Brooks perfect from long distance, Rockets end Memphis' road run

Basketball Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Brooks led all scorers with 31 points and made all seven of his three-point attempts as the Rockets topped the Grizzlies, 107-94, ending Memphis' franchise-record seven-game road winning streak.

Brooks broke the team record for most triples in a game without a miss for the Rockets, who won their season-high fourth straight contest.

Luis Scola aided in the winning effort with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Kevin Martin netted 18.

Zach Randolph racked up 30 points and 15 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who have lost two of three.

Rudy Gay scored 14 points, while Marcus Williams and Mike Conley each dropped in 11 in the losing effort.

Memphis trimmed the Rockets lead to 82-76 on a Williams three to start the final quarter, but Houston extended its hold to double-digits on a Shane Battier triple over two minutes into the frame. The Rockets led by as many as 13 in the quarter.

"After the first quarter, we defended them well," said Rockets coach Rich Adelman. "We really moved the ball effectively in the fourth quarter."

Houston got within a point at 13-12 in the first quarter on a pair of Brooks free throws, but Memphis put together a 9-0 stretch, capped off by a Conley foul shot with under three minutes left. The Grizzlies finished the frame up 29-22.

Memphis held a 10-point edge at multiple points in the second quarter, but the Rockets fought back with a 11-4 run to end the half down only two at 55-53 on a pair of Martin foul shots.

Houston tied the contest at 55 on the first basket of the third quarter, on its way to an 11-2 flurry to extend the Rockets advantage to 64-57 with just over eight minutes left.

The Grizzlies cut the deficit to 70-68 on a Darrell Arthur jump hook with 4 1/2 minutes remaining, but the Rockets kept the lead and finished the period up 82-73 after Brooks drained his fifth consecutive triple and Scola converted on a finger roll in the final minute.

Game Notes

Houston's Jordan Hill registered a career-high nine rebounds...The Rockets improved to 13-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better. They shot 22-of-35 from the field in the second half..Brooks has made a three in a franchise-record 39 straight games...Houston guard Kyle Lowry left the game with an apparent ankle injury.

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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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