Nash, Suns host Rockets in the desert

Basketball Betting Lines

02/09/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Nash celebrated his 38th birthday in style the last time out for the Phoenix Suns, who look to extend their season-high winning streak to four straight games this evening at home versus the Houston Rockets.

Nash posted a game-winning runner in the lane with five seconds left in Tuesday's 107-105 victory at Milwaukee and was one of six players to score in double figures with 18 points and 11 assists. The Suns led by 17 points at halftime and by as many as 21 points before a 27-4 second-half run by the Bucks made things interesting.

Michael Redd faced his former Milwaukee team for the first time and finished with 14 points in a reserve role.

"It was pretty much fun to watch. Mike [Redd] obviously had a huge career here. Trying to be back playing is amazing," Nash said. "For him to come back to Milwaukee under all the things he had to face with his injuries and put on a show like that in the first was exciting for all of us on the bench."

Redd, who signed with the Suns in December, had spent his entire career with Milwaukee, averaging 20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 578 contests over 11 seasons. Channing Frye also had 14 points, while Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley posted 21 and 19 points, respectively, for Phoenix, which is 4-1 this month and hasn't won four straight since Feb. 23-28, 2011. The Suns are 5-2 in the past seven games.

Grant Hill contributed 13 points in a winning effort and Josh Childress had a game-high tying 12 rebounds off the bench, the most in the NBA this season by a bench player that did not score in the game.

The Suns, owners of a 5-6 record in the desert, are playing just their second home game over a nine-game stretch and will begin a three-game road trip Saturday against the Kings, Warriors and Nuggets. A win tonight would put the Suns within two games of .500 for the first time since Jan. 12 (4-6).

Meanwhile, Houston will continue a six-game road trip Thursday and improved to 2-1 on the swing with last night's 103-96 win at Portland.

Goran Dragic filled in for an injured Kyle Lowry and scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter, while Chase Budinger had 22 points to lead the Rockets, who got a season-high 66 points from their bench on 24-for-43 shooting (.558), won for the 12th time in the past 16 games and pushed their road ledger to 5-8 this season.

"Our bench was fantastic. You have to reward the guys who are playing well," Rockets head coach Kevin McHale said. "They deserved to finish the game."

Lowry left the game late in the third quarter with a strained right elbow and finished the contest with 12 points. He is questionable for tonight. Courtney Lee and Luis Scola scored 16 and 12 points, respectively, in the win. The Rockets still have Golden State and Memphis to play on the trek.

In other Rockets news, the NBA announced Wednesday that Houston will host the 2013 All-Star game.

"I am thrilled the Rockets and the City of Houston have once again brought NBA All-Star to Toyota Center," said Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander. "The 2006 All-Star Game in Houston was a tremendous success and we plan to set the bar even higher in 2013. We take great pride in Toyota Center's standing as one of the premier venues in the country and are honored to be the first arena in Texas to host the game for a second time."

Houston just beat Phoenix, 99-81, last Friday at home thanks to Kevin Martin's game-high 16 points. Martin led seven players in double figures for the Rockets, who have won two in a row against the Suns since losing the previous seven meetings between the teams. Phoenix, however, has won four in a row and 10 of the past 14 encounters with Houston in the Valley of the Sun.

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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.

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