Dallas Mavericks head coach Don Nelson will step aside for Tuesday night's game against San Antonio and let his top assistant Avery Johnson run the team.

Nelson will still be on the bench against the Spurs, but will leave it to Johnson to make decisions against a team the former point guard once played for.

"I'll give him my opinion and he'll have to make the call," Nelson said. "Just like when he gives me his opinion, I reject some of them, he can reject mine."

Nelson would like Johnson to be his eventual successor, and plans to let him coach five or six games this season. Nelson is in his eighth season in Dallas, and is signed through next season.

Nelson chose San Antonio as the first test because Johnson is familiar with the Spurs and coach Gregg Popovich. While playing in San Antonio, Johnson, aka The Little General, hit the title-clinching jumper in the 1999 NBA Finals.

Johnson ended a 16-year playing career when he retired during the preseason. He returned to Dallas this summer, initially signing as a player-coach.

The Sixers had the nation watching on Thursday night against the San Antonio Spurs and they came out of the gates and scored just six points in the first quarter.

The six points in a quarter set a franchise low.

Philadelphia mounted a comeback and took their first lead, 55-53, on a 3-pointer by Korver with 3:14 left in the third. Philadelphia held the lead until the Spurs went on a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter.

The Sixers couldn't muster another comeback, losing 88-80.

Dwayne Wade sprained his ankle during Miami's first loss of the season versus the Dallas Mavericks.

"It's real sore," Wade said.

Wade will travel with the team to San Antonio, but it is unclear whether he will play.

In the latest installment of a GM survey conducted by NBA.com, the San Antonio are the popular choice to win the Western Conference.  The Spurs received 71.4% of the vote.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were the only other team to receive votes, with a 28.6% take.

Both teams are also heavy favorites in their respective divisions.

In the Pacific Division, the Sacramento Kings are the popular choice, with the Lakers and Warriors collecting just a couple of votes.

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that the team has signed guard Tony Parker to a multi-year contract extension. Per team policy the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Parker, the Spurs? first round draft pick in 2001 (28th overall), has appeared in 234 regular season games averaging 13.1 points, 5.0 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 32.6 minutes per contest. Parker has led the Spurs in assists in each of his first three seasons. He also led the team in steals as a rookie in 2001. Parker, 22, has started 229 of the 234 games that he has appeared in.

The 6-2 guard has also appeared in 44 playoff games for the Spurs averaging 15.7 points, 4.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 35.0 minutes per game. Parker is among the Spurs all-time playoff leaders ranking sixth in assists (195), eighth in steals (44) and fifth in 3PT-FG made (42). He started all 82 regular season contests and all 24 playoff games in helping lead the Spurs to the NBA Championship in 2003.

Parker became the youngest player to ever appear in a Spurs uniform on 10/30/01 making his debut at 19 years, 166 days. Later that season he became the first foreign-born guard ever to be named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

Before joining the Spurs Parker spent two seasons with Paris Basket Racing in the French A League. He averaged 14.7 points, 5.6 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 2.03 steals in 2000-01 on his way to being named to the 2001 French All-Star team.