Suns go off for 152, blow out Timberwolves

Basketball Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Richardson led eight Phoenix players in double figures with 27 points as the Suns lit up the scoreboard with a 152-114 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at US Airways Center.

Amare Stoudemire netted 25 and Steve Nash added 13 and 14 assists, as the Suns set an NBA-high for points in a game this season.

Louis Amundson scored a season-high 20 on 10-of-13 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds off the bench for Phoenix, which won for a third time in four games. Channing Frye also chipped in with 14 points.

"I thought we played very well and did a great job of taking care of business," said Suns coach Alvin Gentry. "They are a very capable team, especially if you let them hang around."

Corey Brewer racked up 21 points and Ryan Gomes added 18 for the T'Wolves, who dropped their 10th straight.

The Suns broke their season-high scoring mark of 127 on a Channing Frye three- pointer with 7:40 to go in the game, giving the Suns 130 points to Minnesota's 96. Phoenix widened its lead to as many as 41 before the final buzzer.

Neither team led by more than three in the first quarter until the Suns took a 24-20 edge on a Stoudemire dunk with under five minutes remaining. Phoenix finished the frame up five at 38-33.

Phoenix lifted the margin to 11 at 47-36 after a Jared Dudley three over two minutes into the second quarter. The T'Wolves lowered the deficit to six, 49-43, on a Brewer reverse layup, but the Suns shot the lights out and finished the half up 79-61, after shooting a blistering 77.3 percent in the frame.

The third period saw more of the same from the high-scoring Suns, as they extended their lead to 87-61, capping off an 8-0 stretch. Phoenix led by as many as 29 before finishing the quarter up 114-88.

Game Notes

The Suns finished with 55 field goals and 15 three-pointers and scored at least 35 points in every quarter...Minnesota made 7-of-14 three- pointers...Goran Dragic scored 11 points with five rebounds and five assists for the Suns and Robin Lopez added 12 and nine boards...All 12 participating Minnesota players scored...Minnesota next plays on Wednesday at Utah...Phoenix next plays on Friday at home against Utah.

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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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