Warriors’ Adelman Is Fired

The Golden State Warriors, who slumped to a 30-52 record this season and failed to make the playoffs for the third consecutive year, fired coach Rick Adelman and his assistants Monday.

“Pretty much since February I knew it was going to come,” said Adelman, who had a 66-98 record in two seasons with the Warriors. “It was just a matter of when.”

Assistants John Wetzel, George Irvine and Rod Higgins were also ousted.

There was no word on a coaching replacement or the fate of General Manager Dave Twardzik, who also has taken much of the blame for Golden State’s failures.

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Indiana Pacer Coach Larry Brown plans to fly from California to Indianapolis on Wednesday to meet with team President Donnie Walsh and hopes to decide his fate with the team by the end of the week.

Brown, who has two years left on his contract, has had contact with several other NBA teams. Boston and Philadelphia apparently are the front-runners should he decide to leave Indiana, which failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1989.

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The Washington Bullets may face the Chicago Bulls in Game 3 of their best-of-five series Wednesday without 7-foot-7 center Gheorghe Muresan, who missed practice because of a strained right hip flexor. . . . Atlanta Hawk center Dikembe Mutombo, who strained his left groin muscle in a loss to Detroit in Game 2 of their playoff series, is expected to play when the series resumes tonight. . . . The NBA fined Sam Mitchell of the Minnesota Timberwolves $10,000 and Kevin Willis of the Houston Rockets $7,500 for their run-ins during Saturday’s game. Mitchell was ejected after slamming Willis to the ground with a hard foul. Willis was fined for elbowing Mitchell in the head.