NBA's best meets worst as Cavs host Nets

Basketball Betting Lines

02/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The teams with the best and worst records in the NBA this season will go head-to-head at Quicken Loans Arena tonight, where the powerhouse Cleveland Cavaliers put an 11-game win streak on the line against the downtrodden New Jersey Nets.

Cleveland's current surge, tied with Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers for the longest string of consecutive wins in the league in 2009-10, has given the championship hopefuls a 41-11 record for the season and a comfortable six-game advantage over Southeast Division leader Orlando for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs have a 1 1/2-game edge on the Lakers for the best mark in the NBA.

The Cavaliers kept up their winning ways with Saturday's 113-106 home verdict over the New York Knicks, with LeBron James once again leading the way. The reigning league MVP established a franchise-best with 35 first-half points to help Cleveland build a commanding 74-54 lead at intermission, and finished with 47 along with eight rebounds and eight assists.

"I was able to shoot the ball extremely well, but still get my teammates involved," said James, who was named the Eastern Conference's Player of the Week on Monday. "When I'm on fire, I can go for a lot of points, but getting my teammates involved is good for us in the long run."

Shaquille O'Neal chipped in 19 points and Anthony Parker scored 11 for the Cavaliers, who continue to win despite injuries to two key members in Mo Williams and Delonte West.

West, who missed the last eight games due to a broken ring finger, did practice without incident on Monday and could be back in the lineup for tonight's matchup. Williams, who's second to James among Cleveland players in scoring (16.9 ppg) and assists (5.1 apg), hasn't played since January 19 because of a sprained left shoulder and is sidelined indefinitely.

The Cavs will be shooting for a 10th straight home victory tonight and are an NBA-best 22-3 at Quicken Loans Arena this season. In contrast, New Jersey is a woeful 1-26 on the road and has dropped 14 in a row since its lone triumph as the visitor, a 103-101 decision over Chicago on December 8.

The 4-46 Nets have also lost six straight games overall and 17 of its last 18 contests following Saturday's 99-92 defeat at Detroit. The team's latest loss was further marred by an injury to top player Devin Harris, who had to be helped off the court after colliding with teammate Jarvis Hayes in the game's final minute.

Harris, who put up a team-best 21 points and seven assists in the loss, was diagnosed with a sprained left shoulder and will be a game-time decision this evening. The 26-year-old missed nearly two weeks with a similar ailment last season.

This is my third sprained AC joint, so I just know how to brace it to make it feel better," Harris said after the game. "It's not as bad as the one I had last year."

Hayes bruised his left shin as a result of the incident and is expected to play tonight.

The Nets will be attempting to stop a stretch of six straight losses to the Cavaliers, with three of those defeats having taken place in Cleveland. The Cavs topped New Jersey by a 99-89 score at Quicken Loans Arena back on December 15.

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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.

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