The 2011–12 New York Knicks season was the 66th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Knicks finished the regular season with a 36–30 record and a seventh place in the Eastern Conference to reach the 2012 NBA Playoffs where they lost in the first round against the Miami Heat in five games. Notable events of the season included coach Mike D'Antoni's resignation, the surge in popularity of 23-year-old point guard Jeremy Lin during a seven-game winning streak (Linsanity), and the Knicks winning their first playoff game since 2001 against the Miami Heat, snapping an NBA-record 13-game playoff losing streak.
June 23: The 2011 NBA draft took place at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
July 1: The CBA expires and the 2011 NBA Lockout begins.
December 8: The player and the owners ratified a new 10-year CBA ending the 161-day lockout.
December 9: Free Agency and Training camps begin.
December 25: The regular season begins with a match against the Boston Celtics in the Madison Square Garden.
April 19: The Knicks clinched a spot in the 2012 NBA Playoffs.
May 9: The Knicks' season ends with a game 5 loss to the Miami Heat.
Due to the 2011 NBA lockout negotiations, the programmed pre-season schedule, along with the first two weeks of the regular season were scraped, and a two-game pre-season was set for each team once the lockout concluded.
After a lack-luster start to the season where the Knicks had 8 wins and 13 losses in their first 21 games, Jeremy Lin burst on the scene. Injuries forced coach Mike D'Antoni to name Lin as the starting point guard, and Lin responded with averages of 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals in his first four starts. Lin closed the February 14th game against Toronto with a game-winning three-pointer that left 0.5 seconds on the clock.
However, when Carmelo Anthony returned from injury in late February, the Knicks hot streak ended. After a 6-game losing streak to start the month of March, Mike D'Antoni resigned as coach, and was replaced by his assistant Mike Woodson. The Knicks ended the season strong 18-6 under Woodson.
However, the magic was gone as Lin suffered a knee injury against the Detroit Pistons. He underwent surgery days after and was placed on injured reserve, ending his season.
The Knicks finished in seventh place on the year with a record of 36-30 after an up and down season. Knicks rookie guard, Iman Shumpert, tore his ACL and will be out for an estimated 7 months. Landry Fields took his position at Shooting guard in the starting lineup. On May 6, The Knicks snapped the 13 consecutive playoff losses streak, which was an NBA record. During the game, Baron Davis injured his right knee and missed the rest of the playoffs. The Knicks were eliminated in Game 5 of the first round to the Miami Heat.
On February 2, Carmelo Anthony was named a 2012 NBA All-Star Game starter for the Eastern Conference.
On February 13, Jeremy Lin was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week (February 6 though February 12).
On April 27, Carmelo Anthony was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for April.
On May 2, Tyson Chandler was named Defensive Player of the Year for the 2011–2012 season.
On May 24, Carmelo Anthony was named to the All-NBA Third Team for the 2011–2012 NBA season.
On May 24, Tyson Chandler was named to the All-NBA Third Team for the 2011–2012 NBA season.
On June 21, Jeremy Lin was awarded The Epic Award due to the performance he had against the Lakers in this year's first annual NBA Social Media Awards.
On June 21, Jeremy Lin was awarded The Social Breakout Award due to the highest increase of fan across Facebook and Twitter in this year's first annual NBA Social Media Awards.
On June 21, Landry Fields was awarded The Snap Shot Award with the photo he took of his couch where Jeremy Lin slept during the season in this year's first annual NBA Social Media Awards.
On May 3, the New York Knicks set a NBA worst 13 consecutive playoff losses in an 87-70 loss to the Miami Heat in Madison Square Garden.
On January 18, Carmelo Anthony scored his 15,000th career point in an 88–91 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
On April 26, Steve Novak finished the season shooting a league-leading 47% from three-point range.
On April 26, Tyson Chandler finished the season shooting a league-leading 68% from the field.
Injuries, surgeries and disciplinary actions
On January 21, Josh Harrellson injured broke his right wrist against the Denver Nuggets after falling on it in the first of 2 overtimes. He would have successful surgery 3 days later. He had to be sidelined for 6 weeks.
On February 23, it was announced Iman Shumpert could not participate in the 2012 Slam Dunk Contest due to left patella tendonitis. He had sat out the 2 games following up the announcement and one game after the announcement. He returned the first game after the All-Star break.
On March 4, Bill Walker underwent left elbow surgery to remove tissue. He missed the next 5 weeks after the surgery.
On March 21, Jared Jeffries left a game against the Philadelphia 76ers. A MRI later showed that his surgically repaired right knee had been inflamed. Following the MRI, the Knicks announced that he would be out for 2 weeks.
On April 1, Jeremy Lin underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus and was out for the season.
In Game 1 of the first round series against the Miami Heat, rookie Iman Shumpert tore his left ACL and his lateral meniscus, missing the remainder of the season.
After a Game 2 loss in the same playoff series against Miami, Amar'e Stoudemire cut his hand as a result of punching the glass casing of a fire extinguisher in the locker room area. As a result, he missed the third game of the series after having surgery on his hand.
In Game 4, Baron Davis tore his ACL, MCL and had a partial rupture in his patella tendon and was out for the season.
J. R. Smith was fined US$25,000 by the league for posting an inappropriate picture on his Twitter account.
Many players signed with teams from other leagues due to the 2011 NBA lockout. FIBA allows players under NBA contracts to sign and play for teams from other leagues if the contracts have opt-out clauses that allow the players to return to the NBA if the lockout ends. The Chinese Basketball Association, however, only allows its clubs to sign foreign free agents who could play for at least the entire season.
