Heat host hapless Sixers

Basketball Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat continue their push toward a postseason berth when they host the lowly Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.

The Heat are coming off a huge win over Chicago on Friday in which Quentin Richardson made 7-of-11 three-pointers on his way to 23 points while pulling down seven rebounds, as Miami handled the Bulls, 108-95.

Jermaine O'Neal had a season-high 25 points to go with six rebounds for the Heat, who improved to 2-0 on a six-game homestand and have won five of six, overall. Dwyane Wade chipped in 22 points and seven assists for Miami, which got 17 points off the bench from Mario Chalmers.

"This one we had to find out different ways to win," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We had to do it a little bit ugly. We tried to grind it offensively."

Miami is now percentage points behind Charlotte for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference, 2 1/2 games ahead of the ninth place Bulls.

Forward Michael Beasley missed the Chicago game with a thigh bruise, while Dorell Wright served the first of a two-game suspension levied after he was charged with a DUI and driving with a suspended license. Meanwhile, veteran guard Rafer Alston was suspended for the season by the team after he went AWOL without telling the organization.

The Heat hope to have Beasley back in the lineup tonight.

The Sixers fell for the eighth time in nine games on Friday when LeBron James ended with 23 points and Mo Williams chipped in 21, as Cleveland pulled out a tough 100-95 decision over Philadelphia.

Andre Iguodala posted 30 points, seven boards and five assists for the Sixers. Elton Brand contributed 24 points and nine rebounds, and Thaddeus Young added 15 points in the loss.

"I hate to harp on it, but they win a lot of ball games and we don't," said Brand. "They know how to get the key players the ball at key times."

Miami has taken two straight from Philly in South Beach and also won the only matchup between the teams this season, a 105-78 rout in Philly on Feb. 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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