EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) Forward Eddie Griffin took a leave from the New Jersey Nets on Wednesday, three weeks after signing with the team.

``Eddie has informed the team that he is not ready to resume his NBA career at this point in time,'' Nets president and general manager Rod Thorn said in a statement.

Thorn said there was no timetable for Griffin to return to the Nets.

Griffin told the team he will return to Houston, where he was recently convicted of marijuana possession. Griffin also faces a separate charge of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Messages left Wednesday night with the Nets and with Griffin's agent, Jeff Wernick, were not immediately returned.

The Nets signed Griffin, 21, a former Seton Hall star, after he was released by the Houston Rockets. He was on the injured list and did not appear in any games for New Jersey.

Griffin had troubles on and off the court in Houston. The Rockets suspended him on Oct. 16 for a series of missed practices and a skipped flight to Sacramento. Also that month, he checked into a hospital to get help for undisclosed problems.

Griffin was charged in November with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after a woman accused him of hitting her three times in the face and shooting at her as she drove away from his home on Oct. 25.

He was convicted of marijuana possession in Houston on Jan. 20 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 13.

The 6-foot-10, 232-pound forward averaged 8.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.63 blocks in 150 career games over two seasons with the Rockets. The Nets selected him with the seventh pick in the 2001 draft and then traded his rights to the Rockets for three first-round draft picks _ Richard Jefferson, Brandon Armstrong and Jason Collins.

Just one of the Eastern Conference's 16 teams has the same coach as last season: Atlanta's Terry Stotts, who is the longest-tenured coach at 13 months.

Lawrence Frank, who joined the conference Monday, won his debut with the New Jersey Nets, and John Carroll was added Tuesday when he succeeded Jim O'Brien, who resigned as coach of the Boston Celtics.

Richard Jefferson scored 30 points and the Nets beat the Philadelphia 76ers 94-76 in Frank's first game since taking over for the fired Byron Scott.

``It's nice to get a win, but this is the furthest thing about me,'' Frank said. ``This is about the team.''

Frank, the 33-year-old former assistant, paced the sideline down to midcourt, flapped his arms and shouted directions the entire game, but he had had little to worry about.

Jason Kidd, whose mid-December screaming match with Scott weakened the ex-coach's standing in the locker room, had 13 points and 10 assists. Kenyon Martin also scored 13 points.

Carroll, a longtime scout and assistant gets a chance to join Frank in the win column when the Celtics take on the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Dallas edged Seattle 118-116, San Antonio defeated New York 77-67, Phoenix beat Atlanta 89-85 and the Los Angeles Clippers topped Chicago 102-92.

The Nets opened on a 26-6 run, getting easy alley-oops, reverse layups and fast-break dunks off 11 first-quarter turnovers by the Sixers. Kidd, Martin and Jefferson combined for 22 points in the quarter.

While the Nets were sharing the ball, Glenn Robinson wanted more minutes.

Robinson scored only seven points on 2-for-7 shooting in 18 minutes, then complained about getting pulled for good early in the fourth quarter. Robinson said the Sixers were not good enough to win without a healthy starting lineup and needed a dominant center.

``There are plenty of nights where I feel like I'm not playing the minutes that I feel I deserve. That's another story,'' Robinson said. ``I've been playing great the last 10 or 11 games. I just don't understand.

``I don't care if we're down 50, if we're down 60. At least give us a chance, give me a chance to fight back. It's like if my shot is not going, I'm finding myself out of the game and on the bench. That's just not me being selfish.''

Robinson said he's had these concerns for a while, but has not shared them with coach Randy Ayers.

``I'm trying my best to stay professional about it, but it's tough,'' Robinson said.

The Sixers played without Allen Iverson, still bothered by a right index finger sprain.

Mavericks 118, SuperSonics 116

At Seattle, Dirk Nowitzki made nearly everything he put up, and Antoine Walker saved the biggest shot for the end.

Walker made a fadeaway 20-footer at the buzzer, lifting Dallas to its ninth straight win.

