The quality of Rick Carlisle that most impresses his current players with the Pacers is his adaptability. Some of them weren’t even alive when he got his first head coaching job with the Pistons in 2001 and none had made it past elementary school, but they know the game was much different then and that Carlisle has had to change with the times.
“From the day he got here until now, our style of play has changed,” point guard T.J. McConnell said. “He’s a guy who has always empowered his assistant coaches and is trying to learn. When you put all that together, it turns into what he’s built here. It’s a pretty incredible thing.”
To look at Carlisle’s career from its beginning to now is to take a journey that tells the story of how the NBA has changed and how Carlisle has changed with it. Carlisle became the 11th coach in NBA history to crack the 1,000-win threshold with a 114-112 victory over the Hornets in Charlotte on Thursday. It snapped a franchise record 13-game losing streak.
Here’s a look at some of Carlisle’s milestone victories and how they form the broader picture of his career.
Win No. 1
Nov. 1, 2001 — Detroit Pistons 90, Memphis Grizzlies 80
Carlisle was an assistant coach for the Pacers under Larry Bird through the 1999-2000 season when they reached the Finals, but Bird decided to retire from coaching, the Pacers hired Isiah Thomas and Carlisle spent the year in between visiting with other teams and coaches preparing to get his first head coaching job. The Pistons gave him a chance after firing Alvin Gentry mid-season in 1999-2000 and then firing his replacement, George Irvine, right after the 2000-01 season. Irvine had closed the 1999-2000 season with a 14-10 record as the interim coach but was let go after going 32-50 in 2000-01.
Carlisle’s first win with the Pistons came in his second game and it served as a blueprint for how Detroit would go from a lottery team to an Eastern Conference contender. Ben Wallace recorded five blocks, six steals and 11 rebounds in the game to start on his path to his first Defensive Player of the Year title. Jerry Stackhouse scored 34 points and Clifford Robinson added 24. The Pistons held the Grizzlies — who were playing in their first regular season game in Memphis’ Pyramid Arena after moving from Vancouver — to 35.9% shooting (28 of 78) including 22.2% 3-point shooting (4 of 18) and 0.83 points per possession. They would go on to win 50 games and the Central Division championship.
Playoff Win No. 1
April 21, 2002 — Pistons 85, Raptors 63
Playoff wins don’t count to the overall total, but they still represent achievements to themselves. Carlisle has had his postseason struggles, but he did claim his first playoff win in his first attempt. The No. 2 seed Pistons suffocated a No. 7 Raptors squad that included late-career Hakeem Olajuwon. The Raptors were 23 of 77 from the floor (29.9%) and 2 of 12 from 3-point range. They scored just nine points in the first quarter and only cracked the 20-point mark once in a period. Jerry Stackhouse scored 20 points and Ben Wallace posted an absurd stat line with 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting, 20 rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
The rest of the series was much more competitive and it went the full five games but the Pistons won Game 5 85-82 to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals where they lost to a Boston Celtics team led by Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce.
Win No. 100
April 14, 2003 — Pistons 89, Cavaliers 88
The Pistons won 50 games in each of Carlisle’s two seasons there so he got to 100 wins relatively quickly, but the 100th win itself wasn’t easy. They still had something to play for as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs was on the line and they were playing a 16-win Cavaliers team that was on its way to taking LeBron James No. 1 in the draft in June. However they were playing without Ben Wallace and the Cavs fought them step-for-step until the final seconds.
Neither team managed a field goal in the game’s final 4:47 but the Pistons got more done at the free-throw line and a foul shot by Mehmet Okur with 18 seconds to go gave the Pistons the lead and the Cavs missed on multiple opportunities on their final possession.
The Pistons went on to reach the Eastern Conference Finals but lost to Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets. Despite Carlisle’s success, the Pistons fired him and hired Larry Brown, who led them to the 2003-04 NBA title.
Win No. 200
April 5, 2005 — Pacers 97, Knicks 79
Carlisle left the Pistons and found a landing spot with the Pacers, who had since hired Larry Bird as their president of basketball operations. Carlisle won 61 games in his first season, 2003-04, to claim the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, but the Pacers lost to the Pistons in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Pacers seemed to be on track to take another crack at the title in 2004-05 as they started the season 7-2, but the Malice at the Palace changed everything with Metta Sandiford-Artest drawing a suspension for the rest of the season, Stephen Jackson getting a 30-game suspension, Jermaine O’Neal getting 15 games and even Reggie Miller getting a game.
