Knicks owner James Dolan of Cablevision met last night with prospective coach Larry Brown, who had wanted to speak first with interim coach Herb Williams.

The visit to Brown's home in East Hampton, N.Y., by Dolan and team president Isiah Thomas represented the next step in the Knicks' wooing of Brown, a pursuit that figures to draw to a conclusion in the next few days.

The Knicks had not formally offered the job to Brown as of Saturday, but the implied message from Thomas was clear: The job is Brown's if he wants it.

Brown said Saturday he wanted to speak to Williams before speaking to Dolan. But Williams was out of town for the weekend, which may have been a factor in Dolan becoming the second Knicks official to get an exclusive audience with Brown.

"I told Isiah I wanted to talk to Herb," Brown said. "He's impacted by this decision."

Williams, who has been asked by the Knicks to stay publicly silent, did not return a call to his cell phone.

More basketball

The Philadelphia 76ers and restricted free-agent center Samuel Dalembert agreed to the terms of a six-year contract. Agent Marc Cornstein confirmed the team and player agreed to the deal late Saturday night. He would not reveal financial terms of the contract.

Becky Hammon scored 13 points, including 11 in the final 5 minutes, to lead the visiting New York Liberty past the Minnesota Lynx, 59-47, for their third consecutive victory. New York (11-9) has won five in a row in Minnesota. Nicole Ohlde scored 17 points for the Lynx (11-10), who fell into fifth place in the Western Conference.

Tennis

Unseeded Robby Ginepri came from a set down to beat one of the top seeds at the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, for the third consecutive day, winning the second ATP title of his career when Taylor Dent retired from heat illness in the third set. Ginepri lost the first set, 4-6, but took the second, 6-0, and led, 3-0, in the third when Dent bowed out.

Top-seeded Patty Schnyder found her serve in time to beat Akiko Morigami, 6-4, 6-0, in the final of the Cincinnati Women's Open in Mason, Ohio. Schnyder dominated the second set to win her 10th WTA title.

Winning another clay-court tournament was the easy part for French Open champion Rafael Nadal. The tough part was driving the sports car that came with it. Nadal, 19, doesn't have a driver's license, and he didn't how to work the ignition of the new Mercedes Benz he received after beating Gaston Gaudio in straight sets in the Mercedes Cup final in Stuttgart, Germany, to extend his clay-court winning streak to 34 matches. Nadal beat Gaudio -- last year's French Open champion -- 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, for his eighth title this year.

Track

Olympic champion Shawn Crawford has withdrawn from the 200 meters at the world track and field championships, because of a lingering foot injury, his agent said. Crawford still plans to compete in the 100 and will be available for the 400-meter relay, agent Kimberly Trammell said. Crawford's withdrawal clears the way for Wallace Spearmon to compete in the 200 at the worlds, scheduled for Aug. 6-14 in Helsinki, Finland.

Olympic champion Osleidys Menendez of Cuba threw a season-best 224-feet, 7-inches to win the women's javelin at the Helsinki Grand Prix in Finland. Germany's Christina Obergfoll was runner-up at 206-6, followed by Finland's Paula Tarvainen (199-3) and Cuban veteran Sonia Bisset (198). The Helsinki Grand Prix meet's other events are scheduled for today.

Soccer

Danielle Fotopoulos scored two goals in two minutes to lead the U.S. women to a 3-0 victory against Iceland in an exhibition match in Carson, Calif. The victory makes the United States, 7-0, since the retirement of Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett in December.

Baseball

Jeff Braidic and Nate Timons hit home runs for the Pittsburgh Typos in a 4-3 loss to St. Louis in the first round of the Union Printers International Tour in Fort Myers, Fla. Justin Slavicek pitched a complete game for the Typos.