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Streaking Nuggets kick off road trip in HoustonBasketball Betting Lines01/27/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carmelo Anthony should be ready to play tonight for the Northwest Division-leading Denver Nuggets, who will try to extend their winning streak to eight games in the opener of a three-game road trip against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center. Anthony, who is second in the NBA with 29.7 points per game, missed Monday's 104-93 home triumph versus the Charlotte Bobcats because of a sprained ankle. The Nuggets didn't seem to suffer without him, as Chauncey Billups carried the load with 27 points, 11 assists, and six rebounds. Arron Afflalo knocked down six three-pointers to tie a career high with 24 points, while Nene had 17 points, five rebounds, and four steals in Denver's seventh straight win. "I'm just trying to find a good rhythm shooting, and I got to thank my teammates for that," Afflalo said. "They're doing a lot of creating of the plays, and I'm just standing there trying to make shots." The Nuggets will also visit Oklahoma City and San Antonio on the road swing and own a 9-11 mark outside of the Pepsi Center this season. While Anthony is listed as questionable tonight, center Chris Andersen is probable against the Rockets due to a sprained ankle. Denver is four games ahead of both Utah and Portland in the Northwest standings. The Jazz have won three in a row to keep pace. Meanwhile, Houston has lost the first two tests of a six-game homestand, including Monday's 102-95 loss versus the Atlanta Hawks. Carl Landry scored 16 points and Aaron Brooks netted 15 for the Rockets, who struggled by shooting 39.8 percent from the field. "It was just that three-minute period that opened the floodgates," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said of the second quarter. "They're a veteran team and have a very good player in Joe Johnson, guys who can make shots and make plays. It's hard to come back against a team like that." Luis Scola added 12 points and eight boards in the loss, Houston's seventh in its last 11 contests. The Rockets, who are 5 1/2 games behind Dallas in the Southwest, will also host the Blazers, Suns and Warriors on the current homestand and sport a 13-7 ledger in Houston this season. Denver beat Houston, 111-101, back on December 16 in the Rocky Mountains thanks to Anthony's 38 points and nine rebounds. The Nuggets, though, have lost four straight and 12 of their previous 15 trips to the Toyota Center.
<< Ellis set to return as Warriors host Hornets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Golden State Warriors leading scorer Monta Ellis hopes to be back at full strength Wednesday night against the New Orleans Hornets at ORACLE Arena. Ellis has missed back-to-back outings with a sprained right ankle and lead
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<< Clips' trip continues with clash against win-starved Nets
<< San Antonio hopes to stop slide vs. Hawks
Caps G Theodore day-to-day >>
Arlington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore left Tuesday's 7-2 win over the New York Islanders after two periods with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day. Rookie Michal Neuvirth came on in
Lakers continue road trip in Indy >>
Austin takes over at Cornell >>
Bulls, Thunder clash at Ford Center >>
Irish to try their luck in Big East clash with third-ranked Wildcats >>
MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details. According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800). Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund. ''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.'' Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby. ''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.'' Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year. ”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?'' For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 millionIn 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. To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs. |
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