Durant, Thunder invade Staples Center for pivotal Game 5 vs. Lakers

Basketball Betting Lines

04/27/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The upstart Oklahoma City Thunder have the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers reeling.

Their first-round series has now come down to essentially a best-of-three format as the teams return to Hollywood for a pivotal Game 5 in the Western Conference quarterfinals tonight.

Kevin Durant poured in 22 points and the Thunder used a strong defensive performance in a 110-89 rout of the Lakers on Saturday to even the set after four games.

Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant was limited to 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, and the Thunder surged by using a dominant first quarter and commanded a double- digit lead over the last three periods. That was helped by an astounding 42- of-48 showing at the foul line.

"A lot of people didn't expect us to be here," Durant said. "Once we got here, people were saying we'd be swept...a lot of different things. We knew what we're capable of. We can go far as a team. It's all on us. We control our own destiny at this point."

After losing the first two games in Los Angeles, the Thunder regrouped and was clearly energized by the home crowd. Fans adorned blue t-shirts for Game 3 on Thursday in a 101-96 win, and on Saturday it was a full-fledged whiteout at the Ford Center. The Lakers couldn't keep up with the Thunder, who are guaranteed another home game on Friday.

"We didn't need this for our team to get our attention," Bryant said. "They have our attention. They just beat us, simple as that."

Russell Westbrook had 18 points, while Jeff Green and James Harden each chipped in 15 for the Thunder in Game 4.

Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol each scored 13 for the Lakers, who were a miserable 4-of-22 from beyond the arc. Lamar Odom had 12 points while Derek Fisher added 11 and Shannon Brown had 10 in the loss.

In order for the eighth-seeded Thunder to pull off the monumental upset of the defending NBA champions, they'll have to win at least once in Los Angeles, either Game 5 tonight or possibly if it gets to a seventh game on May 2.

That's easier said than done, especially tonight. The Lakers are a perfect 17-0 at home in the fifth game of a playoff series that is deadlocked at two.

"We don't get angry," Bryant said. "There are certain things that we have to do to execute to win. Emotion doesn't get it done. You've got to execute."

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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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