Thursday Breakdown

*So we knew there would be stories about Steph and Curry not getting any playing time, but a story about D'Antoni cursing at the fans was not expected! While the crowd was chanting, "We Want Steph!," D'Antoni was seen saying, "Are you [expletive] kidding me?" Alan Hahn at Newsday caught up with him for an explanation. Staying on the Newsday tip, Ken Berger is getting hate mail from Marbury fans because of an article, so he cools 'em down with clips from writers around the league in agreement.

*This following article is the one of the main reasons BDTG exists: to find, read, and comment on articles like the following. Eric Mussleman, ex-coach of the Kings and Warriors has a blog focusing on basketball coaching. Today he posted John Wooden's 8 Principles of Practice. A few days ago, he also posted this next article, which compares life to high school. These are must reads for coaches in the making. Actually, this is a must read for anyone, focusing on the simple guidelines for success in any field. Great stuff.

*Get this, the NBA All-Star Game will be played in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium that is currently in construction. This place holds more than 100,000 seats. A basketball game! 100,000 seats! The largest crowd for a basketball game before this was just over 44,000. Pretty good chance I find my way over there for this. February 14th, 2010! Now that's the way to celebrate Valentine's day, with my main squeeze. I <3>

*An awesome discussion between two of my favorite writers at ESPN, David Thorpe and Henry Abbott. It's about the injury of Greg Oden, and for one very optimistic coach, and one super Blazer fan, this is a real, "glass half-empty," convo on Oden's future.

*Andrew Bynum is gettin' paid. Great signing for the Lakers. It looks like he healed up really well. It's a lot of money, but that basically locks in Bynum and Gasol for a few years, giving Kobe an easier decision next year when his player option comes up. With those bigs in LA, they'll always compete, and you know Kobe's needs to be competing at the highest level.

*Jason Maxiell, signing a slighty smaller deal (no, a lot smaller) in Detroit. That's a great bang for the buck, 4 years, $20 Mil. 5 per year is nothing for a talent like him. Great move by Joe Dumars who just continues to be one of the best GM's in the game.

I'm really mad at Kobe for making this commercial: