1 15,241 4 May 15 New York 105–110 2–2 15,890 5 May 18 Indiana 100–99 3–2 10,079 6 May 20 New York 108–105 4–2 10,434 Pacers won series, 4–2
Awards, records, and honors Roger Brown appeared in the 1972 ABA All-Star Game Mel Daniels appeared in the 1972 ABA All-Star Game Freddie Lewis appeared in the 1972 ABA All-Star Game
References
Pacers on Basketball Reference
External links RememberTheABA.com 1971–72 regular season and playoff results