The staff of ArizonaSports.com has compiled their list
of the top 25 Arizona sports stories of the year 2011.
We’ll be unveiling them over the next couple of weeks all
leading up to the top story of 2011.

When the NBA Finals ended last June with the Dallas
Mavericks upsetting the Miami Heat to win their first-ever
league title, the sport was on a serious popularity surge.

Solid television ratings indicated that fans were
gravitating toward the NBA once again. Game 6 of the
Finals drew a 13.3 rating, the third-most watched game
since the NBA has been televised on ABC.

But there was a problem looming: the end of the collective
bargaining agreement between players and owners. For a
few years leading up to the expiration of the agreement,
there was speculation that a long and ugly work stoppage
would wipe out some, if not all, of the 2011-12 NBA
season.

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