Basketball: Resignations spark fears of descent into chaos

England basketball, the sport's governing body, will be run "as a dictatorship" for the next three months by the national team coach, Laszlo Nemeth, following the sudden resignations of the chief executive, Simon Kirkland, and the finance director, Sue Rivington.

Their resignations, after the recent decision to further cut funding to the impoverished national teams, fuel fears that basketball is following the national bodies of athletics and hockey into financial crisis.

Kirkland, appointed in 1998, recently began a "fundamental review" into the organisation's management and will stay at the Leeds headquarters to carry that out, but he has appointed the Hungarian-born Nemeth as the interim chief executive.

Nemeth said: "I do not wish to serve longer than three months in this position and would welcome a shorter period. This is martial law and dictatorship will take over for a limited period. Commands are issued by me and responsibility will rest with me. The association will not fold and will not follow what happened in hockey and athletics, I guarantee. But if the executive board or someone overrules my decisions I will walk out at that moment."

Nemeth has already suspended the management team at headquarters – "senior management is partly responsible for this mess" – but added: "I have no time for investigations and no appetite for disciplinary action. This is the job of the board."

This upheaval will hardly reassure Sport England that England Basketball is capable of running the sport and neither will Kirkland's parting shots. "My frustrations revolve around the small minority who believe that destroying and deflecting is far more important than agreeing a common purpose."

Sue Rivington took over as finance director after her predecessor, Mike Vear, was dismissed shortly after refusing to sign the organisation's accounts. He is now believed to be considering an action for wrongful dismissal.

* Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics pulled off the greatest fourth-quarter comeback in NBA play-off history on Saturday. Pierce scored 19 of his 28 points in the final 12 minutes as Boston overcame a 21-point deficit in the Eastern Conference finals' third game to beat the New Jersey Nets 94-90 and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.