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Sonics squeeze past ClippersBasketball Betting Lines03/02/2007 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rashard Lewis scored 31 points, including four in the final minute, as the Seattle SuperSonics edged the Los Angeles Clippers, 77-75, in the finale of a home-and-home set at KeyArena. With Seattle holding a two-point lead, Lewis converted a pair of free throws with 52.4 seconds on the clock for a 75-71 Sonics advantage. Elton Brand then scored on a turnaround jumper from the low left post with 42.5 seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game, but Lewis cut across the baseline and scored on a floater with 24.8 seconds left to again give Seattle a four-point cushion. Corey Maggette then cut hard down the lane and got bumped by Chris Wilcox, who fouled out with 9.3 seconds on the clock. After Maggette sank both free throws, Seattle advanced the ball to halfcourt with a timeout. However, LA's Will Conroy knocked the ball off Damien Wilkins' shoulder on the inbound pass, giving LA 8.2 seconds of golden opportunity to tie it or win the game. Brand got a good look on a 16-foot jumper, but came up short, as the Sonics escaped with the win. Wilcox finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for Seattle, which has won two of its last three. Luke Ridnour also scored 12 points, and Nick Collison added 11 points and 10 boards for the SuperSonics, who are 17-13 at KeyArena. Seattle is scheduled to host rookie Adam Morrison and the Charlotte Bobcats on Sunday. Brand posted 22 points and eight rebounds for the Clippers, who had a three- game winning streak snapped. Mobley netted 18 points, Maggette had 15, and Chris Kaman added 10 points and nine boards for the Clippers, who return home to host Indiana on Saturday and San Antonio on Monday; and are just 8-20 on the road this season. Both clubs were severely shorthanded at the guard position. Seattle's Ray Allen sat out with inflammation in his left ankle, while Sam Cassell suffered a strained right groin in the set's opener, and did not play either. After Mobley's jumper 34 seconds after the opening tip-off, Seattle raced out to an 11-2 lead, capped by a Collison tip shot with 8:33 remaining. LA then got going and scored seven straight to trail 11-9 with 7:14 left, and the Sonics led 26-21 heading into the second. Leading by one four minutes into the second stanza, the Sonics went on a 9-2 spurt capped by a Lewis trey with 5:55 to go, and retained control down the stretch for a 41-34 halftime lead. The Clippers regrouped in the locker room and opened the second half on an 8-2 run, sparked by a pair of Maggette free throws 41 seconds into the third quarter, to trim their deficit to 43-42. Both clubs stayed neck-and-neck thereafter for a 57-57 tie heading into the fourth. Game Notes This was the fourth and final meeting of the campaign between the clubs with each team winning twice. The Clippers posted a 96-91 win on Wednesday.
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 millionIn 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. To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs. |
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