``I was just trying to slash and get a shot in that little corner area,'' Walker said. ``I got a good pass. You always have a go-to move so you can get a shot off in that situation, so I knew fading away I could get that shot off.''

Nowitzki scored a career-high 43 points, keeping the Mavericks close down the stretch after a 16-of-22 shooting performance that included a career-high 8-of-11 on 3-pointers.

Steve Nash added 19 points for Dallas, Walker and Michael Finley each had 17 and Antawn Jamison 15. Rashard Lewis scored 30 points to lead Seattle.

Spurs 77, Knicks 67

At New York, Charlie Ward returned to Madison Square Garden and put San Antonio ahead for good on a 3-pointer with 8{ minutes left.

Ward, a member of the Knicks for 9{ seasons who was sent to Phoenix in the Stephon Marbury trade, finished with eight points.

Tim Duncan had 30 points and 19 rebounds for the Spurs. Marbury had 19 points and eight assists for the Knicks, who were held to a season-low point total.

Suns 89, Hawks 85

At Atlanta, Shawn Marion scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half to help Phoenix snap a three-game losing streak.

Joe Johnson added 20 points for the Suns, Casey Jacobsen had 13, and Howard Eisley scored all of his seven points in the final 3:15. Stephen Jackson led the Hawks with 19 points.

Clippers 102, Bulls 92

At Los Angeles, Corey Maggette scored 28 points and Elton Brand had 20 points and 11 rebounds in the Clippers' second wire-to-wire victory this season.

Eddie Robinson came off the bench to score 17 and Marcus Fizer scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter for the Bulls, who have dropped their last 21 road games against Western Conference teams.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Lawrence Frank looks more like a fresh-faced college kid than an NBA coach.

``No one wants my autograph. They still think I'm the ballboy,'' Frank said Tuesday night before his NBA head coaching debut for the New Jersey Nets.

Frank led New Jersey against the 76ers a day after he was promoted to replace the fired Byron Scott as coach of the two-time defending Eastern Conference champion Nets.

``This is a new start for us,'' Frank said. ``This is the start of a new season for us and we're looking forward to making daily improvement.''

Frank, only 33 and once the team manager for Bob Knight at Indiana, said one of the first things the Nets need is better bench production. Frank hoped recently added guard Hubert Davis and forward Eddie Griffin can slowly work their way into the lineup.

``It's important that guys stay sharp and know that they can be put in the game at any time,'' he said. ``We need better production from everyone.''

Team president Rod Thorn considered other candidates from inside and outside the organization, but settled on Frank because of his familiarity with the Nets' offense and rapport with the players.

Frank said he didn't expect to change.

``I'm going to be myself,'' he said. ``However I act is however I act. The key is, you have to take the emotion out of the game.''

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) Byron Scott was fired Monday as coach of the New Jersey Nets, the team he led to the NBA Finals the past two seasons.

``It happens to almost every coach eventually: Your message isn't well received and taken onto the court,'' team president Rod Thorn said at a news conference announcing the change.

Assistant coach Lawrence Frank will take over on an interim basis and will stay at least through the end of the season, Thorn said. The Nets also hired Brian Hill as an assistant coach.

Scott, in his fourth season with the Nets, was in the final year of his contract. Management had refused to give him an extension with the team for sale. The Nets were sold for $300 million Friday to developer Bruce Ratner, who plans to move the team to Brooklyn.

Jason Kidd, the Nets' All-Star guard, clashed with Scott in the locker room last month after a 47-point loss at Memphis.

``He has absolutely no resentment or anger,'' said Scott's agent, Brian McInerney. ``He's going down as the winningest coach in Nets history.''

Thorn said he thought about firing Scott for more than a month and finally decided Sunday night that the time was right. He delivered the news to Scott on Monday morning after giving the job to Frank late Sunday night.

``They discussed the situation and both concluded that the timing of the move is to the benefit of the team,'' McInerney said. ``They decided another voice needed to be heard in the locker room.''

