Red-hot Thunder dominate Hornets

Basketball Betting Lines

03/10/2010 - Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant scored a team-high 29 points to lead the red-hot Oklahoma City Thunder to a decisive 98-83 win over the New Orleans Hornets at Ford Center.

Russell Westbrook had a near-triple double with 17 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, as the Thunder won for the 15th time in 18 games to continue their ascension up the West standings. At 39-24, Oklahoma City sits mere percentage points ahead of Phoenix for the fifth spot in the conference.

Serge Ibaka added 12 points off the bench for the Thunder, while Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic each had 10 in the win.

David West provided a game-high 33 points for the Hornets, who have lost five of six to fall 5 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot in the West. Marcus Thornton had 11 points in a reserve role, while Julian Wright provided 10 in defeat. Darren Collison recorded eight points and nine assists for New Orleans.

The Thunder took a 29-26 lead after the first quarter and used an 8-0 burst in the latter stages of the second to a grab a 48-39 lead on a Durant dunk with three minutes left.

The hosts held a 54-45 halftime advantage.

Oklahoma City scored 12 of the first 18 points of the second half, going in front by 15, 66-51, on a Krstic jumper four minutes into the period. The lead reached as high as 19 on Durant three before heading into the fourth with an 80-62 cushion.

Durant hit his second three of the game for a 21-point lead to begin the final 12 minutes, and the Thunder led comfortably the rest of the way.

Game Notes

The Thunder have won the last two against the Hornets after losing the previous 10...Oklahoma City won the season series, 2-1...The Thunder improved to 20-11 at home...Green had nine rebounds.

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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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