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		Nellie just one shy to Wilkins By David Zizmor April 6, 2010

	OAKLAND--Don Nelson whose finally made it to the top of the mountain and no telling how long that Nellie is going to hold onto the record as Utah head coach Jerry Sloan is close to the record himself and he's going to be coaching a few more years whereas Nelson is not going to be coaching for anytime after this season. The Warriors played Washington on Tuesday night and are in Minnesota on Wednesday night and then at the Clippers Saturday night. For the Warriors the T-Wolves or the Clippers are not good at all and the Wizards are a little bit better but their still not that good. Then the final three teams which are considered playoff bound team like Utah, Portland, those games will be a little bit tougher. The Warriors would like to get this over as soon as possible in any one of these next few games. It would be nice to have it at home in Oakland but as far as home games they've only have two left against Oklahoma and Utah. The Thunder are a pretty solid team and they're not going to roll over because Don Nelson has a chance at breaking some records it does'nt have a any bearing on them. You look at the standings and Oklahoma City is sitting there with a 48-28 record. The Thunder's Kevin Durant is one of the top young players in the NBA and Utah is ahead of Oklahoma City with a 50-27 record these are the two really good teams, they're going to the playoffs and they might rest some guys. So there is always that opportunity for the Warriors to take advantage of their need to rest players for the post season but nobody rolls over in the NBA and the Warriors are not a good enough team that you could just expect them to win because they have something on the line. They have proved time and time again they can make lemonade out of some games and they can just lose to any good team. Nellie had his chance he won that game against Toronto Sunday and he's going to have a few more shots at it to break Lenny Wilkins record, its a fantastic record that he has. If he holds the record for a few years before Sloan eventually takes it away from him so be it but that doesn't take away from the fact that Nelson had a fantastic run as a head coach with the Warriors, Knicks, Bucks and the Mavericks. He's been doing well for a long time and he's very innovative with the offensive side of the ball not so much on defense, but what are you going to do about it. Nelson is a fun coach to watch and he kept it interesting for a long, long time and sometimes for good reasons and sometimes for bad ones. This is a guy who stuck around long enough and has been successful enough and managed to reach the top of the mountain and tie Wilkins record for the most wins ever by a head coach and he deserves all the praise that he's due. The record not only says Nelson is the best coach in the league for such a long time but it also proves that he tied a great coach like Wilkins. It puts him a rare category he's one of the top coaches of all time and one of these days I suspect Nellie will make it into the Hall of Fame on the strength of these wins. David Zizmor covers the Warriors weekly for Sportstalk Radio