The Nets (22-20), in first place in the Atlantic Division, next play Tuesday night at Philadelphia.

Scott was ejected during the third quarter of Sunday's 110-91 victory over the Boston Celtics, which ended a five-game losing streak and kept New Jersey from dropping to .500.

Thorn considered other candidates from inside and outside the organization but settled on Frank because of his familiarity with the Nets' offense and his rapport with the players.

``Lawrence is a lot like Jeff Van Gundy, who I think is one of the best coaches in pro basketball,'' Thorn said.

After the clash with Kidd, Scott led the Nets to five victories in their next six games, helping to earn him the NBA's coach of the month award for December. But the Nets began sliding again this month, the low point coming Friday in an 85-64 loss to Miami _ a defeat that convinced Thorn a change needed to be made.

``I felt it would turn itself around, and for a while it did. But it became evident to me that it wasn't going to turn around,'' Thorn said. ``We have not played to the level we anticipated playing.''

Scott holds the franchise record with 149 coaching victories. After a 25-56 record in his first season, the Nets went 52-30 in 2001-02 and 49-33 in 2002-03 _ losing to the Lakers and the Spurs in the finals.

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AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan contributed to this report.

Nets coach Byron Scott, one year removed from taking New Jersey to a second consecutive NBA Finals appearance, has been fired, league sources have told ESPN.com's Marc Stein.

The Nets are expected to announce the move at a 2 p.m. ET news conference, and assistant coach Lawrence Frank is expected to be named interim coach, the sources have told Stein.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) New Jersey Nets coach Byron Scott was ejected late in the third quarter of Sunday's game against the Boston Celtics.

Scott was standing about 15 feet from midcourt when referee Luis Grillo walked past the coach seconds after an offensive foul was called on Nets forward Aaron Williams at the other end.

Scott did not appear to say anything to Grillo. But the official quickly turned around and said, ``Get him out of here,'' tossing him with 1:44 left.

Scott walked to the foul line to protest and left the court after a minute. Lawrence Frank replaced Scott in a game in which the Nets led by 19 after three quarters.

EAST RUTHERFORD N.J. (AP) Some 30 people protested the proposed sale and move of the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sunday outside the team's home arena.

The protest came two days after the Nets' current owners agreed to sell the franchise to Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner for $300 million.

``Until they tell me this is not going to go through, that's how long I'll be out here,'' said Mike Kozlowski of Waldwick, who helped organize the demonstration at the Nets' first home game since the sale was announced. ``Anybody who is willing to keep the Nets in New Jersey is my friend.''

Kozlowski hung a banner that said ``Keep the Nets in New Jersey'' on a fence around the outside of the arena. He also had posters for distribution, including ``Brooklyn Fuhgettaboudit'' and another with ``Brooklyn'' inside a circle with a line scored through it.

Inside the arena, there was no discernible negative reaction from the near-sellout crowd when the Nets were introduced.

There also were no banners or signs, because security members confiscated them as people entered the building. The Nets beat the Boston Celtics 110-91.

The Nets can't move until Ratner builds an arena in Brooklyn, and many protesters hope he runs into the same problems that the current Nets ownership encountered in trying to build an arena in Newark.

Chris Suswal, a former New Jersey native now living in Brooklyn, called the plan to move the team to Brooklyn ridiculous.

``Like many of the residents of Brooklyn, we want Brooklyn to be as it is, Brooklyn,'' Suswal said. ``We don't want people's homes demolished. We don't want a multiconglomerate $2.5 billion complex to come in. That's not what Brooklyn is about. It's about a neighborhood, a community.''

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) The New Jersey Nets' owners have agreed to sell the team to a New York City real estate developer, a move that could bring Brooklyn its first major sports franchise since 1957.

The contract was finalized Wednesday, said Edwin Stier, president of the Community Youth Organization, which owns the Nets.

The developer, Bruce Ratner, wants to move the Nets to a new arena that would be at the center of a proposed $2.5 billion office, residential and shopping complex in Brooklyn. But the deal must first be approved by the board of YankeeNets, the holding company of the Nets and New York Yankees, which planned to meet Friday.

