Mavs-Warriors Pits Coach Against Ex-Boss

Golden State, Nelson poised for huge upset, measure of revenge
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted May 1, 2007 12:53 PM CDT
Mavs-Warriors Pits Coach Against Ex-Boss
Rica Minnis holds up a sign about Golden State Warriors' coach Don Nelson and Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban before the two teams played in an NBA Western Conference first-round basketball playoff game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, April 29, 2007. The Warriors won 103-99. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)   (Associated Press)

Eighth-seeded Golden State won't just be bidding to eliminate the top-seeded Mavericks when their first-round NBA playoff series resumes tonight in Dallas. In what the Wall Street Journal calls "one of the nastiest personal feuds in professional sports," coach Don Nelson's Warriors can send Dallas and owner Mark Cuban home early.

Nelson coached Dallas from 1997 to March 2005, when he stepped down, ending his contentious professional relationship with the publicity-hungry Cuban. The coach contends that the owner owes him $6.6 million in deferred compensation; Cuban counters that to say Nelson "conjures up folk tales would be an understatement." Game time is 9:30 p.m. Eastern. (More NBA playoffs stories.)

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