Still, Carlisle helped keep the season from going totally off the rails as they won 44 games and a first-round series over Boston before losing to the Pistons in the second round. The 39th win of the season and the 200th of Carlisle’s career came at Madison Square Garden. Miller, then 39, went 3 of 15 from the floor in the road arena he most relished playing in, but Jackson went off for 33 points with six 3-pointers. The Pacers held the Knicks — led by Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford — to just 29 points on 10 of 36 shooting in the second half.
Win No. 300
Dec. 30, 2008 — Mavericks 107, Timberwolves 100
Carlisle and the Pacers never fully recovered from the Malice at the Palace and the 44-win season in 2004-05 was followed by a 41-41 season and a 35-47 record the year later. Carlisle was fired and replaced by Jim O’Brien. Carlisle spent a year away from coaching but was then hired in 2008 by Mark Cuban to try to help a Dallas team that had reached the NBA Finals in 2006 but had failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs in the next two seasons.
His first season got off to a slow start, Carlisle admits, because he was calling too many plays and veteran point guard Jason Kidd was looking to him to direct traffic. Carlisle realized he should put more freedom in his players’ hands and that sparked a run to 50 wins and the Western Conference semifinals. Win No. 19 and his 300th overall win came in the midst of a string of six victories in seven games. Kidd posted 14 points and 16 assists, Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and 13 rebounds and Jason Terry hit five 3-pointers and scored 29 points off the bench.
Win No. 400
Dec. 1, 2010 — Mavericks 100, Timberwolves 86
The Mavericks won 55 games in Carlisle’s second season to claim the Southwest Division title and the No. 2 seed in the West but lost to San Antonio in the first round. They reloaded after that to claim the first NBA championship for both Carlisle and the Mavericks in 2010-11.
Win No. 400 for Carlisle came in the middle of a 12-game winning streak. The Mavericks survived rough nights from Kidd and Nowitzki, who combined to shoot 6 of 22 from the floor. However, Tyson Chandler grabbed 19 rebounds and Shawn Marion Jason Terry and JJ. Barea combined for 42 points off the bench as the Mavericks held Minnesota to 39% shooting.
The Title
June 12, 2011, Mavericks 105, Heat 95
Again, it doesn’t count toward his regular-season total, but the Mavericks’ 2011 NBA title marks the most important milestone win of Carlisle’s career. Dallas was a heavy underdog going into the Finals against Miami in the first season of the Heatles Era after LeBron James had taken his talents to South Beach and convinced Chris Bosh to join him with Dwyane Wade. However, the Mavericks managed to slow down James, holding him to just 17.8 points per game in the series, and they got brilliant performances from Nowitzki and Terry as well as contributions from up and down the lineup. In Game 6, Terry scored 27 points on 11 of 16 shooting, Nowitzki had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and J.J. Barea had 15 points to clinch the title.
Win No. 500
Feb. 6, 2013 — Mavericks 105, Trailblazers 99
The Mavericks hit a bit of a slow down after the title season. J.J. Barea left for free agency in 2011 and Jason Kidd and Jason Terry left in free agency in the summer of 2012. The Mavericks had to find other pieces — some younger, some older — to surround Nowitzki and Shawn Marion with and never quite found the same level of success that they did in the title season.
Still, the Mavericks finished .500 or better for each of the next five years after the title, making the playoffs in four of those seasons. The new pieces had a lot to do with win No. 500 as O.J. Mayo scored 28 points in the Mavericks win and Vince Carter had 17 off the bench. The Mavs held Damian Lillard and the Blazers to 17 fourth-quarter points to put the game away. Starting with that game, Dallas won 21 of its last 34 games to finish 41-41 exactly.
Win No. 600
Jan. 30, 2015 — Mavericks 93, Heat 72
The 2014-15 season was Carlisle’s last 50-win campaign in Dallas. It was an interesting collection of talent with a 36-year-old Nowitzki, Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons leading the team in scoring and Rajon Rondo joining the team in a midseason trade. The group finished fifth in the NBA in offensive rating and at least on the night of win No. 600, it played stout defense. They held the post-LeBron Heat — led by Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers and Hassan Whiteside — to 33% shooting and just 27 second-half points. They also got 20 points off the bench from Charlie Villanueva.
Win No. 700
Dec. 2, 2017 — Mavericks 108, Clippers 82
By the 2017-18 season the Mavericks were in full rebuild mode. Nowitzki was in his 19th season at age 39. They had taken Dennis Smith Jr. with the No. 9 pick in the 2017 draft and started him most of the season at point guard, but that was a precursor to their drafting of Luka Doncic the following year. Harrison Barnes was the team’s leading scorer and after that they relied on a fairly eclectic mix of players. They started 5-16 so their fate was sealed fairly early in the season.
