NBA labor talks turned nasty and broke off Thursday when three days of meetings failed to yield a deal to end a 112-day lockout, raising the likelihood that even more games will be canceled. After 30 hours of negotiations before a federal mediator, the sides remained divided over two main issues — the division of revenues and the structure of the salary cap system. “Ultimately, we were unable to bridge the gap that separates the two parties,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said. “We understand the ramifications of where we are. We're saddened on behalf of the game.” Without a deal, NBA Commissioner David Stern, who missed Thursday's session due to illness, almost certainly will decide more games must be dropped. The season was supposed to begin Nov. 1, but all games through Nov. 14 — 100 in total — already have been scrapped, costing players about $170 million in salaries. Stern said previously that games through Christmas were in jeopardy without a deal this week. Silver said the labor committee would speak with Stern Friday about the future schedule. The union said owners essentially gave it an ultimatum to accept a 50-50 split of revenues, and president Derek Fisher accused management of lying to the media. “We've spent the last few days making our best effort to try and find a resolution here. Not one that was necessarily a win-win. It wouldn't be a win for us. It wouldn't be a win for them. But one that we felt like would get our game back ... and get our guys back on the court, get our vendors back to work, get the arenas open, get these communities revitalized,” Fisher said. “And in our opinion, that's not what the NBA and the league is interested in at this point. They're interested in telling you one side of the stories that are not true and this is very serious to us. This is not in any way about ego. There are a lot of people's livelihoods at stake separate from us.” Billy Hunter, executive director of the players' association, said the union made “concession after concession after concession ... and it's just not enough. We're not prepared to let them impose a system on us that eliminates guarantees, reduces contract lengths, diminishes all our increases,” he said. “We're saying no way. We fought too long and made too many sacrifices to get where we are.”