``I'm very pleased that the process worked and was very successful, and I'm very glad it's over. It was a very intense process of negotiation,'' Stier said.

Ratner's bid beat out an offer from a group led by real estate developer Charles Kushner and New Jersey Sen. Jon S. Corzine, both of whom sought to keep the team in New Jersey. Kushner and Corzine declined comment Wednesday night; attempts to reach Kushner through his office were unsuccessful. Ratner's bid was reportedly $300 million. Stier wouldn't comment on the amount.

Stier said he informed Kushner of the board's decision late Wednesday.

``He told me he appreciated the way the process was run,'' Stier said. ``All the parties who participated expressed that to me.''

George Zoffinger, president of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates the Meadowlands complex where the Nets play, said the team's owner ``basically stabbed the people of New Jersey in the back.''

Ratner's proposed Brooklyn Arena and Brooklyn Atlantic Yards would combine residential, retail and commercial space totaling 7.7 million square feet. The entire development is expected to take 10 years.

Under the plan, work on the arena would begin next year and finish in time for the 2006 NBA season. The arena would seat 19,000 for basketball, and include 4,500 units of residential housing and 2.1 million square feet of commercial office space.

Some Brooklyn residents have charged that the project would displace close to 1,000 people.

``I'm very disappointed,'' said city councilwoman Letitia James, whose district includes the area where the arena would be located. ``It's a great day for rich developers and a sad day for working families.''

The borough has not had a major sports franchise since baseball's Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957.

The Nets were in San Antonio on Wednesday night, where they lost to the Spurs 99-76.

When asked after the game about the possible move, Jason Kidd replied: ``When do we move? I'll probably be retired. That's nice so you guys don't have to ask us anymore.''

NEW YORK (AP) The Nets may be steps away from new ownership, but will they have a place to play?

Politically connected developer Bruce Ratner needs numerous government approvals before his glass-walled Frank Gehry arena can be built above a railyard minutes from downtown Brooklyn.

City and state agencies must approve infrastructure changes, tax breaks and condemnations of neighboring homes that could end up costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Government officials dealing with Ratner said negotiations have yet to focus on the specifics of state and city aid to the developer. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is eager to have pro sports back in Brooklyn but remains wary of straining public coffers, according to one city official familiar with the negotiations.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said now that Ratner has agreed to buy the team, negotiations to move the Nets can begin in earnest.

Ratner still must sign an agreement with Community Youth Organization, which owns the Nets. Then the deal must be ratified by the board of YankeeNets, the holding company of the Nets and New York Yankees, which is to meet Friday, as well as NBA owners.

The arena is merely one part of an ambitious development plan crafted by Ratner, a well-known developer who built the MetroTech Center in Brooklyn that houses the city's fire department headquarters, along with banking and other offices.

The 19,000-seat arena would sit amid thousands of apartments, hundreds of thousands of square feet of shopping space and more than 2 million square feet of offices. Most of the $2.5 billion project would be atop a Long Island Railroad yard owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency controlled by Gov. George Pataki.

From the state, Ratner needs both air rights and a condemnation power to take nearby homes and businesses. He estimates about 150 homes would be affected, although neighbors fear the number would be higher.

Residents of the upscale neighborhood of Prospect Heights, which adjoins the site, have promised to sue because of what they said would be an unconstitutional use of the government's eminent domain power for private rather than public benefit.

The state's role could help Ratner avoid much of the city's lengthy and stringent land-use approval process. Opponents said that's one of a number of advantages Ratner has because of his political connections.

Ratner has held high-level positions in two mayoral administrations, and was once appointed by Gov. George Pataki to study the possibility of luring pro sports back to Brooklyn.

``There's a notion that he's not going to have any problems getting MTA approval because of his relationship with the governor,'' said Letitia James, a city councilwoman who represents the neighborhood and opposes the arena.

