Mouz

Don Nelson, the second-winningest NBA coach who won 5 titles as a Celtics player, dies at 86

· Yahoo Sports

Visit extonnews.click for more information.

Don Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history who won five championships as a player with the Boston Celtics, died Sunday. He was 86.

Nelson’s family confirmed the death in a statement that did not say where he died or provide a cause.

“On Sunday morning our beloved husband, dad, grandfather and great-grandfather Don Nelson peacefully went to be with the Lord, surrounded by his loving family,” the statement said. “Throughout his last week, friends and family encircled him with love, sharing the blessing of his friendship and revisiting treasured memories.”

Nelson is one of two coaches in NBA history to have at least 250 wins with three different franchises — Milwaukee, Dallas and Golden State — also serving as general manager for all three franchises. He was a three-time coach of the year and made the playoffs 18 times in 31 seasons. He went to the conference finals three times with the Bucks and once with the Mavericks, never winning a title.

Nelson introduced what is now known as the point forward, and his up-tempo style of offense created a buzz. He said the idea of shifting from the dominant big men of the 1970s to an offense focused on speed and the fast break came from his playing days under Celtics Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach.

“The league really hadn’t seen an offense like the one we were running, and the results were undeniable,” Nelson wrote in 2016 in The Players’ Tribune.

Nelson said that “without Red Auerbach teaching me the mechanics of running the fast break, none of it would have been possible. He deserves all the credit for Nellie Ball, and for how fast the game of basketball is played today.”

Nelson played 11 of his 14 seasons in Boston and was on five Celtics championship teams under four different coaches. He became an assistant coach in Milwaukee after retiring as a player, then took over after coach Larry Costello resigned 18 games into the 1976-77 season. Nelson coached the Bucks for 11 seasons starting in 1976 and won seven straight division titles.

In Nelson’s second season, Milwaukee overcame a 29-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Atlanta 117-115 in regulation.

“I coached the team as though I was still playing for the Celtics, while implementing a few of my own strategies,” Nelson wrote. “I knew I wanted to play unconventional basketball and use speed to my advantage.”

His fast-paced offenses were probably best on display with Golden State in the “Run TMC” era featuring future Hall of Famers Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. Nelson said he wanted them on the court at the same time.

Nelson spent 11 seasons over two stints with Golden State. The first one was punctuated by a rift with rookie star Chris Webber, who was traded away a month into his second season. Nelson, demoralized by the trade, missed nine games that season due to illness and resigned under pressure three months later in February 1995.

In between, Nelson was fired after less than one season in New York in 1995-96, then coached in Dallas for eight seasons, missing 21 games with the Mavericks starting in December 2000 to recuperate from prostate cancer surgery.

Nelson’s son, Donnie, joined his father as an assistant coach with the Mavericks in 1998, later became general manager and remained with the organization until 2021. Together they persuaded 20-year-old German star Dirk Nowitzki to pass up European basketball and join the Mavericks. Don Nelson also developed Steve Nash into one of the NBA’s top point guards before Nash went on to win back-to-back MVPs with the Phoenix Suns in 2005 and 2006.

“Don Nelson was a true innovator whose influence on the game of basketball is still felt today,” current Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “He consistently challenged conventional thinking, experimented with different lineups and styles of play and saw possibilities in the game that others often did not. So much of what is now commonplace in the modern NBA can be traced back to the way Nellie approached the game.”

At Golden State, Nelson’s “We Believe” Warriors led by Baron Davis upset Nowitzki and the top-seeded Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 playoffs in one of the biggest shockers in NBA history. In his final season as a coach, Nelson mentored rookie Stephen Curry in 2009-10.

“One of the big reasons I was drafted by the Warriors was because of Don Nelson. The story is he never liked rookies, but from Day 1 he challenged me and gave me an opportunity to be my best self on the court,” Curry said in a statement released by the Warriors. “He taught me a lot during our one season together and I’ll never forget the night he became the winningest coach in NBA history in Minnesota. We were so happy for him. He had an immeasurable impact on the sport and will go down as one of the greatest minds in the history of the game.”

Davis added: “When I think of Nellie, I’ll always think of the ‘We Believe’ team and our incredible run in 2007. He understood what made us go and made us believe we could beat anybody, ultimately helping us make history as the first No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in a seven-game series. That time in my life and career was truly special, and Nellie was a huge part of making it possible.”

Nelson retired as the NBA’s career coaching wins leader with 1,335, just ahead of Lenny Wilkens’ 1,332. Nelson kept that top spot for nearly 12 years before close friend and now-retired San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich passed him in March 2022.

Nelson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2025, he received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the National Basketball Coaches Association. Miffed that the Mavericks sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a blockbuster trade, Nelson wore a pair of Doncic’s signature Jordan Brand sneakers to the awards ceremony. He called the trade a “tremendous mistake.”

Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Nelson attended high school in Rock Island, Illinois, and averaged a double-double in college at Iowa. He spent his retirement years living on the Hawaiian island of Maui and owned several short-term rentals on the island.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW

Read full story at source

Mahesh Babu’s Look in S.S. Rajamouli’s ‘Varanasi’ Unveiled

· Variety

Read full story at source

Dietitians agree — cut back on 1 thing for better gut health, energy, and lower risk of cancer

· Business Insider

Swapping out sugary drinks for plain water or seltzer has major benefits for your health.

parichat wongyai/Getty Images

Visit betsport.cv for more information.

  • Sugary drinks may be one of the worst kinds of ultra-processed foods for your health, dietitians say.
  • Too much sugar in soda or energy drinks is linked to risks like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
  • Diet sodas may be a helpful alternative, but aren't risk-free, and can mess with gut health.

Diet advice is rarely one-size-fits-all. But one particular vice — enjoyed daily by more than half of Americans — has become the bane of health experts.

Dietitians really, really want us to step away from the sugary soda.

At a recent nutrition conference in Washington, DC, with more than 3,000 professionals, I asked around about what we should all be eating more of. While everyone had a different answer, nearly all agreed on what to avoid: cutting back on sugary drinks is a simple way to improve your health.

The dietitians (and doctors and researchers) I spoke with had a long list of reasons you should consider swapping out soda, from blood sugar crashes to potential links to increased cancer risk.

Here's what we know about why soda may be uniquely harmful, and you may be better off eating ice cream instead.

Why is soda bad for you?

The problem with soda and other sweet drinks is that they're a major source of added sugar, often in huge amounts.

The recommended daily limit for added sugar ranges from 25 grams to 50 grams, per the American Heart Association and the USDA, while a typical can of soda contains about 40 grams of sugar.

Too much sugar is linked to a wide array of health issues, such as:

  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Cancer (including colon cancer, now the leading cause of cancer-related death in people under 50)
  • Obesity and related health issues, including metabolic syndrome
  • Heart disease
  • Tooth decay
  • Liver damage
  • Kidney disease

Sweetened drinks are a particularly concentrated source of sugar, which means the side effects can hit harder: for instance, causing more intense blood sugar spikes and crashes.

Marian Neuhouser, one of the dietitians who told me we should cut back, studies diet and cancer risk at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. Some of her work has found that drinking more sugar is linked to a higher risk of cancer.

And sugary drinks are more closely linked to cancer risk than almost any other ultra-processed food (except processed red meat like bacon), said Kenny Mendoza, a professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

"Definitely, I would recommend avoiding ultra-processed sugary drinks and ultra-processed meats because those are actually consistently associated with a higher risk of cancer," Mendoza said.

Sodas are the most popular sweet drink, but the advice also applies to other beverages with added sugar, including energy drinks, fruit drinks (except for 100% juice), sports drinks (yes, even with electrolytes), and sweetened coffee or tea.

Other ultra-processed foods can be high in sugar, too, from obvious sweet treats like pastries and cookies to sneaky sources of sugar like bread, condiments, and yogurt.

Sugary beverages may be especially harmful, however, because they add calories and sugar without providing much nutritional value, and the liquid form makes it easy to consume too much.

Nicholas Marchello, a registered dietitian and nutrition professor at the University of Central Missouri, said he'd rather see people eat ice cream than drink soda.

"There are no benefits. It's just sugar; it's going to leave your stomach in seconds. At least ice cream would fill you up," he said.

Is diet soda healthier?

If you're a regular soda sipper, your first instinct may be to switch to sugar-free, but it can have mixed benefits, according to the latest research.

Reducing your overall sugar intake is a good thing, so diet soda can be a smart way to cut back. However, it may not be completely risk-free.

Emerging evidence suggests that alternative sweeteners may have side effects of their own. Popular sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and stevia have been linked to disruptions in the gut microbiome. Over the long term, too much of these compounds may be linked to risks for heart health or metabolism, a recent study suggests.

The strongest evidence on potential issues linked to artificial sweeteners comes from studies on mice and rats, often given doses many times higher than what any human would drink. Rigorous long-term studies on specific ingredients and human health are notoriously difficult to do. There have been observational studies in humans that have found a link between higher intake of artificial sweeteners and increased risk of heart attack, as well as metabolic changes. These studies show a correlation, but don't prove that the artificial sweeteners cause these health issues, so further research is needed to better understand how they might affect our long-term health.

For now, the best advice from doctors and dietitians is to drink mostly plain water throughout the day. For a bit of fizz and flavor, opt for seltzer or 100% fruit juice. If you need an energy boost, lean into coffee and tea, which have extra health benefits as long as you skip the cream and sugar.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Read full story at source