1978–79 Indiana Pacers season

The 1978–79 NBA season was Indiana's third season in the NBA and 12th season as a franchise.

1978–79 Indiana Pacers season
Head coach	Bobby Leonard
Arena	Market Square Arena
Results
Record	38–44 (.463)
Place	Division: 3rd (Midwest) Conference: 8th (Western)
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	WTTV
Radio	WIBC

Offseason

Draft picks

Main article: 1978 NBA draft

This table only lists picks through the second round.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	3	Rick Robey	PF/C	United States	Kentucky
2	27	Wayne Radford	SG	United States	Indiana

Roster

Indiana Pacers roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB From PF 42 Bantom, Mike 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Saint Joseph's SF 10 Calhoun, Corky 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Penn PG 20 Davis, Brad 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Maryland PG 16 Davis, Johnny 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Dayton C 40 Edwards, James 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Washington C 41 Elmore, Len 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Maryland SF 22 English, Alex 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 190 lb (86 kg) South Carolina SF 24 Green, Steve 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Indiana SF 25 Knight, Billy 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Pittsburgh SG 21 Radford, Wayne 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Indiana SG 14 Sobers, Ricky 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 198 lb (90 kg) UNLV

Head coach Slick Leonard Assistant coach(es) Jerry Oliver Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Regular season

Season standings

Midwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Kansas City Kings	48	34	.585	–	32–9	16–25	12–4
x-Denver Nuggets	47	35	.573	1	29–12	18–23	8–8
Indiana Pacers	38	44	.463	10	25–16	13–28	6–10
Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	10	28–13	10–31	9–7
Chicago Bulls	31	51	.378	17	19–22	12–29	5–11

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Seattle SuperSonics	52	30	.634	–
2	y-Kansas City Kings	48	34	.585	4
3	x-Phoenix Suns	50	32	.610	2
4	x-Denver Nuggets	47	35	.573	5
5	x-Los Angeles Lakers	47	35	.573	5
6	x-Portland Trail Blazers	45	37	.549	7
7	San Diego Clippers	43	39	.524	9
8	Indiana Pacers	38	44	.463	14
9	Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	14
10	Golden State Warriors	38	44	.463	14
11	Chicago Bulls	31	51	.378	21

z - clinched division title

y - clinched division title

x - clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1978-79 NBA Records
Team	ATL	BOS	CHI	CLE	DEN	DET	GSW	HOU	IND	KCK	LAL	MIL	NJN	NOJ	NYK	PHI	PHO	POR	SAS	SDC	SEA	WAS
Atlanta	—	2–2	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	3–1	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–1	2–2	3–1	3–1	1–3	2–2
Boston	2–2	—	1–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–1	1–3	3–1	1–3	1–3	1–3	1–3	2–2	3–1	2–2	0–4	1–3	0–4	1–3	2–2	0–4
Chicago	1–3	2–1	—	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	0–4	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	4–0	0–3	0–4	0–4	1–3
Cleveland	1–3	2–2	3–1	—	1–2	1–3	2–1	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	0–4	0–4	0–4	2–2	2–2	0–4
Denver	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–1	—	2–2	4–0	1–3	3–1	1–3	3–1	2–2	4–0	3–1	3–1	0–3	3–1	1–3	3–1	2–2	3–1	1–3
Detroit	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	—	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–1	0–4	2–2	1–3	1–3	0–4	1–3	1–3	2–2	0–3	1–3
Golden State	3–1	1–2	1–3	1–2	0–4	3–1	—	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	2–2	1–3	1–3	3–1	2–2
Houston	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	—	0–4	3–1	2–1	2–2	3–1	4–0	4–0	0–4	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–1	2–2	2–2
Indiana	3–1	1–3	2–2	3–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	4–0	—	1–3	0–4	2–2	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	1–3	0–4	1–3
Kansas City	2–2	3–1	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–3	3–1	—	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–1	2–2	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–0
Los Angeles	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	2–2	3–1	1–2	4–0	2–2	—	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–0	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2
Milwaukee	0–3	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	—	2–2	3–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3
New Jersey	2–2	3–1	2–2	1–3	0–4	4–0	3–1	1–3	2–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	—	3–1	1–3	2–2	3–0	2–2	0–4	2–2	0–4	1–3
New Orleans	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	0–4	1–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	1–3	—	2–2	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	0–4	0–3	0–4
New York	2–2	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–3	3–1	1–3	0–4	2–2	1–2	0–3	3–1	3–1	2–2	—	2–2	0–4	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	1–3
Philadelphia	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	3–0	3–1	1–3	4–0	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	—	1–3	1–2	3–1	3–1	1–3	3–1
Phoenix	1–2	4–0	3–1	4–0	1–3	4–0	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	0–3	3–1	4–0	3–1	—	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	1–3
Portland	2–2	3–1	0–4	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	2–1	1–3	—	2–1	2–2	1–3	3–1
San Antonio	1–3	4–0	3–0	4–0	1–3	3–1	3–1	1–3	1–3	3–1	2–2	3–1	4–0	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	1–2	—	4–0	2–2	1–3
San Diego	1–3	3–1	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–1	1–2	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–2	0–4	—	2–2	0–3
Seattle	3–1	2–2	4–0	2–2	1–3	3–0	1–3	2–2	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	4–0	3–0	2–2	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	—	2–2
Washington	2–2	4–0	3–1	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–1	0–3	2–2	3–1	3–1	4–0	3–1	1–3	3–1	1–3	3–1	3–0	2–2	—

Player statistics

Ragular season

Player	POS	GP	GS	MP	REB	AST	STL	BLK	PTS	MPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
James Edwards	C	82	82	2,546	693	92	60	109	1,366	31.0	8.5	1.1	.7	1.3	16.7
Ricky Sobers	SG	81		2,825	301	450	138	23	1,404	34.9	3.7	5.6	1.7	.3	17.3
Alex English	SF	81		2,696	655	271	70	78	1,299	33.3	8.1	3.3	.9	1.0	16.0
Mike Bantom	PF	81		2,528	650	223	99	62	1,191	31.2	8.0	2.8	1.2	.8	14.7
Corky Calhoun	SF	81		1,332	238	104	37	19	378	16.4	2.9	1.3	.5	.2	4.7
Len Elmore	C	80		1,264	402	75	62	79	334	15.8	5.0	.9	.8	1.0	4.2
Johnny Davis	PG	79		2,971	191	453	95	22	1,444	37.6	2.4	5.7	1.2	.3	18.3
Wayne Radford	SG	52		649	68	57	30	1	202	12.5	1.3	1.1	.6	.0	3.9
Kevin Stacom†	SG	44		571	61	77	14	1	183	13.0	1.4	1.8	.3	.0	4.2
Rick Robey†	C	43		849	254	53	25	12	370	19.7	5.9	1.2	.6	.3	8.6
Billy Knight†	SF	39		976	174	86	32	5	575	25.0	4.5	2.2	.8	.1	14.7
Steve Green	SF	39		265	52	21	11	3	104	6.8	1.3	.5	.3	.1	2.7
Brad Davis†	PG	22		233	16	43	14	2	59	10.6	.7	2.0	.6	.1	2.7

• ^† Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Pacers only.

Awards and records

• Don Buse, NBA All-Defensive First Team