Scott Skiles

The Milwaukee Bucks signed first-round draft choice Scott Skiles, a 6-1 1/2 guard from Michigan State, to a three-year contract with an option for a fourth season Friday, just a few hours after he was fined $600 and ordered to pay court costs on a drunken driving charge in East Lansing, Mich. The terms of the contract were not announced. District Judge Daniel Tschirhart also gave Skiles a 10-day jail sentence but suspended that sentence for time Skiles has already served in a Plymouth, Ind.

at Phoenix 105, Milwaukee 101: Steve Nash had 30 points and 11 assists to help the Suns rally after blowing a 24-point lead. The Bucks were without Coach Scott Skiles, who was hospitalized just before the game for precautionary purposes because of an irregular heartbeat, and guard Michael Redd, whose knee injury will keep him out the rest of the season. at Chicago 120, Detroit 87: Luol Deng had 27 points as the Bulls handed the Pistons their 13th straight loss, equaling their longest skid since losing 13 straight to end the 1993-94 season.

The first time he got arrested, he wrote the police a statement. Part of it read: "I have been at Michigan State University for the past two weeks. My roomate (sic) put some things in my bag because he was going on vacation with his family. I thought it might be something illegal but I never did check. . . . I was supposed to go back to school on Thursday. He told me to make sure I brought the bag back. I had no idea, I thought it might be a joint or something.

Chris Duhon thought back to his rookie season and all those substitution buzzers after his mistakes. He couldn't take three steps in practice without Coach Scott Skiles saying something, either. And now? He can smile. The former "Baby Bulls" look like a mature group now. A team that had not advanced past the first round of the playoffs in nearly a decade swept defending champion Miami after winning 49 games in the regular season. Next up: Detroit.

Michigan State basketball star Scott Skiles was suspended from the team after his arrest for drunken driving in Lansing, Mich.

Scott Skiles scored 12 points in the third quarter and the Orlando Magic defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, 103-88, Sunday at Portland, Ore. The Magic outscored the Trail Blazers, 20-5, late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.

Chicago Bull Coach Scott Skiles was fined $7,500 by the NBA for calling referee Jess Kersey "a big baby." Skiles criticized Kersey after the Bulls' loss to the Seattle SuperSonics on Monday night. * Laker guard Gary Payton will take part in the 989 Sports Skills Challenge on All-Star Saturday Night Feb. 14. Joining him will be Denver's Earl Boykins, New Orleans' Baron Davis and New York's Stephon Marbury.

Chicago Bull Coach Scott Skiles was fined $7,500 by the NBA for calling referee Jess Kersey "a big baby." Skiles criticized Kersey after the Bulls' loss to the Seattle SuperSonics on Monday night. * Laker guard Gary Payton will take part in the 989 Sports Skills Challenge on All-Star Saturday Night Feb. 14. Joining him will be Denver's Earl Boykins, New Orleans' Baron Davis and New York's Stephon Marbury.

In a move that would have been shocking if it hadn't been so easy to see coming, the New Jersey Nets on Monday fired Coach Byron Scott, who had taken them to the last two NBA Finals. "It happens to almost every coach eventually, your message isn't well received and taken onto the court," Net President Rod Thorn said at a news conference in East Rutherford, N.J. Scott's assistant, Lawrence Frank, will coach the Nets for the rest of the season. NBA history has little precedent for such a move.

Scott Skiles is game if the Chicago Bulls are. The former Phoenix Sun coach has had "some discussions" with Bull General Manager John Paxson about the team's coaching vacancy, Skiles' agent, Keith Glass, said Tuesday. "Certainly we're interested -- Scott's interested. And I think they're interested," Glass said. Paxson wasn't available for comment Tuesday, but Skiles is thought to be the front-runner to replace the fired Bill Cartwright.

Scott Skiles stepped down Sunday as coach of the Phoenix Suns and was replaced by assistant Frank Johnson. The Suns, who have been in the playoffs every season since 1987-88, are out of playoff contention. They were 25-26 under Skiles. Johnson, 43, the first African American coach in franchise history, plans no immediate lineup changes. There were reports of friction between the intense Skiles, at 37 the NBA's second-youngest coach, and some of his players. But Skiles said he wasn't aware of it.

Back when he hired Byron Scott to coach the wretched Nets in June 2000, team President Rod Thorn spoke of Scott as a guy who could cover "every possible conceivable situation that could happen on the basketball court." Sure, Scott had an excellent basketball pedigree, having won three championships with the Lakers. Sure, he counted Pat Riley and Larry Brown, for whom Scott played, among his coaching mentors, as well as Rick Adelman in Sacramento, where Scott served two seasons as an assistant.

Phoenix Sun Coach Scott Skiles went timeout-to-timeout with the Lakers' Phil Jackson in Game 4, bringing down the curtain on the Mr. Nice Guy phase of this series. Modern NBA coaches are expected to posture and try to get into each others' heads in the playoffs. So how does Skiles think Jackson is doing? 'He might be trying to," Skiles said before Tuesday night's game, "but I've never known anybody my whole life who was able to get into my head, so why would I think Phil can?"

They passed each other in the hallway and not a word was spoken. Scott Skiles simply stopped and smiled at Phil Jackson. Jackson wouldn't look at Skiles, but he wore his best Sunday smirk. And the temperature in the building suddenly dropped 15 degrees. So a series heats up just as a cold front moves in. Two coaches unleashing a rivalry that has been simmering below the surface.

They passed each other in the hallway and not a word was spoken. Scott Skiles simply stopped and smiled at Phil Jackson. Jackson wouldn't look at Skiles, but he wore his best Sunday smirk. And the temperature in the building suddenly dropped 15 degrees. So a series heats up just as a cold front moves in. Two coaches unleashing a rivalry that has been simmering below the surface. Two teams discovering a healthy dislike for one another, prefacing what promises to be a very interesting night in Los Angeles.