Nelson Reportedly to Be Named Knick Coach

Don Nelson, who left as coach and general manager of the Golden State Warriors this year, will be the next coach of the New York Knicks, two newspapers reported Sunday.

The New York Times and Boston Globe said a deal has virtually been completed, and an announcement would be made this week, possibly Thursday. A Knick spokesman said Sunday that no announcement was imminent.

If a multiyear contract is agreed upon, Nelson reportedly will receive $2 million per year, the Times said. The new coach will replace Pat Riley, who resigned.

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Yugoslavia, playing its first international basketball event after 2 1/2 years of U.N. sanctions, won the European Championship in a controversial 96-90 victory over Lithuania at Athens.

Aleksandar Djordjevic scored 41 points for the Yugoslavs in a game in which the Lithuanians nearly walked off the court with two minutes left to protest the officiating.

“We were not brave enough to do that,” Lithuanian Coach Vladas Garastas said. “It was terrible refereeing. There was a political hand in the game, someone wanted to prove that Yugoslavia is the best team in Europe.”

Croatia won the bronze with a 73-68 victory over host Greece. Italy beat Spain, 82-75, for fifth place, and Russia defeated France, 108-89, for seventh place.

Cycling

Italy’s Fabio Baldato won the first stage of the first Tour de France with a long, uphill power sprint that left Laurent Jalabert of France and Djamolidine Abdoujaparov of Uzbekistan gasping in his wake at Lannion, France.

Swiss contender Tony Rominger finished sixth, while Miguel Indurain was 12th. Jacky Durand barely held on to the overall lead.

Miscellany

Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan won their third consecutive Bally Total Fitness Shootout beach volleyball event, defeating Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno, 15-6, at Newport, R.I. . . . Adam Johnson and Jose Loiola won their second tournament together by defeating Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh, 15-7, at the AVP tour stop at Minneapolis.

Coach Bobby Bowden and Florida State are close to reaching a $1 million deal that includes a proposed $50,000 bonus for winning a national football championship, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The United States became only the second crew in the 156-year history of the Henley Royal Regatta to break the six-minute mark for the one mile, 550-yard course at Henley, England.

The San Diego Training Center boat held off a strong comeback by Britain’s national team, Leander and Molesey, to win by one-third of a length. Their time of 5:59 was one second off the record held by Germany’s Hansa Dortmund.

The last and fastest five 70-foot boats started the 38th biennial Transpacific yacht race from Los Angeles to Hawaii.

Mark Tate won the Madison (Ind.) Regatta, averaging 136.530 m.p.h. in Smokin’ Joe’s for the five laps on the 2 1/2-mile hydroplane course.

Britain’s Jonathan Edwards jumped beyond the 59-foot mark for the second time in a week, but again wind robbed him of a triple jump world record at the Gateshead Games at Gateshead, England. Edwards jumped 59-2 on his third try, but a wind of 2.9 meters per second--over the allowable of 2.0 for record purposes--kept him from breaking Willie Banks’ 10-year-old world mark of 58-11 1/2.