The biggest difference between coach Don Nelson’s time with the Knicks and his stay with the Mavericks is that when times got tough, Dallas owner Mark Cuban didn’t ask him to get going.
“I felt lucky to stay on long enough to see it through,” Nelson said last night before his team’s game with the Knicks.
In Nelson’s first three seasons in Dallas, he had a .379 winning percentage. Nelson, now in his sixth season with the Mavs, entered the Garden last night at 33-8, which was the league’s best record.
After Pat Riley ditched the Garden for Miami, Nelson arrived. But Nelson’s style was different than Riley’s.
The biggest conceptual departure from Riley was Nelson’s goal to run the offense through Anthony Mason instead of Patrick Ewing.
“He and John Starks didn’t accept it,” Nelson recalled. “Starks was [Ewing’s] best friend on the team. I knew it wasn’t going to work here after months here. Patrick had started to lose his skills. I thought he would be better as a second or third option.”
For all the fair and unfair criticism of Ewing, this might be the biggest indictment against No. 33. When presented with an alternative way to win, he balked. Who knows? Maybe if Ewing accepted Nelson’s way, there is a championship banner.
Once Nelson lost his star, his job was sure to follow. Even though Nelson owned a 34-25 mark as the Knicks coach, he was gone during his first year.
“I knew it was going to be downhill,” said Nelson after Ewing balked.
After a run-in with Chris Webber in Golden State and then with his Ewing problems, it appeared as if the end of Nelson’s coaching career would end quietly and embarrassingly.
Instead, astonishingly and sparkling, the bookend of Nelson’s coaching career resembles the front end, when he led the Bucks to a number of strong playoff appearances.