Don Nelson won a $6.3 million arbitration suit against Mark Cuban, settling a long-running feud between the former Mavericks coach and the billionaire owner.

"It was not so much a defeat of Cuban as it was an (tail)-whipping," Nelson's attorney John O'Connor told the Dallas Morning News. "Cuban's lawyers did a good job of painting lips on a pig."

The basis of the suit was Cuban's unwillingness to pay Nelson deferred salary after Nelson left the Mavs to coach Golden State. Cuban claimed Nelson, who was a team consultant at the time, violated a non-compete clause by taking the Warriors' job.

Cuban counterclaimed that Nelson used "inside information" to beat the Mavs in the 2007 playoffs.

Cuban told the Contra-Costa Times via email: "I breached the consulting contract by withholding 25 (thousand) dollars rather than immediately informing Nellie that he was in breach. As a result, I breached first and owe him and am happy to pay it.

"The good news is that from Nellie's testimony under oath, I got to find out the truth of what happened prior to Nellie taking the Warriors' job and it certainly was not what was said publicly.

"It was not something that happened quickly, as was quoted in the press.

Nellie and Chris Mullin were meeting and having discussions about the Warriors' draft while he was under contract to the Mavs and we were playing in the Finals."

QUOTE TO NOTE
"It was a very emotional moment for me after we won the deciding game against Puerto Rico. I never thought I would cry because of basketball, but I could not stop the tears. I had to be alone for a little bit right after the game and could not even do the post-game interview." -- Dirk Nowitzki, on breaking down after Germany clinched an Olympic berth.

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