Raptors Leads Bayless Of Second Quarter

Basketball Betting Lines

It remained a tight game through a back-and-forth opening six minutes of the second, but a 9-2 spurt by the Lakers gave them their largest lead of the game so far, 45-38.

 

Philadelphia, though, responded with three-pointers by Iguodala and Jodie Meeks around Gasol making the back end of two free throws to close the gap to four and Los Angeles held a 50-46 lead at the break.

 

Los Angeles battled back to take a one-point lead in the final minute of the quarter, but Thaddeus Young's jumper gave Philadelphia a 70-69 edge entering the final stanza.

 

Bryant now has 28,601 career points. Wilt Chamberlain currently sits comfortably ahead in fourth place with 31,419 points...Sixers forward Elton Brand missed his second straight game with a sprained right thumb...Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown was not on the sidelines after being suspended one game and fined $25,000 following his ejection from the February 4 game against Utah...Philadelphia improved to 13-3 at home this season, while the Lakers fell to 3-9 on the road.

 

Deron Williams ended with 25 points and five assists for the Nets, who have lost three in a row. Sundiata Gaines and Jordan Farmar donated 12 and 11 points, respectively.

 

New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Knicks star forward Carmelo Anthony suffered a strained right groin in Monday's game against the Utah Jazz and will not return. He suffered the injury near the midpoint of the first quarter as he was running down the court on a fastbreak. After throwing a pass to teammate Tyson Chandler for an alley-oop dunk, Anthony limped down the other end and grabbed his groin.

 

Anthony had two points, one rebound and one assist before leaving the contest.

 

New Orleans had five players in double figures led by Greivis Vasquez, who had 20 points and nine assists. Emeka Okafor had 19 points and Chris Kaman added a 10 point, 12 rebound double-double in his first game since January 23 for a Hornets team that has dropped six straight and 15 of 16.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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