Plenty has happened to the franchise relocation business since the last time a franchise was located in Brooklyn.

In the meantime, pro sports teams have become more prized than good schools. They've moved more often than Larry Brown. They've been good neighbors and bad, economic engines in some cities and sinkholes in others, but they've never failed to turn a profit in any of them.

Their owners have become every bit as mercenary as the free agents they moan about, which is why the price of everything from souvenirs to stadiums has gone through the roof. Presented with an ever-growing list of demands, dreamy towns desperate to become ``destinations'' made themselves willing hostages and taxpayers signed on as reluctant ones. In the end, the distinction hardly mattered. Despite some delays and a few notable exceptions, everybody forked over the money, anyway.

The size of the deal needed to move the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn is staggering, and there are years of cost overruns still ahead. The team went for $300 million. A new arena in the heart of Brooklyn is targeted at $435 million, and Bruce Ratner, the real estate mogul who bought the Nets, envisions it as the anchor of a $2.5 billion commercial and residential complex designed by noted architect Frank Gehry.

According to community activists, he'll have to steamroll upward of 800 homes to build it, and nothing will happen without a fight.

For those reasons and countless others, most franchise moves deserve little sympathy. So why does this one seem like such a good fit?

``You go anywhere in the country, you ask anyone, what's the capital of basketball,'' hoops legend Bernard King told the New York Post, ``and they'll say Brooklyn.''

King grew up just a few blocks from the site where the arena is supposed to land, in an apartment building with basketball playgrounds on either side. Before he left Brooklyn to make a name for himself at Tennessee and later with the nearby Knicks, he practically wore the concrete off those courts.

In winter, King and a few friends shoveled snow so they could play pickup ball in the cold. Long before that, Red Auerbach, who put together a Celtics dynasty in Boston, roamed the same territory looking for a game.

So did Connie Hawkins and World B. Free, Chris Mullin, Fly Williams, Stephon Marbury and another dozen of the game's most entertaining souls. And hip-hop performer Jay Z, a member of the new ownership group, is already in place to become the Nets' answer to Knicks superfan Spike Lee.

But a rival, a ready-made legacy and a population that makes Brooklyn the fourth-largest city in country aren't the only things the borough has going for it.

``It's eerie,'' said King, talking to The New York Times in his role as unpaid ambassador for Ratner's group. ``The arena site at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues has been sitting there waiting for this moment in time ever since Walter O'Malley wanted it for a Dodger ballpark that would have replaced Ebbets Field.''

O'Malley never got it, of course, and moved his baseball team to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. So there's a little bit of justice to the idea of another team moving back.

Whether it's ultimately workable and a good idea in the bargain will depend almost entirely on whether Ratner is as smart and committed as he is rich.

He's going to lose a ton of money at the Meadowlands for the rest of the Nets' stay there, which could stretch out as long as 10 years.

They've won successive Eastern Conference titles, but already rank near the bottom of the league's attendance table. And the locals don't figure to get any friendlier.

George Zoffinger, who's in charge of the state sports agency that operates the complex where the Nets play, said the team's former owners ``basically stabbed the people of New Jersey in the back.''

The real story is a lot more complicated.

Ray Chambers and Lewis Katz are sharp-eyed businessmen who bought the team for $150 million in 1998 and doubled their money. But they had a soft side, too. Chambers and Katz set up an ownership group called the Community Youth Organization with a plan to move the Nets into Newark to jump-start a battered economy and pour some of the profits into a charity.

Instead, they lost millions. Worn out after a half-dozen years of bureaucratic wrangling, they finally cashed out and decided to let Ratner try his hand.

If the sledding proved tough across the state line, just imagine what lies ahead. New York is New Jersey on steroids. Every permit will be like pulling teeth, and even if Ratner secures enough of them, every shovelful of dirt will cost him double.

But that's the beauty of doing business anywhere in New York. The only thing that outweighs the potential risk is the potential reward, and the last time anybody even had the guts to try was a long, long time ago.

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Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org