Jameer Nelson

Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson entered last night's game with the 76ers at the Wachovia Center in a different role. After starring at Chester and St. Joseph's University, Nelson returned home as a full-fledged NBA starter. He has been given the ball to run the Magic's offense after the trade of Steve Francis on Feb. 22 to the New York Knicks. Nelson did not immediately join the starting lineup. He missed 20 games with a sprained right foot and didn't return until March 3. The following game, on March 4 in a 110-94 loss at Denver, Nelson was in the starting lineup for good.

For Jameer Nelson, it was the only thing to do. The Orlando Magic guard changed the name of his local high school tournament to the Pete Nelson Classic in honor of his late father, Floyd "Pete" Nelson. The fourth annual event runs tomorrow and Friday at Widener University, and Saturday at Gwynedd-Mercy College. "This is obviously a very tough time for our family. But the people in Chester loved my father," said Nelson, a Chester High product who attended St. Joseph's University.

IF YOU CHECKED out the NBA schedule, you might wonder how Jameer Nelson would be able to make the 10th Saint Joseph's Athletics Hall of Fame Celebration on Nov. 5. Unless the lockout ends soon, the 2004 National Player of the Year will be able to make the ceremony, instead of playing that night for Orlando in Washington. After a sensational career at Chester High, which he led to the AAAA state championship, Nelson, who holds the St. Joe's career marks for points (2,094), assists (713)

Tucked behind an assistant coach's desk in a cramped office at St. Joseph's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, Jawan Carter was talking recently about how his path to Hawk Hill was largely influenced by another 5-foot-11 point guard who was also raised on Chester's hard-scrabble streets, when a sweat-soaked, broad-shouldered figure walked in to take a blow from a pickup game. Carter lowered his head reverentially as Jameer Nelson aimed a friendly barb at him. "He's not full-blooded Chester," said Nelson, the unforgettable St. Joe's guard who was college basketball's player of the year in 2004 before moving on to the NBA's Orlando Magic.

Jameer Nelson heard the voices of his Chester coaches echoing in his ears all summer. Shoot the ball. Shoot the ball. Nelson rarely tried to score as a sophomore, and Chester's coaches, led by head man Fred Pickett, let him know about it. So, Nelson spent the summer practicing jumpers. He still is unselfish, but Chester's junior point guard doesn't mind lofting a shot now and again. "Whatever the team needs," Nelson said. "That's what I'll do. " Nelson had one option with two seconds left in overtime in Chester's PIAA Class AAAA semifinal battle with Hatboro-Horsham last night.

From the pandemic poverty, to the drugs and prostitution, to the gap-toothed city blocks of blighted buildings and empty lots - there are plenty of reasons to despair in Chester. And then there is basketball star Jameer Nelson. The elusive point guard with the relentless work ethic has, for years, been a rare source of pride for this struggling community. It started in March 2000, when he led Chester High to the state championship. It continued in college. In April, after he carried St. Joseph's University to an undefeated regular season and was named college player of the year, Chester handed him the keys to the city.

It's not true that coach Phil Martelli handed Jameer Nelson a basketball and the reins to his team the September day when the freshman point guard was on his way to his first class at St. Joseph's quaint Jesuit campus on City Avenue. Martelli didn't wait so long. He did that on the giddy day last year when Nelson informed Martelli he was taking his talents from Chester High to Hawk Hill. At last, or for the first time since the Rashid Bey era ended three seasons ago, the Hawks have someone who can give them symmetry where there often has been chaos.

Dan Dickau doesn't seem to have a lot of patience for the approach to basketball taken by many players, and the splendid senior point guard for Gonzaga isn't reluctant to say so. Too selfish. Too showy. Too mouthy. Too many guys who seem oblivious to the four other players on the floor. "I think the ability to pass the ball is something that really gets overlooked," Dickau said. "I mean, you watch some teams struggle to even get the ball into the post, or out to the wing, or reverse the ball, or move the ball to different areas on the same possession.

Chester didn't need a last-second shot to get past Hatboro-Horsham in the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA boys' basketball semifinals, as it did last year. Jameer Nelson made sure of that. The 6-foot-1 senior guard scored 13 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter to lead a Chester rally en route to a 62-55 victory over the stubborn Hatters last night at Temple University's Liacouras Center. The No. 1-seeded Clippers, who are the defending district champions, will meet No. 2 Coatesville, a 66-60 winner over Pennsbury in last night's other semifinal, at 9 p.m. Friday at Villanova's Pavilion.

Last night, Chester more than settled its score with Coatesville. The Clippers, who had lost to Coatesville by one point in the PIAA District 1 Class AAAA title game just 18 days earlier, returned to the Pavilion at Villanova to down the Red Raiders, 63-45, in last night's state boys' basketball semifinals. With the victory, Chester advanced to Saturday's state championship game in Hershey against Uniontown, a 75-62 winner over Penn Hills in the other semifinal. The Clippers got there largely due to the efforts of guards Jameer Nelson and Naeem Scott.

