With Don Nelson set to be introduced as the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors, he will surely look to recruit some of his closest friends and allies, many of those people remain involved in the Mavericks' organization.

Larry Riley, an assistant on Avery Johnson's staff, would be an obvious target, although Riley is content with his situation with the Mavs.

Donnie Nelson, his son and president of basketball operations for the Mavericks and Del Harris will not be joining him in Golden State.

The US players are focusing on trying to stop Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki when America faces Germany tomorrow.

"Man, they have Dirk," U.S. point guard Chris Paul said. "He's one of the best players in the NBA and one of the best players in international ball as well."

Everyone here is on a first-name basis with Dirk Nowitzki, the Dallas Mavericks' star forward who has joined the ranks of the one-name basketball stars. There's Kobe, Shaq, LeBron, Yao and Dirk.

"He's an amazing player," U.S. guard Kirk Hinrich said. "He poses unbelievable matchup problems for any team, either in the NBA or here. He is used to playing internationally and with his German teammates. He poses a real challenge."

Nowitzki leads the tourney's remaining players in scoring, at 24.5 points per game, and rebounding, at 10.3.

Mavericks guard Jerry Stackhouse has bought his mother a church, the Associated Press is reporting.

The Stackhouse family came together Sunday in their hometown for the dedication of the House of Hope Free Will Baptist Church, which the three-time NBA All-Star paid to refurbish for its pastor -- his mother, Minnie.

"She has been dedicated to serving the community as long as I can remember," Stackhouse said. "That's more than 30 years."

The building, which formerly housed a different church, replaces one that Minnie Stackhouse ran in a different neighborhood of Kinston. Her new parish is located closer to the people she hopes her ministry will reach.

"This is a special day for this church and my mother," Jerry Stackhouse said. "She now has a place where she feels she can best manage her programs and best serve the community."

Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points and made a key defensive play in the closing seconds to lead Germany to a 78-77 victory over Nigeria on Sunday in the second round of the FIBA world championship.

Nowitzki gave Germany a 78-71 lead on a slam dunk with 2 1/2 minutes left in the game.

Nigeria pulled to within one on free throws by Chamberlain Oguchi and Tunji Awojobi and had a chance to take the lead with seconds remaining. Ime Udoka drove for the basket but Nowitzki tipped his shot and grabbed the rebound at the final buzzer.

Germany will face the winner of the United States-Australia game in the quarterfinals.

After months of speculation and rumors of retirement, Doug Christie has officially announced his intentions of returning to play in the NBA.

Spending months undergoing intense rehabilitation and conditioning has put Christie in fantastic shape and made him eager to join an NBA team at their 2006 training camp. During a recent interview, Christie commented that, ?I am blessed to now have gained endurance, agility and quickness at a level that I had not previously experienced.?

Christie, a first Team and a two time All Defensive Second Team member who has over 1,500 career steals, 3,000 assists and 2,500 defensive rebounds, is a defensive force, which has sports gurus around the league agreeing that his presence on the court has been sorely missed and that whichever team is successful in signing him will benefit greatly from his veteran leadership and versatility.

Drafted by the Seattle Supersonics in the first round of the 1992 NBA Draft, Christie has played in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Dallas and Sacramento where he enjoyed much success.

Mavericks forward Josh Howard has one year at $1.66 million left on his rookie contract, and if an extension is not signed by Oct. 31 he will become a restricted free agent next summer, a scenario the club wants to avoid.

Will a deal be reached in time?

"I'm not supposed to talk about it," the forward said. "That's a touchy subject. I'll let my agent and Mark [Cuban] deal with that."

Cuban's policy is not to comment on ongoing negotiations. Five players from Howard's draft class ? Cleveland's LeBron James, Miami's Dwyane Wade, Denver's Carmelo Anthony and Toronto's Chris Bosh ? signed extensions earlier this summer.

Howard won't command the money those players received. Tayshaun Prince would be a good starting point. The Detroit small forward signed a five-year, $47.5 million contract on the eve of opening night last season.

Howard averaged more points, rebounds, steals and shot for a higher percentage than Prince did last season.

"No disrespect to him," Howard said, "but he doesn't do the same thing for Detroit that I do for Dallas."

The Dallas Mavericks signed former Houston high school star Ndudi Ebi and three others to free agent deals Thursday, the Associated Press is reporting.

The others include undrafted guards Jose Barea and Darius Washington, and forward Pat Carroll.

The 6-foot-9, 200-pound Ebi was a first-round pick in the 2003 draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. A forward, he played 16 games for the Fort Worth Flyers of the NBDL last season.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 18 points to lead Germany to a 76-75 win Saturday over Brazil in a world championships warmup.

Cavaliers center Anderson Verejao had 25 points for Brazil. Nowitzki, the Mavericks star, added 16 rebounds.

Former Timberwolves first round selection, high schooler Ndudi Ebi, Northwestern's Jose Juan Barea, Memphis point guard Darius Washington and swingman Pat Carroll are fighting for the final Mavericks roster spot.

"What you have are four young guys with upside who are worth investing in," president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said.

Ebi, a 6-9 forward who played at Houston Westbury Christian, jumped to the NBA from high school. He was taken 26th by Minnesota in 2003, three spots ahead of Josh Howard.

But he played just 19 games in two seasons before being released in November. Ebi spent last season with Fort Worth in the National Developmental League and attended Hakeem Olajuwon's big man camp in Houston this week.

Yao Ming returned after a four-month layoff from a foot injury, revitalizing China in an 82-73 loss to Dirk Nowitzki and Germany on Friday in a warmup game leading to the world championships.

Yao scored 11 points but was no match for Nowitzki, who gave the Rockets center a playful slap on the chest at the start. Nowitzki finished with 27 points, including 18 in the final quarter, and 12 rebounds. The German star of the Mavericks scored nearly at will against Yao and almost every other Chinese player.