Nuggets entertain Mavs at Pepsi Center

Basketball Betting Lines

02/08/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Western Conference contenders mired in losing streaks square off in the Rockies tonight when the Denver Nuggets play host to the reigning NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

The Nuggets dropped their third in a row on Monday, suffering a 99-90 setback to Houston at Pepsi Center. Danilo Gallinari had 14 points to lead Denver in that one before exiting with a left ankle injury. Al Harrington finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds.

A CT and MRI on Tuesday revealed a chip fracture in Gallinari's ankle, which the Nuggets said was from a previous injury that likely occurred prior to the start of Gallinari's professional career. He is expected to remain in a walking boot for 3-to-5 days and will miss about a month of action and receive treatment for "a significant" ankle sprain.

In his first full season with the Nuggets, Gallinari, who recently signed a four-year, $42 million extension, is averaging a team-high 17.0 points per game.

"No one's going to feel sorry for us except ourselves," coach George Karl said. "If we feel too sorry for ourselves, we're not going to bounce back."

Gallinari is far from the only injury Karl is dealing with, however. Starters Nene (left heel), Arron Afflalo (left ankle) and Timofey Mozgov (left ankle) were all out against the Rockets, along with reserve forward Corey Brewer, who was dealing with the death of his father.

Nene and Afflalo are expected back in the lineup tonight.

The Mavericks have also dropped three straight, the latest of which was a 91-88 loss in Cleveland on Saturday.

Dirk Nowitzki had 24 points and eight rebounds for the Mavs in that one but Dallas turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 19 Cleveland points. Jason Terry finished with 17 points in the contest.

"Combination of points off turnovers, 19 points off turnovers and 17 second- chance points was the difference," Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle said.

The Mavs are now just 1-6 when Nowitzki scores 20-or-more this season. The German star did pass Elgin Baylor for 22nd place on the NBA's all-time scoring list in Cleveland and is now 23 points behind Adrian Dantley (23,177) for 21st.

Denver has won four straight over Dallas, including a 115-93 win in North Texas on Dec. 26.

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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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