LOS ANGELES - La Salle assistant Horace "Pappy" Owens was the city Player of the Year at Dobbins Tech in 1979 when he averaged 29.3 points. That spring, he got a very close look at what he thinks is the closest Big 5 parallel to what La Salle has done so far in this NCAA Tournament - the Penn team that went all the way to the Final Four. It was the first year of seeding, and Penn was a No. 9 that, like La Salle this year, had to play its way into the main bracket. Now it is 64 teams, then only 32. Penn beat Iona in an 8-9 game, just as La Salle beat Boise State in a 13-13 game.

Thaddeus Young was on schedule in returning from his hamstring injury, a positive development for the 76ers in a season that has had few of them. Young returned to the lineup for Sunday's 99-93 loss to the New York Knicks after missing six games. He was hurt Feb. 4 in a 78-61 win over the Orlando Magic. At the time, Young was expected to miss three weeks. He returned on schedule, playing nearly 36 minutes and collecting 11 points and 10 rebounds. "I am feeling good and I have no pain at all," Young said after Tuesday morning's shootaround.

THE ASSIGNMENT was to decide on the five best Big 5 guard combinations and what made them so good. After contemplating the magnitude of that task, I made a decision. I would only consider the combos I have seen in my quarter-century of covering the Big 5, with a nod toward the great combos that played long before I saw my first City Series game. I was not thinking I would take one combo from each school, but that is exactly how it came out, again with a look back at history, concentrating on all Big 5 players and Player of the Year winners.

GRAHAM SPANIER wants a judge to allow him to travel outside of Pennsylvania. It is, after all, the holiday season and the former Penn State president wants to visit his mom, who is sick and living in Chicago. He also has relatives in Iowa he wants to see, and there's that second home in New York that he hasn't been to in a while. Last month, however, Spanier was charged with covering up complaints that former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky had showered with minor boys in facilities on Penn State's main campus.

The Nets' Brook Lopez had 26 points, including consecutive baskets during the game's decisive stretch, as Brooklyn shut down the visiting Los Angeles Clippers in the fourth quarter for an 86-76 victory Friday night. Brooklyn outscored the Clippers, 23-13, during a final period in which Chris Paul had no points, two assists, and six fouls. Deron Williams didn't have a great game either, but he improved to 14-4 in the longtime rivalry between two of the NBA's top point guards. Joe Johnson added 19 points for the Nets, who limited the Clippers to 29 points in the second half and got back on track after losing the final two games of a six-game road trip.

Former 76er Lou Williams scored 10 of his 19 points during Atlanta's decisive fourth-quarter surge; Al Horford had 23 points and 12 rebounds; and the Hawks beat the Thunder, 104-95, on Sunday night in Oklahoma City. Williams, who was let go by the Sixers despite leading them in scoring last season, hit a three-pointer, a 24-foot jumper, and converted a three-point play off a driving scoop in the lane during a 12-4 push midway through the fourth quarter that put the Hawks in front to stay.

The Orlando Magic are making some progress on solidifying their roster for next season, agreeing in principle to a new deal with Jameer Nelson. The 30-year-old point guard announced the news on his Twitter account Thursday. The deal comes just a week after the St. Joseph's and Chester High product opted out of the final season and nearly $8 million of his contract with Orlando to test free agency. "Glad to say I've reached an agreement with the Magic. . . I'm blessed to have the best fans and a great organization supporting me!"

Danny Granger scored 25 points to help the Indiana Pacers defeat the Orlando Magic, 105-87, in Indianapolis on Tuesday night, clinching their first-round Eastern Conference series four games to one. Darren Collison scored 15 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and George Hill added 15 points for the Pacers, who trailed by two at the end of the third quarter but outscored the Magic, 36-16, in the final 12 minutes. It was Indiana's first series win since 2005 and its first clincher on its home court since the first round of the 2000 playoffs.

The 76ers couldn't take advantage of an opponent that was clearly hurting both physically and emotionally. Despite having two starters out with injury and still wearing the scars from one of the most bizarre news conferences in NBA history, the Magic defeated the Sixers, 88-82, on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center. The loss was the Sixers' third in a row and fourth in five games. The Sixers visit Boston on Sunday, two games behind the Celtics in the Atlantic Division.

Dwight Howard scored 29 points and pulled down 18 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic to a 99-94 road win over Chicago on Thursday night, ending the Bulls' winning streak at eight games. Chicago twice overcame double-digit deficits and led, 91-89, with 2 minutes, 56 seconds to play. Orlando responded with an 8-1 run started by Jameer Nelson's lob to Howard for a dunk. Carlos Boozer led Chicago with 26 points. The Bulls played without guards Richard Hamilton (right-shoulder bruise)