The2012–13 NBA season was the 67th season of theNational Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 30, 2012, when the 2011–12 NBA championsMiami Heat started the season by hosting theBoston Celtics. The2013 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 17, 2013, atToyota Center inHouston,Texas. The regular season ended on April 17, 2013, and the playoffs began on April 20, 2013, and ended on June 20, 2013, with the Miami Heat defeating the San Antonio Spurs in seven games to win the2013 NBA Finals.[1]
On November 9, 2012, theLos Angeles Lakers firedMike Brown after starting the season 1–4 and namedBernie Bickerstaff as interim head coach.[7] This was one of the earliest regular season head coach firings in NBA history.[8] On November 12, 2012, the Lakers hiredMike D'Antoni as official head coach and demoted Bickerstaff back to an assistant head coach.[9]
On December 27, 2012, theBrooklyn Nets firedAvery Johnson after losing 10 out of 13 games in December, which came right after winning the Eastern Conference's Coach of the Month award in November. The team promoted assistantP. J. Carlesimo as interim head coach.[10]
On January 8, 2013, theMilwaukee Bucks andScott Skiles mutually agreed to part ways after starting the season with a 16–16 record. The team promoted assistantJim Boylan as interim head coach.
On January 18, 2013, thePhoenix Suns andAlvin Gentry mutually agreed to part ways. The Suns' 13–28 record at the time of Gentry's departure was the worst in the Western Conference. The team promoted assistant and development coachLindsey Hunter as interim head coach.
The regular season started on October 30, 2012, when the 2011–12 NBA championsMiami Heat defeated theBoston Celtics 120–107. The regular season ended on April 17, 2013. The entire schedule was released on July 26, 2012.
A regular season game took place at theO2 Arena in London, United Kingdom between theDetroit Pistons and the New York Knicks on January 17, 2013. The Knicks won the game 102–87.[11]
The Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers played 81 games instead of the scheduled 82. A Pacers-Celtics game in Boston was initially postponed in the aftermath of the 2013Boston Marathon bombing. Because this happened very late in the regular season (leaving little time in which either team could play on a new date in Boston) and the results would not have affected that season's standings, the NBA decided to vacate the game for good.
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
† – In the aftermath of theBoston Marathon bombing, the NBA canceled the April 16 game scheduled in Boston between the Celtics and the Pacers; the game was not rescheduled because it would have had no impact on either team's playoff seedings.[12]
The Los Angeles Clippers clinched #4 seed over Memphis as the Clippers won the Pacific Division and the Grizzlies finished second in the Southwest Division. Also, the Clippers secured home court advantage over the Grizzlies based on head-to-head record (3–1).
The Los Angeles Lakers clinched #7 seed over Houston based on winning percentage against Western Conference teams (the Lakers' .538 to the Rockets' .462).
The New Jersey Nets moved toBrooklyn and became theBrooklyn Nets, returning to the state the team played in when it first joined the NBA from the ABA back in 1976. The Nets now play at theBarclays Center. The first game there would have pitted the Nets against theNew York Knicks on November 1, but due to thedamage caused by Hurricane Sandy, it was postponed to November 26. Instead the Nets opened the new season in Brooklyn against theToronto Raptors on November 3, winning the game by a score of 107–100.
Thecenter position in theAll-Star Game player balloting was eliminated, beginning with the 2013 game, citing a more perimeter-oriented game and increased use of smaller, faster lineups. Fans can now select three genericfrontcourt players in addition to any twoguards.[67]
On December 21, 2012, theDenver Nuggets shot a record-low 0–22 from the three–point area in a 101–93 loss to thePortland Trail Blazers, who originally held that record by going 0–20 a week prior.[68]
On January 16, 2013,LeBron James became the youngest player to reach 20,000career points,[71] while also reaching 5,000 assists in the same game.
On January 27, 2013,Dirk Nowitzki passedAllen Iverson for 18th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list in a 110–95 victory over thePhoenix Suns.Shawn Marion also played his 1,000th game in the NBA against the team that first drafted him back in1999, which was a pick that, ironically, was first owned by Dallas.
On February 18, 2013,Los Angeles Lakers' ownerJerry Buss died at age 80 at 5:55 a.m. after being hospitalized atCedars-Sinai Medical Center with an undisclosed form of cancer. His immediate cause of death was listed askidney failure.[72][73][74] After the All-star break vs the Boston Celtics, the Lakers debut their uniforms with the Patch of the initials "JB" in honor of Buss.
On February 27, 2013,Tim Duncan became the 15th player to reach 13,000career rebounds in a 105–101 overtime loss to thePhoenix Suns. The Suns would also end an 18-game home winning streak favoring theSan Antonio Spurs.
On February 27, 2013,Stephen Curry scored 54 points but his Warriors lost to the Knicks, 109–105. He shot 18 for 28 from the field, making a Warriors franchise-record 11 three-pointers on 11 of 13 shooting from 3-point range.[75] The 54 points Curry had was the third highest total by a Knicks opponent in the currentMadison Square Garden, trailingKobe Bryant's 61 points on February 2, 2009, andMichael Jordan's 55 points on March 28, 1995. His 54 points were the most anyone recorded in the 2012–13 season. The 11 3-pointers were good for second most all-time in a game, 1 behind the record 12 made by Bryant (1/7/03) andDonyell Marshall (3/13/05).[76]
In a March 12, 2013 game against his former team, theOrlando Magic, Los Angeles LakerDwight Howard tied his own NBA record of 39 free throw attempts. He made 25 of the 39 attempts. He had previously set the league mark with 39 free throw attempts in a game while playing for the Orlando Magic vs. the Golden State Warriors on January 12, 2012.[77][78]
On March 27, 2013, theChicago Bulls endedMiami Heat's 27–game winning streak which began on February 3 when the Heat defeated theToronto Raptors 100–85. The Bulls won the game 101–97. It was second longest in NBA history, only surpassed by the Lakers' 33-game winning streak in the1971–72 season until the Golden State Warriors' 28-game winning streak in 2015.
On April 17, 2013, in theWarriors' regular season finale against thePortland Trail Blazers,Stephen Curry broke theNBA single-season record for most 3-pointers with his 270th of the season. The previous record was held byRay Allen who had 269 in 2005–2006 with theSeattle SuperSonics. Curry added 2 more 3-pointers to finish the season with 272 in 600 attempts, 53 less than Allen attempted to set his record.[80] Curry and teammateKlay Thompson set the record for most 3-pointers by a duo with 483, 48 more than the previous record.[81]
The 2013Boston Marathon bombing led to the cancellation of the game between theIndiana Pacers and theBoston Celtics, which was originally scheduled for April 16.[82] As both teams' playoff positions were already set, the game was not rescheduled, instead they were forced to have abye. Both teams finished the season with only 81 regular season games,[82] making it the first timein 58 seasons that some teams played more regular season games than others.[83]
Dwight Howard led the league in defensive rebounds for the sixth consecutive season and sixth season overall in his career, both league records. He led the NBA in defensive rebounds every season starting with the2007–08 season.
This was the final season for theNew Orleans Hornets, who announced that they would change their name to thePelicans, effective in2013–14. In turn, the team then known as theCharlotte Bobcats would reclaim the Pelicans' former name and records from the original team's tenure in the Queen City, but it would also keep its own records from its2004 founding up to this point.
^Beck, Howard (October 24, 2012)."The All-Star Center is Officially Extinct".New York Times. RetrievedOctober 24, 2012.The N.B.A., bowing to new realities in a multi-positional era, has eliminated "center" from its All-Star ballots for the 2012–13 season. Instead, fans will vote for three frontcourt players and two guards.
