Howard leads Magic to tight win over Bulls

Basketball Betting Lines

11/03/2008 - Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwight Howard dominated the paint in a major inside mismatch, scoring 22 points with 15 rebounds, as Orlando held on for a 96-93 victory over Chicago at Amway Arena.

Going up against the shorter Drew Gooden and Tyrus Thomas inside, Howard made 9-of-15 from the floor and pulled down eight offensive rebounds. Rashard Lewis donated 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while guards Jameer Nelson and Keith Bogans each contributed 13 points for Orlando, which continued its domination of Chicago with its fifth straight win in the series.

Gooden scored 21 points and Andres Nocioni added 20 and seven boards off the bench for Chicago. Top-overall pick Derrick Rose scored 14 points in nearly 39 minutes of action. Ben Gordon donated 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting, also off the bench.

Luol Deng struggled with just one point on 0-of-8 shooting in 25:47 of action.

Orlando kept Chicago in the contest thanks to some shoddy free throw shooting. A Rose runner and Gordon jumper cut the deficit to 93-92 in the fourth period before Lewis made just 1-of-2 from the charity stripe with 22.8 ticks to go.

Gordon then raced the floor and took an ill-advised fadeaway floater over the outstretched arms of Howard. The shot barely drew iron and Lewis made a pair from the free throw line with 10.9 seconds.

Despite the two makes in the final seconds, the Magic made only 21-of-31 from the charity stripe on the night.

Nocioni was then fouled shooting a three-pointer with 4.7 ticks to go, but he missed the first before making the second. He missed the third on purpose and corralled the rebound, but he missed a game-tying trey in the final second.

The first half was a tale of two quarters, and a microcosm of two teams with two very different offensive philosophies. Chicago jumped out to a 9-3 lead after three consecutive jumpers, but went cold for the remainder of the period.

Orlando netted the final 13 points of the quarter to take a double-digit edge. Bogans contributed seven in a row, six coming on a pair of treys, and Howard added some thunder with a slam and subsequent free throw. Hedo Turkoglu's free throw gave the Magic a 31-21 edge. The Bulls missed their final six shots of the period.

That stat quickly turned around midway through the second period. Pietrus' three gave Orlando a 40-26 lead, but the Bulls heated up from the perimeter. While Orlando grew its lead with a large rebound advantage, Chicago crept back into the fray with a barrage of outside shooting.

An 11-2 stretch cut the deficit to six points. A jumper and three-pointer from Gordon made the score 47-41. Gooden's hook shot cut the lead to four points, 49-45, and Aaron Gray's layup put the halftime deficit at 50-47.

Game Notes

Orlando has won eight of the last 10 overall in the series...Howard has five double-doubles already this season...Orlando fired 27 three-pointers, making just nine...Chicago committed 17 turnovers...Attendance 15,606.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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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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