Harrington vs. Nellie: Round (I’ve Lost Count)

by Marcel Mutoni

Al Harrington and Don Nelson’s acrimonious relationship has been well-documented, and prior to last night’s shootout in Oakland (a 144-127 decision for the hometown Warriors), another bitter chapter was written by the coach and player.

According to Al Harrington (who was lustfully booed by the Oracle crowd last night), if you’re not careful, Don Nelson could ruin your career. From the San Fran Chronicle:

After Nelson blamed their messy divorce on Harrington’s “obvious” desire to position himself for a new contract – “He thought he was going to be the third-best player here and he wanted to be the best player,” Nelson said in his pregame interview – Harrington fired right back.

“Wow,” Harrington said. “I think he just made that up. You know him. I didn’t say that to him. I just didn’t see eye-to-eye with him. I didn’t like him and he didn’t like me…[Brandon Wright’s] got to weather these Nellie storms, because he’s been known to ruin guys’ careers. So, hopefully that doesn’t happen to them…You’ll go into his doghouse for no reason. And that makes it tough, because it’s hard enough playing your opponent every night. And when you know you’ve got to play mind games against your coach, too, it’s not worth it to me. The game’s supposed to be fun. If you can’t do that, just do the best you can to get out of that situation.”

Something tells me these two won’t be exchanging Valentine’s Day cards this week.