May 7 (Bloomberg) -- The National Basketball Association told Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson that he can't bring beer into the postgame interview room.

``We talked to the team,'' NBA spokesman Tim Frank said in an e-mail. ``It won't happen anymore.''

Nelson, 66, brought a can of Bud Light into the interview room on more than one occasion during his team's opening-round upset of the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks.

After the series-clinching win on May 3, Nelson was watching the Turner Network Television broadcast while waiting to begin his press conference. Charles Barkley, a Turner analyst who had picked the Mavericks, was wearing a ``We Believe'' T- shirt worn by fans of the Warriors.

According to a Sports Illustrated account, Nelson raised his beer and called out, ``The Chuckster,'' referring to Barkley.

Warriors spokesman Raymond Ridder said the team received the league's directive.

``The message did come down,'' he said in a telephone interview from Utah, where the Warriors face the Jazz tonight in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal.

Nelson is the second-winningest coach in NBA history, with a 1,232-920 regular-season record. Lenny Wilkens holds the record with 1,332 victories.

Ridder said he took the beer can from Nelson before the coach reached the interview podium.

The NBA's directive comes about a week after St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a car accident. St. Louis police said the 29-year-old Hancock was drunk at the time of the crash.

In the wake of Hancock's death, some Major League Baseball teams banned alcohol in the home-team clubhouse.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 7, 2007 13:42 EDT