2001–02 NBA season

The 2001–02 NBA season was the 56th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning their third straight championship, beating the New Jersey Nets 4–0 in the 2002 NBA Finals.

Notable occurrences

• The Grizzlies relocated from Vancouver, British Columbia to Memphis, Tennessee. They played their first seasons at The Pyramid in Memphis.
• The Hornets played their final season in Charlotte, before relocating to New Orleans for the following season.
• The San Antonio Spurs played their final home game at the Alamodome.
• The 2002 NBA All-Star Game was held at First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kobe Bryant of the Lakers took MVP honors amidst boos from the Philadelphia fans following a 135-120 victory by the West.
• Prior to the start of the season, NBA and Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan, then part-owner of the Washington DC Wizards, announced his second comeback to the NBA, this time with the Wizards.
• The Dallas Mavericks played their first game at the American Airlines Center, not to be confused with the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.
• This was the last season that both NBC and TBS televise NBA games.
• NBA teams wore patches on their jerseys with the American flag and ribbon, in honor of the victims of the September 11 attacks. The Raptors wore the American and Canadian flags on theirs.
• The only Canadian team left in the NBA the Toronto Raptors, after losing 17 of 18 to drop to 30-38, win 12 of their last 14 to finish at 42-40 and go to the NBA playoffs with the seventh seed in the East.
• The New Jersey Nets, who had never won 50 games in a season and had only been to the second round of the playoffs once, won 52 games and went to their first NBA Finals.
• With the Nets appearing in the Finals, the Denver Nuggets remained as the only former ABA team to not reach the Finals.
• This season is one of the most memorable in the history of the Milwaukee Bucks. The team got off to a division-leading 26-13 start, and were 10 games over .500 as late as March 6. However, the Bucks would proceed to lose 16 of their last 22 games and miss the playoffs, one of the biggest late-season collapses for a team that was contending for a division title in March.
• Former All-Star Jayson Williams was charged with the murder of his limo driver on 14 February 2002. He was immediately fired from his spot on NBC's Verizon Wireless at the Half shortly after appearing on TV during the All-Star Game the previous week.
• Marv Albert and Mike Fratello were involved in a limo crash prior to the start of the 2002 Playoffs and were unable to announce for NBC. Marv returned to announce the 2002 Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals.
• The 2002 NBA Playoffs featured several controversial last-second shots. During Game 4 of the series between the Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic, Baron Davis hit a three-pointer at the buzzer that should have counted, but was waved off. Later, Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers was awarded a game-tying three-pointer from half-court against the New Jersey Nets that should not have counted, but was. In the Western Conference Finals between the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers, Lakers forward Samaki Walker hit a three-pointer to end the half that should not have counted (the three points would later haunt the Kings as Robert Horry won the game on a last second shot). After the playoffs ended, it was decided that instant replay was needed in the NBA. In addition, the NBA installed red light beams on the backboard to determine the end of the shot clock and/or the game clock.
• This season marked the first time the league's scoring leader (in this case Allen Iverson) failed to make the All-NBA First Team.
• This was the last year the NBA Playoffs first round format was a best of five game series, it was changed in the 2003 NBA Playoffs to a best of seven game series.

Final standings

By division

By conference

Notes

• y, z – clinched division title
• x – clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.

Statistics leaders

Awards

Yearly awards

• Most Valuable Player: Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
• Rookie of the Year: Pau Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies
• Defensive Player of the Year: Ben Wallace, Detroit Pistons
• Sixth Man of the Year: Corliss Williamson, Detroit Pistons
• Most Improved Player: Jermaine O'Neal, Indiana Pacers
• Coach of the Year: Rick Carlisle, Detroit Pistons
• Executive of the Year: Rod Thorn, New Jersey Nets
• Sportsmanship Award: Steve Smith, San Antonio Spurs

Players of the month

The following players were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month.

Rookies of the month

The following players were named the Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month.

Coaches of the month

The following coaches were named Coaches of the Month.

See also