Mavs Respond To Change

Don Nelson won his debut as Dallas coach Thursday night when Michael Finley scored 27 points and Khalid Reeves added 24 to lead the Mavericks to a 105-91 victory over the New York Knicks.

Nelson, already the Mavericks general manager, took over bench duties from Jim Cleamons, who was fired earlier in the day after posting a 28-70 record over two seasons.

The Mavericks had lost 12 of their previous 13 to cost Cleamons his job.

Running a freelance attack for Nelson after the players rebelled against Cleamons’ structured triangle offense, the Mavericks connected on 12 of 22 3-pointers and broke 100 points for the second time this season. They are the first to break 100 against the Knicks.

Nelson coached the Knicks for the 1995-96 season before being fired with 23 games remaining. Nelson agreed to take on the coaching job in Dallas while retaining his GM duties, saying he’ll do it out of respect for his boss. He’ll work the jobs the rest of this season under the terms of his five-year, $7.2 million GM contract.

He said the deal would have to be reworked after the season for him to continue as coach.

Pierce rejoins Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks signed guard Ricky Pierce to a one-year contract, bringing the 16-year veteran back to the city where he had his greatest professional success.

Vaught faces surgery

Forward Loy Vaught, the Los Angeles Clippers’ leading scorer and rebounder in each of the last three seasons, was placed on the injured list and likely faces back surgery.

Barkley denies settlement report

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Houston Rockets star Charles Barkley has reached an out-of-court settlement with Jorge Lugo, the man police say Barkley flung through a plate-glass window on Oct. 26 in Orlando, Fla.

Barkley, interviewed by the Associated Press in Houston late Thursday after a game with Atlanta, said he didn’t know anything about an agreement with Lugo.

“I wish (he) were dead,” Barkley said of Lugo.