"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.

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.