Streaking Magic hope to make Clippers disappear

Basketball Betting Lines

03/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The acquisition of Vince Carter has paid off so far for Eastern Conference power Orlando, which will shoot for its sixth straight win tonight versus the Los Angeles Clippers in the second test of a three-game homestand at Amway Arena.

Carter scored a team-high 25 points in Sunday's hard-fought 96-94 win over the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the opener of the residency, while double-double machine Dwight Howard muscled his way to 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Southeast Division-leading Magic, who are second in the conference standings and 18-5 in their previous 23 games. Howard leads the league with 50 double-doubles this season.

"This was just a battle. It was much more a battle than a basketball game," Orlando head coach Stan Van Gundy said. "It was extremely physical, both teams fought extremely hard the entire way."

Jameer Nelson finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in a winning effort. Meanwhile, Carter needs 15 points to pass Eddie Johnson (19,202) for 45th place on the all-time scoring list.

The Magic will close out the residency on Thursday versus Chicago and are 25-6 as the host this season. They have won four straight in central Florida.

Los Angeles will continue a five-game road trip this evening and opened the trek on a sour note, dropping a 107-85 decision against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Drew Gooden led the team with 20 points and 12 boards, while Chris Kaman recorded 12 points and 13 rebounds for LA, which has lost three straight overall and six in a row as the guest.

Rasual Butler and Baron Davis each had 11 points in the lopsided setback.

"I think we shot our bullets early," Gooden said. "Ran out of ammunition in the second half. I think our legs caught up with us. It's tough to play here. The crowd got into it."

The Clippers, who have lost 10 of their last 11 road games since January 25, will also visit the Heat, Bobcats and Spurs on the road swing and are 7-24 away from home this season.

In injury news for the Clips, guard Eric Gordon is questionable against the Magic with a sore right leg. Gordon is second on the team with 17.2 ppg.

Orlando defeated Los Angeles, 97-86, back on December 8 this season at Staples Center and has won six straight in the series. The Clippers are winless in their last three trips to Amway Arena.

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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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