2011-12 NBA Season
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free 2011-12 NBA Season trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The 2011-12 NBA season almost did not happen. A five-month lockout wiped out the autumn, and when the owners and players finally shook hands the league squeezed a shortened schedule into about four months. Teams played three nights in a row, veterans sat out to save their legs, and the standings swung from week to week. This quiz covers the whole compressed year: who finished where in the standings, the best and worst records, the playoff seeds, the award winners, the record-setting individual nights, the trade the league office blocked, and a postseason full of injuries and upsets. It is built for fans who lived through that strange winter and for anyone settling an argument about who won what. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will leave knowing more than the final score.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which team won the 2012 NBA Finals in five games, claiming a second championship and a first since 2006?
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat lost the opener, then won four straight, and their 14 three-pointers in the clinching game tied a Finals record.
Q 02On which holiday did the lockout-delayed 2011-12 NBA regular season finally tip off with five games?
Christmas Day
Christmas Day carried five games instead of the three first planned, and the league rebuilt the whole schedule from scratch around open arena dates.
Q 03Which undrafted guard, waived twice in December 2011, led the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak that February?
Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin scored 38 points against the Lakers during the run and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated two weeks in a row.
Q 04Which team went 7-59 in 2011-12, finishing with the lowest winning percentage in NBA history?
Charlotte Bobcats
The Charlotte Bobcats lost their last 23 games to finish at .106, sinking below the .110 mark that had stood as the league's worst since 1973.
Q 05Which forward won both the regular-season MVP and Finals MVP awards in 2011-12, capturing his first NBA title?
LeBron James
LeBron James averaged 28.6 points, 10.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists in the Finals and closed the series with his first triple-double of the season.
Q 06Which All-Star point guard joined the Clippers in December 2011, days after the league blocked his trade to the Lakers?
Chris Paul
Chris Paul steered the Clippers to a 40-26 record, then the best winning percentage in franchise history, and their first playoff berth since 2006.
Q 07Which reigning MVP tore his ACL in the final minutes of his top-seeded team's first 2012 NBA playoff game?
Derrick Rose
Derrick Rose went down late in a 103-91 win, and without him the favourites lost the series in six games to an eighth seed.
Q 08Which forward won his third straight NBA scoring title in 2011-12 and was also named All-Star Game MVP?
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant averaged 28 points a game and became the first player since Michael Jordan to win three scoring titles in a row.
Q 09Metta World Peace, the Lakers forward suspended seven games in April 2012, was known by what name until 2011?
Ron Artest
Ron Artest took the new name in the offseason before 2011-12, and the suspension came for an elbow to an opponent's head during a dunk celebration.
Q 10The Nets played their final season in New Jersey in 2011-12 before moving to which New York City borough?
Brooklyn
Brooklyn had gone without a major league team since baseball's Dodgers left in 1957, and the Nets opened the new Barclays Center there in 2012.
Q 11Which Western Conference champion lost the 2012 NBA Finals in five games after winning Game 1 at home?
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder arrived as the second-youngest finalists in NBA history; the franchise had last reached the Finals in 1996, when it played in Seattle.
Q 12Which Cavaliers point guard, the first pick of the 2011 draft, was named the 2011-12 NBA Rookie of the Year?
Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving took 117 of the 120 first-place votes, having already won MVP of February's Rising Stars game by making all eight of his three-pointers.
Q 13Which NBA commissioner vetoed a December 2011 trade that would have sent a star point guard to the Lakers?
David Stern
Q 21Which team ran its winning streak to 20 games in the 2012 Western Conference finals, then lost four straight?
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs had swept their first two playoff series and had just won 50 games for a 13th season running, a new NBA record.
Q 22Which eighth seed knocked out the East's top-seeded team in the first round of the 2012 NBA playoffs?
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers were only the fifth eighth seed to beat a number one, and the six-game win was the club's first playoff series victory since 2003.
Q 23Which Knicks center won the 2011-12 Defensive Player of the Year award in his first season in New York?
Tyson Chandler
David Stern had the final say because the league itself owned the Hornets, the team giving up the player, after buying out its previous owner.
Q 14Which guard broke his nose in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game yet became the event's career scoring leader that night?
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant scored 27 to pass Michael Jordan's total of 262 All-Star points, and was diagnosed afterwards with a concussion as well.
Q 15Which defending NBA champion was swept out of the 2012 playoffs in the first round?
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks kept only one of their six free agents after the lockout and became just the third defending champion ever swept in round one.
Q 16Mike Brown took over the Lakers for 2011-12, replacing which coach who had retired with eleven titles as a head coach?
Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson had returned to the Lakers in 2005 after a season away and added championships in 2009 and 2010 before stepping down.
Q 17Which city hosted the 2012 NBA All-Star Game, where local center Dwight Howard led all players in fan votes?
Orlando
Orlando staged the game at the Amway Center, where the West won 152-149 and Howard had drawn more than 1.6 million votes.
Q 18Which guard won the 2011-12 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award, months before being traded to Houston?
James Harden
James Harden averaged 16.8 points while starting only two of his 62 games, then was dealt to the Rockets when contract talks broke down.
Q 19Which guard recorded only the third triple-double in NBA All-Star Game history in February 2012?
Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Wade finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, though his East side fell three points short after trailing by as many as 21.
Q 20Which team took the Eastern Conference's top seed for a second straight year by finishing 50-16 in 2011-12?
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls won at a 62-win pace, their total of the year before, and took the league's overall top seed on a head-to-head tiebreaker.
Tyson Chandler was the first Knicks player ever to win the award, yet he made only the All-Defensive Second Team that same year.
Q 24Which 2011-12 NBA Coach of the Year rested Tim Duncan one night in March and listed the reason as 'Old'?
Gregg Popovich
Gregg Popovich won the award for the second time, and his one-word injury report came at the end of three games in three nights.
Q 25Which Knicks head coach resigned in March 2012 after a six-game losing streak, handing the job to an assistant?
Mike D'Antoni
Mike D'Antoni had coached the Knicks since 2008, and under Mike Woodson, his former assistant, the team closed the season 18-6.
Q 26What nickname did the 2011-12 Clippers of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan earn for their above-the-rim style?
Lob City
Lob City grew out of a remark Griffin made at media day as news broke of the trade for a star point guard, whose lob passes set up the pair's alley-oop dunks.
Q 27Which Spanish point guard, drafted in 2009, finally made his NBA debut with Minnesota in December 2011?
Ricky Rubio
Ricky Rubio was pushing for Rookie of the Year until he tore knee ligaments in March, and he still finished second in the voting.
Q 28Which future Finals MVP, picked 15th in the 2011 NBA draft, was traded that same night for guard George Hill?
Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard was chosen by Indiana and swapped before he had played a game, then made the All-Rookie First Team with his new club.
Q 29Dwight Howard attempted 39 free throws in a January 2012 game, breaking which player's regular-season record from 1962?
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain had taken 34 in one game; Howard, fouled on purpose all night, made 21 of his 39 and finished with 45 points and 23 rebounds.
Q 30Which veteran point guard served as president of the players' union during the 2011 NBA lockout?
Derek Fisher
Derek Fisher had led the union since 2006 and bargained alongside its director, Billy Hunter; the Lakers traded him to Houston in midseason.