Football Betting

Cavs, minus LeBron, pound Kings

Basketball Betting Lines

03/14/2007 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cavaliers learned just before tip-off that they would be without the services of superstar forward LeBron James, but it was no matter as Larry Hughes and Sasha Pavlovic scored a career-high 25 points each, and Cleveland routed the Sacramento Kings, 124-100.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Cavs, who won their sixth straight. Drew Gooden finished with 10 points and 10 boards, and Ira Newble added 12 points for the Cavs.

James sat with back spasms, and will travel with the team to Memphis, where he will be evaluated before Wednesday's game against the Grizzlies.

Ron Artest, in his second game back from a suspension following his arrest last week on suspicion of domestic violence, finished with 19 points for the Kings, who dropped their third in a row. Kevin Martin scored 13 points and Mike Bibby finished with 12 for Sacramento.

The Cavs took over in the third quarter, outscoring the Kings 35-18 in the period. Pavlovic kicked things off with a three on Cleveland's first possession, spurring a 24-5 run to start the quarter, staking the Cavs to a 75-56 lead.

Sacramento scored eight straight to cut the deficit to 75-64, but the Cavs answered with an 11-2 run, taking an 86-66 lead on a Pavlovic alley-oop dunk with seven seconds left in the quarter.

John Salmons hit a three for Sacramento at the buzzer, but the Kings still trailed 86-69 entering the fourth quarter.

The Kings never threatened down the stretch, trailing by at least 15 points for the entire fourth quarter.

The Cavs led, 25-19, after the first quarter.

Artest and Bibby netted 10 points each in the second quarter, helping Sacramento erase the Cleveland lead. A Bibby jumper in the final seconds of the half tied the game at 51 entering the break.

Game Notes

Cleveland improved to 3-0 this season when playing without James, who missed two games in January with a sprained right big toe. The Cavs are a surprising 9-2 when James has had to sit during his career...Cleveland dominated on the boards, outrebounding the Kings 51-33.


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New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andrej Meszaros scored the game-winning goal to give the Ottawa Senators a 3-2 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson each scored a goal for the Sen

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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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Super Bowl XLIII Betting - Super Bowl 2009

Super Bowl 2009, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Let’s take a look at the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds and the betting line and figure out where they’ve been and where they are going to go.

MySportsbook.com put up the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds late on Sunday night with the Pittsburgh Steelers favored by 6.5 points and a total betting line at 47.5 points.

Since then, however, the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds have seen a good deal of movement and you’ll want to be on top of where they are likely to move to make sure you get the best line value for the big game.

Since opening, the Super Bowl 2009 betting lines went to Steelers -7 in the span of roughly 3 hours but were quickly bought back down just minutes later to 6.5 again.

After that is took about 5-6 more hours before the betting line went back to -7 where it has sat for a while now and is likely to remain. The opening betting total of 47.5 was bet down right after the line became available and went to 47 within minutes.

Roughly a day later it has been bet even further down to the 46.5 tally it currently is set at.

Roughly 60% of gamblers seem to be on the Cardinals here so the point spread will be bet down and a 7.5 would not last very long at all with many taking the early 6.5 in hopes of finding a potential middle in the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds.

If you like Arizona and see a 7.5, I’d take it as soon as possible because it’s unlikely to last. For Pittsburgh backers, the -7 might be the best you’ll be able to find but a 6.5 is definitely possible close to game time.

Regarding the Super Bowl 2009 betting odds for the total, most tracked gamblers are already on the over and with those who took the under 47.5 already securing a middle on the over 46.5, the only way I see it moving is back up to 47 so if you like the over, I’d recommend betting now.

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