same time without worrying about who would run the offense. In his offensive half-court sets, he would also put a center who wasn't a threat on offense, like Lister or Randy Breuer, at mid-court instead of near the basket to keep a shot-blocking center like the Utah Jazz's Mark Eaton away from the basket to make him less of a threat on defense. This system, known as "Nellie Ball", created a lot of mismatches and enabled Nelson to lead the Bucks to seven straight Central Division championships with over 50 wins in each of those seasons. He earned NBA Coach of the Year honors in 1983 and 1985. For seven straight years, finishing no worse than second best in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks ended up being eliminated in the playoffs by either the Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics or the Julius Erving-led Philadelphia 76ers. After the 1986–87 season, which included some controversy and distraction before Game 4 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics where Nelson told the local sports media that he didn't expect to be back once the season concluded due to a rift with Bucks owner Herb Kohl, Nelson left the Bucks. May 27, 1987, Nelson resigned as head coach of the Bucks. In 11 seasons, Nelson had a 540–344 (.611) record with Milwaukee. Golden State Warriors (1988–1995) Nelson did part-time work as a color analyst for NBA games on TBS during the 1987–88 season. During the season he was contacted by the Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, and New York Knicks with offers to coach their teams. Nelson decided to go with Golden State, at first buying a minority stake in the team before being named head coach and vice president after one season away from the NBA. In Golden State, he instilled a "run-and-gun" style of offense. Again using an unconventional lineup which featured three guards (Mitch Richmond, Tim Hardaway and Sarunas Marciulionis) and two forwards (Chris Mullin and the 6'8" Rod Higgins at center), he coached the Warriors to a 23-game turnaround of their previous season and back into the playoffs with his lineup popularly known as Run TMC, for Tim, Mitch and Chris. All three were later elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame after their careers. Nelson was named NBA Coach of the Year a third time after the 1991–92 season. Nelson continued to retool the team,