“A Madison Square Garden security official spoke to Marbury during a timeout, and it was then discovered that Marbury was holding a ticket for Row A. But the seat he was occupying -- just a couple chairs down from Spike Lee's regular seat -- was actually in Row AA, and Marbury was asked to move."

Instead of moving the row behind the courtside seats where Marbury was supposed to be sitting, he just up and left the game and never returned.

So what could have been the point of all this? I don’t think it’s any surprise that Stephon didn’t know where to go, where he was supposed to be, or how to sit through an entire game without trying to ruin the experience for the fans. He’s been exhibiting that behavior throughout his entire career. Was it just a way to get his name into the headlines once again? Was he trying to promote his Justin.TV/uStream/Starbury-Marbury showgram? I have no idea.

But what I do know is that he either clearly can’t read and differentiate between letters and numbers, simply doesn’t care and thinks he deserves to sit wherever he pleases, or a combination of the two. I wouldn’t expect it any other way.

2. Rajon Rondo Contract Extension Talks Extended and Completed
The contract extensions deadline was moved from the end of October 31^st to the end of November 2^nd because it fell on the weekend and by league rules, gets moved to the next business day. This gave the teams a few extra days of negotiations to come to an agreement on contract extensions for the draft class of 2006.

Between late Sunday night and early Monday morning, the Celtics and point guard Rajon Rondo finally agreed to a contract extension that will probably end up being an absolute steal for the Boston Celtics. There were plenty of problems leading up to this agreement. Danny Ainge was reportedly shopping Rajon Rondo around for potential help/depth for another title run with this team and/or as a throw-in in a possible Ray Allen deal, in case Boston decided to retool their veteran presence. This rubbed Rajon Rondo the wrong way and caused an alleged rift between the point guard and his boss.

Rondo (or more likely his agent) wanted a near-max deal of around six years for $80 million. The Celtics wanted to lowball him with a five-year, $40 million deal. They ended up settling for five years and $55 million, which joined him with Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Andrea Bargnani as the main players from the 2006 draft who got their extensions and will avoid restricted free agency next summer.

Instead, Danny Ainge did the right thing and gave Rondo more money than he wanted to. The result will be a happy, talented point guard who has already helped them win a title. Since that title, he’s light years more advanced as a player and capable of carrying them through an early playoff round. Now the Celtics can concentrate on this season and this playoff run.

3. Brandon Jennings Made His Debut
I’m not fully capable of discussing what I’ve seen from Brandon Jennings in his first two games as a pro. It will come and hopefully it will be this week. But as for right now, here are two highlights, one from each game. The Bucks went 1-1 in these games with Jennings running the show.

In the first game, he nearly recorded a triple-double. He racked up 17 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists. He also had this absurdly difficult layup that he made look really easy.



In the second game, he led the Bucks to victory over the Pistons with a 24-point effort. He had this highlight against the Pistons in which he performed grand larceny before impregnating the Bucks’ faithful with unbridled hope.



This is a time to be rejoiced.

4. Milwaukee Bucks Announcers Takes Shots at ‘Toine
Received this email from one of our loyal readers (no, not mom), Andy:

"Am watching The Pistons/Bucks game on League Pass Broadband.  The Bucks announcers were talking about guys that shoot a lot of 3s.  Started talking about Antoine Walker and here is the exchange:

Announcer #1: I once asked Antoine why he took so many 3s.  He said "because I can't take any 4s!

Announcer #2: Well his math has been called into question a bit recently...

*awkward pause*”

This is the kind of stuff with local broadcasters that makes NBA League Pass well worth the money every year.

5. Vince Carter Turns His Ankle
Who had 41 minutes of play until Vince Carter went down with an injury?


AP Photo

And of course, it happened right before the Magic went to Toronto to take on some mutual old friends.

6. Random Contract Extensions
Thabo Sefolosha agreed to a four-year, $13.8 million extension with the Thunder. And he’s why.

And Renaldo Balkman was extended for three years and $5.2 million.

It seems now that avoiding the almighty cap hold on your young, first round draft picks is the way smart teams are avoiding salary cap trouble next summer.

7. Bat Attack
Insert "Manu Will Hear From PETA" joke here.



8. Kevin Durant Temper Tantrums
This was a weird story out of the Oklahoman. I guess I’m supposed to be more impressed with Kevin Durant because he apparently throws a fit when he loses at NBA 2K.

"I threw my controller through my windows and threw it in the pool before,” Durant said. "Even though it might sound kind of foolish, that’s how it is. It’s bragging rights to us. That’s all we do, since Sega.

But without them knowing, they’re giving me the competitive edge to win.”

From what it sounds like, he’s not very good and loses often. You know, I’m all for finding motivation in your daily activities and I’m happy that this might work for him but that shows more he has the mentality of a spoiled nine-year old than the fire of a great champion.

Now, I don’t really think he’s a nine-year old or a sore loser. But I feel like there are these puff pieces all the time to drum up local interest. Here’s the problem – you don’t need to drum up local interest in Kevin Durant. Everybody in OKC probably thinks he’s the next Jordan.

Can’t we just let him mature instead of forcing the greatness upon him? Isn’t it more fun to watch him develop instead of assuming he’s already got it?

9. Joe Alexander Gets Skeeta’d
Joe Alexander didn’t get his option picked up for the third year on his contract.

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