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Cavs' strong finish fuels Game 1 win over CelticsBasketball Betting Lines05/02/2010 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mo Williams sparked the Cavaliers in the third quarter and LeBron James finished off the Boston Celtics in the fourth, scoring 10 of his 35 points in the last six minutes to lift Cleveland to a 101-93 win in the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinals. James, wearing a protective sleeve on his injured right elbow, added seven assists and seven rebounds for Cleveland, which scored the final seven points to seal the win. James is expected to pick up his second straight MVP trophy on Sunday. "It's been better, but I don't use excuses," said James of the elbow. "I'll be ready for [Game 2]." Williams netted 14 of his 20 points in the third, while Shaquille O'Neal and J.J. Hickson chipped in 11 points apiece for the Cavs, who held Boston to 5- of-19 shooting in the last 12 minutes. Rajon Rondo ended with 27 points, 12 assists and six rebounds to pace the Celtics, who received 18 points and 10 boards from Kevin Garnett. Paul Pierce logged 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting in defeat. Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Monday in Cleveland. Williams' third frame helped the hosts erase a double-digit deficit, and it was a tight game until Cleveland took over down the stretch. O'Neal broke a 90-90 tie with a layup and then sent Rondo to the ground with a hard foul the next time down. Rondo recovered and hit 1-of-2 free throws, and a James basket made it a 94-91 game with under 3 1/2 minutes to go. Garnett's make inside cut the deficit to one, but James answered at the other end with 1:48 to play. Kendrick Perkins grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Pierce, who missed the original attempt and then hit all iron on a three from the corner. A pick-and-roll led to James feeding O'Neal down low, and the former league MVP cleaned up his own miss for a 98-93 advantage with 1:02 remaining. After Perkins lost the ball out of bounds, Boston opted not to send Cleveland to the foul line, and James' three from the left wing with 22.9 seconds showing sealed the outcome. Rondo's buzzer-beating three yielded a 26-20 lead at the end of the first, and the shifty guard scored 10 points in the second to keep the Celtics in front. Ray Allen and Perkins hit consecutive field goals just past the midway mark of the frame for a 42-33 edge, and Perkins put back a Rondo miss just before the halftime gun went off for a 54-43 score. Boston had an 11-point lead on several occasions in the third, the last occurring near the midway point when Allen sank a three-ball to boost the margin to 69-58. Williams suddenly got hot and went on a personal 10-4 run, highlighted by his first ever dunk as a Cavalier. Two Anderson Varejao free throws a little later cut the deficit to 73-71, and James rattled one in at the buzzer that put the Cavs on top, 79-78. "We stuck together throughout the game," Cleveland head coach Mike Brown said. "As the course of the game went on, we really kept our composure." Game Notes James is scheduled to undergo daily treatments and a repeat MRI for his strained elbow..Boston beat Cleveland in the East semis two seasons ago en route to the NBA title...The Cavs and Celtics split four games in the regular season...Both clubs finished off their opening round opponents this year in just five games, as Cleveland dispensed of Central Division rival Chicago, while the Celtics sent the Miami Heat back to South Beach...Cleveland has won 13 of its last 14 postseason games at Quicken Loans Arena...Allen scored 14 points for Boston, which shot 44.4 percent overall...Cleveland turned 16 Boston turnovers into 23 points.
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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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