Hawks use proficient shooting to beat Pistons

Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Johnson finished with 26 points, as the Atlanta Hawks used an efficient offensive performance to take a 112-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons.

Josh Smith added 18 points and a career-high 11 assists for the Hawks, who shot a season-high 63 percent and made 7-of-14 from three-point range. Jamal Crawford made all three of his long-distance attempts on his way to 17 points, which helped Atlanta take its second consecutive win.

Jason Maxiell had 19 points and 12 boards for the Pistons, who were coming off Friday's victory over Washington. Will Bynum had a career-best 20 assists in that win, and Saturday, ended with 16 points and seven assists.

Richard Hamilton scored 18 points, but Detroit had just 12 points in the first quarter and never caught up.

"I think that's what hurt us," Pistons head coach John Kuester said. "I thought we were trying, but we were not taking care of the basketball, and they were making us pay on that in the first half."

The Pistons shot just 5-of-20 in the opening frame, allowing the Hawks to open up a huge lead. Atlanta used a 13-0 run to go ahead 28-7, and held a 30-12 advantage moving to the second.

The 12 points were the fewest the Hawks have allowed in the opening quarter this season.

"Any time we can come out of the gate like that, it gives us confidence throughout the game," Johnson said. "That makes us a tough team to beat. When you've got to play catch-up on the road like that, it's always tough."

Atlanta continued to pour on the points, making 15-of-18 field goal attempts in the second quarter. Jeff Teague had the last of those, a jumper with 0.4 seconds left to put the Hawks up 69-41 at the break.

However, the Pistons trimmed their deficit in the third quarter, using an 11-2 run to get within 78-64 with five minutes left.

They trailed 92-77 at the end of the frame, and got within single digits in the middle of the fourth, as consecutive baskets from Kwame Brown and Ben Gordon cut Atlanta's lead to 96-87.

But Johnson countered with a jumper, and after a few failed possessions, a Smith dunk had the Hawks ahead by 13 with 5:20 left. Almost two minutes later, Johnson drained a three before sinking a layup that put Atlanta up 107-91, and the Hawks led by double digits the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Atlanta improved to 26-7 at home this season, while Detroit fell to 7-25 on the road...The Pistons shot 49.3 percent...Gordon had 12 points for Detroit...Al Horford had 15 points for Atlanta, while Marvin Williams added 12.

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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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