For Win 700, however, they got some big performances from the old guard. Nowitzki made all five of his 3-pointers for 16 points. J.J. Barea, then 33, scored 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting including 4 of 5 from 3-point range with 10 assists. They held a Clippers team led by Lou Williams to 34.9% shooting.
By this point, Carlisle was already in fairly lofty company. Carlisle, Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers were the only active coaches with more than 700 wins at the time and there were just 18 who had ever passed the threshold. Nate McMillan and Erik Spoelstra have cracked the mark since to make it 20.
Win No. 800
Jan. 13, 2021 — Mavericks 104, Hornets 93
Dallas drafted Doncic in 2018 and Carlisle re-fashioned the Mavericks in his image. Doncic earned Rookie of the Year honors, then earned first-team All-NBA honors each of the next five seasons. The Mavericks got back into the playoffs in the COVID bubble in 2019-20 after a three-year absence and then in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, they got back there again.
For win No. 800 — which put Carlisle in the company of just 15 others — Doncic was brilliant, posting 34 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, two steals and four blocks. Kristaps Porzingis had stepped in to play the former Nowitzki role of the floor-stretching big man, and he scored 16 points with four 3-pointers. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 18 points, forward Willie Cauley-Stein recorded 14 rebounds and the Mavericks took a 32-16 first-quarter lead and coasted the rest of the way.
Win No. 900
Nov. 6, 2023 — Pacers 152, Spurs 111
Carlisle left Dallas after the 2020-21 season shortly after general manager Donnie Nelson had also mutually parted ways with the team. He would be replaced by Jason Kidd, who had denied him an Eastern Conference title as a player when Kidd was with the Nets and then won him a title as a player with the Mavericks. Carlisle took on a totally new challenge by going back to the Pacers. Over the course of the 2021-22 season, he determined that a dramatic roster turnover was necessary; in February of 2021, the Pacers acquired Tyrese Haliburton in a trade involving Domantas Sabonis. Carlisle saw an opportunity to use Haliburton as the central figure in an offense that would operate differently than any other that he’d coached.
By the early part of the 2023-24 season, that offense was operating at its highest gear. By the end of December of 2023, the Pacers realized they needed to shift focus to defense because the shootouts were unsustainable, but in early November, they were still putting up video-game numbers. In Win No. 900, they hit 20 3-pointers with Buddy Hield hitting five of them off the bench and Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith hitting three each. Haliburton had 23 points and eight assists, Myles Turner posted a 15-point, 11-rebound triple-double. They also slowed down rookie Victor Wembanyama, holding him to 13 points on 3 of 12 shooting.
It was one of four games that season in which the Pacers scored at least 150 points and one of 11 in which they scored at least 140. They would go on to lead the NBA in scoring with the highest scoring average of any team in 40 years.
Win No. 939
April 1, 2024 — Pacers 133, Nets 111
Carlisle doesn’t like to talk about any of his coaching milestones so he certainly didn’t want to say much about the win that moved him past Celtics legend Red Auerbach on the all-time list. But he did make a point to thank Auerbach for drafting him in 1984, which set Carlisle’s career into motion. Carlisle was part of the 1985-86 Celtics championship team; he played for Bill Fitch, who later took him under his wing as an assistant, and then worked for Larry Bird, all things that happened in large part because Auerbach gave him a shot.
Carlisle had a lot he didn’t like in Win No. 939, but Haliburton posted 27 points and 13 assists, and Jalen Smith had 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
The Eastern Conference title
May 31, 2025 — Pacers 125, Knicks 108
Again, postseason wins don’t count to the total, but returning to the NBA Finals with the Pacers did a lot to cement Carlisle’s legacy. He was probably already a lock for the Hall of Fame, but the adaptation of style he showed during the Pacers’ rebuild made him even more of a certainty.. Even just the adjustment he made from the 2023-24 team that lived on offensive explosion to the 2024-25 squad that adhered to the wear-down effect — using frenetic offensive pace but also suffocating defensive pressure — stood out as a genius move.
The Pacers put themselves in position to win the East with a series of remarkable comebacks that included last-minute heroics by Haliburton and others. However, the Pacers were in control for most of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals and cruised through the fourth. Pascal SIakam had 31 points, Tyrese Haliburton posted 21 points and 13 assists and the Pacers had seven players score in double figures en route to their first NBA Finals trip in 25 years.
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Rick Carlisle wins 1,000th game; milestone victories through the years
