DENVER - The Nuggets fired coach Jeff Bzdelik Tuesday, a day after losing their sixth straight game.

The Nuggets failed to live up to the high expectations that came with the offseason addition of All-Star forward Kenyon Martin. Assistant Michael Cooper took over on an interim basis after Bzdelik became the first NBA coach to be fired this season.

Expected to contend in the Western Conference after Martin came from New Jersey in a sign-and-trade deal, the Nuggets instead have been plagued by bad luck, inconsistency and lopsided home losses.

SAN FRANCISCO - The federal judge presiding over a steroids distribution case that has implicated several elite athletes refused Tuesday to dismiss charges against three men, but ruled the defendants can try to convince her that statements made to investigators were illegally coerced and shouldn't be used against them.Those statements cited several sports stars - including baseball sluggers Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, and sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery - as drug users. No athlete has been charged.U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said there's a substantial dispute between prosecutors and the three accused men - Victor Conte, James Valente and Greg Anderson - over whether they were in custody when they were initially interrogated by investigators.

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Veteran tough guy Rob Ray sued the NHL Players Association Tuesday, claiming he has been shut out of the union's lockout compensation fund as punishment because he said in October he would return to the ice if the NHL used replacement players.Ray spent most of last season working as a TV broadcaster with his former team, the Buffalo Sabres, before signing with Ottawa in February. He played six games with the Senators, and was on the team's roster when it was eliminated by Toronto in the first round of last year's playoffs.The 15-year NHL veteran is an unrestricted free agent. He said he was notified early last month that an NHLPA committee ruled he was not eligible for compensation.

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. - About 750 relatives, friends and former baseball peers, including a contingent from Texas, paid their last respects to former Rangers manager Johnny Oates Tuesday.He died Friday 58 after a three-year fight with glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive brain tumor.Most of those at the funeral service at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church were associated with Oates through his 35-year baseball career of playing, coaching and managing.Oates was best known for managing the Rangers to their first three postseason appearances, in 1996, '98 and '99. He also managed the Baltimore Orioles from 1991-94.