TheNBA All-Star Game was held at theMCI Center in Washington, D.C.. The East won 111–110, with Philadelphia'sAllen Iverson being named the game's Most Valuable Player. The game is noted for the Eastern Conference's 21-point comeback in the fourth quarter.
Rick Pitino resigned as head coach and president of theBoston Celtics, ending a three-plus-year tenure filled with turmoil, disappointment and three consecutive below .500, non-playoff seasons.[2]
TheLos Angeles Lakers win their second straight title by going 15–1 in the playoffs, then the best playoff winning percentage in NBA history (later surpassed by the 2017 Golden State Warriors).
TheToronto Raptors advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time in franchise history, defeating the New York Knicks three games to two. The Raptors would eventually lose in the second round to the Philadelphia 76ers four games to three.
Prior to the season,Miami Heat centerAlonzo Mourning announced that he suffered akidney disorder and missed the first five months of the season. Mourning would receive a kidney transplant two years later.
Effective of this season, the league now permitted players to wear knee-length shorts by default, although players likeJohn Stockton opted to continue wearing short shorts during the season. This would be the case for other players in the future as players likeChris Douglas-Roberts in the2014–15 season andLeBron James for some of the2015–16 season would opt to wear short shorts.
Three teams in the Western Conference who missed the playoffs won 40 or more games. The ninth-placedHouston Rockets finished the season with a 45–37 record, the tenth-placedSeattle SuperSonics finished with a 44–38 record, and the eleventh-placedDenver Nuggets ended the season with a 40–42 record.
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.
