NEW YORK - After another long day of negotiations, NBA players and owners left with nothing more than plans for another meeting.

That's not what commissioner David Stern had in mind, but it's better than the cancellations that could have come if talks had fallen through. Both sides seemed to have plenty to say. An eight-hour meeting on Wednesday brought the talk total to 24 hours over two days, and federal mediator George Cohen said bargaining would resume on Thursday afternoon.

"Everyone is extremely focused on the core issues, the difficult issues that confront them," Cohen said.