2010–11 NBA season


The 2010–11 NBA season was the 65th season of the National Basketball Association. The 2011 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 20, 2011, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Chicago's Derrick Rose was named the 2010–11 NBA MVP. The Dallas Mavericks won their first championship by defeating the Miami Heat 4 games to 2.

Transactions

Coaching changes

Off-season

The 2010 off-season had one of the most talented free agent pools in recent NBA history. The list of free agents included All-Stars LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer and Amar'e Stoudemire, as well as other veteran players such as Ray Allen, Joe Johnson, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O'Neal and Paul Pierce. Below are the major free agency signings, including the sign and trade agreements, that occurred during the off-season.
  • Joe Johnson re-signed with the Atlanta Hawks.
  • Paul Pierce and Ray Allen re-signed with the Boston Celtics, while Jermaine O'Neal and Shaquille O'Neal signed with the Celtics.
  • Carlos Boozer signed and traded to the Chicago Bulls.
  • David Lee signed and traded to the Golden State Warriors.
  • Dirk Nowitzki re-signed with the Dallas Mavericks.
  • Ben Wallace re-signed with the Detroit Pistons, while Tracy McGrady signed with the Pistons.
  • Luis Scola re-signed with the Houston Rockets.
  • Rudy Gay re-signed with the Memphis Grizzlies.
  • Dwyane Wade re-signed with the Miami Heat, while Chris Bosh and LeBron James signed and traded to the Heat. James announced his decision on an ESPN special called The Decision. Many Cleveland fans considered his departure a betrayal.
  • Amar'e Stoudemire signed and traded to the New York Knicks.

    2010–11 NBA changes

  • Cleveland Cavaliers – added new logo and new uniforms, replacing wine and darker gold with dark navy blue with remained wine and dark navy blue added lighter gold to their color scheme, removed the side panels to their jerseys and shorts and changed their wordmark to their jerseys.
  • Golden State Warriors – added new logo and new uniforms, brought back original gold and blue colors replacing dark navy blue, orange and gold, added side panels to their jerseys and shorts.
  • Los Angeles Clippers – added new logo and new uniforms, remained with red, white and blue to their color scheme and removed the side panels to their jerseys and shorts.
  • Minnesota Timberwolves – added new black road alternate uniforms with grey side panels to their jerseys and shorts.
  • New Jersey Nets – moved into their new arena the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
  • Orlando Magic – added new logo, changed their wordmark on their primary logo, added new black road alternate uniforms with pinstripes and blue side panels to their jerseys and shorts and moved into their new arena the Amway Center.
  • Philadelphia 76ers – added new blue road alternate uniforms with red side panels to their jerseys and shorts. Also, Wachovia Center, their home arena, was renamed the Wells Fargo Center due to Wachovia's acquisition by Wells Fargo.
  • Utah Jazz – added new logo and uniforms, replacing dark navy blue, light blue, and purple with remained dark navy blue, added green, gold and yellow to their color scheme and added side panels to their jerseys and shorts.

    Preseason

2010 was played October 3, 2010 – October 7, 2010, featuring the New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers and teams from Europe The Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns played in Indian Wells, California, on October 9 for their outdoor special. The Houston Rockets and New Jersey Nets played in the fifth annual NBA China Games on October 13 in Beijing, and October 16 at Guangzhou. The preseason schedule was released in August.

Regular season

The regular season began on October 26, 2010, and ended on April 13, 2011. The Opening Day schedule on TNT had the Miami Heat face the Boston Celtics, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers' championship ring and banner ceremony and their game against the Houston Rockets. The opener began at 7:30 p.m. ET. On Christmas Day, ABC and ESPN had a five-game set, with ABC broadcasting the game between the Celtics and the Orlando Magic, and the Heat against the Lakers, which started at 2:00 p.m. ET. On Martin Luther King Day, ESPN aired the game between the Chicago Bulls and the Memphis Grizzlies at 1:00 p.m. ET, while NBA TV aired the Sacramento Kings-Atlanta Hawks matchup at 4:00 p.m. ET. TNT capped off the holiday with a doubleheader, beginning with the Magic facing the Celtics, followed by the Oklahoma City Thunder facing the Los Angeles Lakers, beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET. The full schedule was released on August 10, 2010.
Other much-anticipated games include: on October 28, 2010, John Wall, the No. 1 pick in the 2010 NBA draft, made his NBA debut as the Washington Wizards visited the Magic on TNT. On December 2, LeBron James returned to Cleveland for the first time since the Decision as his Heat faced the Cavaliers on TNT. The Celtics–Lakers rivalry renewed on January 30, 2011 and on February 10, 2011 in a rematch of the 2010 NBA Finals. On March 4–5, 2011, the New Jersey Nets and Toronto Raptors faced off in two regular season games held at London's O2 Arena.

Standings

By division

;Eastern Conference
;Western Conference

By conference

Notes
  • z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
  • c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
  • y – Clinched division title
  • x – Clinched playoff spot

    Tiebreakers

Western Conference
  • Los Angeles Lakers clinched #2 seed over Dallas Mavericks upon winning the Pacific Division.
  • New Orleans Hornets clinched #7 seed over Memphis Grizzlies based on winning percentage in the Southwest Division.

    Playoffs

The 2011 NBA Playoffs began on April 16, with the Conference Finals concluding on May 26. The NBA Finals began on May 31 due to both Conference Finals ending in five games. ESPN began their playoff broadcast on April 16, and continued every Friday and Saturday thereafter, with the Sunday–Thursday schedule reserved for TNT and NBA TV. ABC continued broadcasting early-round playoff coverage every Sunday afternoon, with select Saturday afternoon broadcasts. The first round playoff coverage was non-exclusive except for ABC-covered games, in which local sports networks still aired the game in their home market. TNT aired the Eastern Conference Finals while ESPN aired the Western Conference Finals. The NBA Finals were shown on ABC. Nationwide radio coverage was on ESPN Radio for select playoff games, the entire Conference Finals and NBA Finals.

Bracket

Notable occurrences

  • Adidas introduced the Revolution 30 technology, to be used on all NBA team uniforms. The uniforms are 30% lighter than before and also enable moisture management.
  • The New Jersey Nets played their first home regular season game at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on October 27, defeating the Detroit Pistons 104–101. Prudential Center served as the interim home for the team while the Barclays Center was being constructed in Brooklyn, New York.
  • The Orlando Magic played its first regular season game at Amway Center on October 28, defeating the Washington Wizards 112–83. Wizards guard John Wall made his NBA debut.
  • Golden State Warriors guard Jeremy Lin became the first Taiwanese-American to play in the NBA when he debuted in the Warriors' 109–91 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on October 29.
  • The fines accounted for technical fouls were doubled in an effort to reduce excessive complaining.
  • A record 84 international players made the opening day rosters for 30 NBA teams, including rookies Greivis Vásquez of Venezuela and Kevin Seraphin of France. This includes players born in insular areas of the United States, such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but does not include U.S.-born players who represent other national teams.
  • Former Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Lucas died on October 31 of bladder cancer.
  • The New Orleans Hornets were sold by owner George Shinn to the NBA, becoming the first team to be owned by the league.
  • Yao Ming suffers another season-ending stress fracture injury. He only appeared in 5 games this season.
  • The Cleveland Cavaliers lost All-Star forward LeBron James to the Miami Heat via free agency. After having the league's best record for two straight seasons, they lost an NBA record 26 straight games, furthering their turnaround from one of the league's best to one of the league's worst.
  • Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan resigned, ending a 23-year coaching tenure, the longest in any of the four American major professional sports leagues. Two weeks later, the Jazz traded Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and 2 first-round picks.
  • Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen broke the record for most career 3-point field goals previously held by Reggie Miller the record remained for ten years until Stephen Curry broke his record during the 2021–22 season.
  • 2011 NBA All-Star Game: Kobe Bryant joins Bob Pettit as the only four-time NBA All-Star Game MVP awardees; Blake Griffin became the first rookie since Yao Ming to play in the All-Star Game. LeBron James became only the second player to have an All-Star Game triple-double. Amar'e Stoudemire became the first Knick to start in an All-Star Game since Patrick Ewing in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game.
  • The New York Knicks agreed to a blockbuster 13-player deal with the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves which brought Carmelo Anthony to New York on February 22. The Knicks sent Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, 1 first-round pick and 2 second-round picks to the Nuggets in exchange for Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman and Anthony Carter. The Timberwolves sent Kosta Koufos to Denver, Corey Brewer to New York, and received Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph from New York and a second-round pick from Denver.
  • In their February 25 loss against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Detroit Pistons played only six players. Tracy McGrady, Chris Wilcox, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Wallace, Rodney Stuckey, Austin Daye, Jonas Jerebko, and Terrico White did not play in the game. Jerebko and White were injured, while the others sat out in protest of head coach John Kuester. Kuester called the situation "an internal matter."
  • On April 1, the Detroit Pistons retired the #10 jersey number in honor of Dennis Rodman in a ceremony held during halftime of a game against the Chicago Bulls at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
  • 2010–11 marked Shaquille O'Neal's last pro season, as the 15-time All-Star, who played with the Boston Celtics this season, announced his retirement on June 1, 2011, one day after one of his former coaches, Mike Brown, was introduced by one of his former teams, the Los Angeles Lakers.
  • The Chicago Bulls earned the top overall seed for the first time since the 1996–97 season. The Bulls lost to the Miami Heat 4–1 in the conference finals.
  • The Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA championship by defeating the Miami Heat 4–2 in the NBA Finals.
  • Phil Jackson announced his retirement as head coach after the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers were swept 4–0 by the eventual champion Mavericks in the conference semifinals. This marked the first time that Jackson had been on the wrong side of a playoff sweep.
  • The Memphis Grizzlies won the franchise's first playoff game and series in a 4–2 victory over the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round. They became the fourth team to topple the top seed in the first round of the playoffs.
  • Kia replaced Toyota as the official automotive partner of the NBA.