12/21/24
January 20, 2016
Pace Mannion NBA Pick 'Em, Week 12: Seven national NBA games this week, beginning tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern with Golden State at Chicago on ESPN. ABC joins the mix Saturday with Chicago visiting Cleveland. In our contest, Tron7 wins the week and Howard_T keeps first place.
posted by rcade to basketball at 09:56 AM - 11 comments
NoMich: You picked two slam dunks last week, which isn't allowed in this contest, so I went with your first one and ignored the second. The score would've been the same either way.
posted by rcade at 10:00 AM on January 20, 2016
Sorry about that, cadey. Thanks for the reminder.
JARNY 20:
GSW by 8
POR by 5
JARNY 21:
CLE by 6
SAS by 14
JARNY 22:
TOR by 10
GSW by 14
JARNY 23:
CLE by 5
posted by NoMich at 12:22 PM on January 20, 2016
Wednesday Jan. 20
Golden State by 10
Atlanta by 13
Thursday Jan. 21
Cleveland by 13
San Antonio by 11 - Slam
Friday Jan. 22
Toronto by 9
Golden State by 15
Saturday Jan. 23
Cleveland by 5
ESPN's BPI* has only five teams with a greater than 1% chance to win the title, only three teams with over 5% chance. Five Thirty Eight's projection, using an ELO system, has six teams over 1% chance to win the title and 4 teams with greater than a 5% chance. Quite the top heavy year.
* ESPN's BPI showed up when I searched for "Hollinger's Playoff Odds" and it looks like they are pretty similar but I'm not entirely sure. I wonder if it was ESPN or Hollinger, who hasn't worked at ESPN for like three years now, that wanted the name changed.
posted by tron7 at 12:28 PM on January 20, 2016
For the first time this season I will have to use an outside source to determine a pick. The Atlanta vs Portland game features one team I have not seen at all and another whose performance has been inconsistent in the couple of games I have seen. I looked at the standings to see what they have done over the season and what they have done out of conference. We shall see if logic overcomes my usual "eyeball" test.
20 January
Golden State by 12
Atlanta by 6
21 January
Cleveland by 9
San Antonio by 14
22 January
Toronto by 11
Golden State by 18 SLAM by the bay.
23 January
Cleveland by 7
Nice to see the Network of the Mouse allowing its junior affiliate to broadcast a game.
posted by Howard_T at 04:49 PM on January 20, 2016
January 20
Golden State by 5
Portland by 6
January 21
Cleveland by 5
San Antonio by 13
January 22
Toronto by 9
Golden State by 16 <-- slam
January 23
Cleveland by 8
posted by rcade at 05:44 PM on January 20, 2016
Jan 20:
GSW by 18
Atlanta by 7
Jan 21:
Cleveland by 9
Spurs by 15
Jan 22:
Miami by 5
GSW by 24 (SLAM)
Jan 23:
Cleveland by 11
posted by Ufez Jones at 07:02 PM on January 20, 2016
The way they're playing right now I'm tempted to change my spread on the Friday game to Golden State at home against Indiana to 50.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:47 PM on January 20, 2016
I'm tempted to change my spread on the Friday game to Golden State at home against Indiana to 50.
It sounds like it could happen, but don't forget that Friday's game is the first home game after a long road trip. Teams usually under-perform somewhat in those circumstances. I have no doubt that under-performance for Golden State will be a win by a significant margin, and Indiana is anything but sharp lately, but I will stick with something a bit more realistic.
I called the spread for Atlanta, but I had no idea that it would really be that close. Portland started out well, later fell flat, and I went to bed before the end of the game.
posted by Howard_T at 04:44 PM on January 21, 2016
Looks like the coaching turmoil at Cleveland might take a couple of games to straighten out. None of us saw that coming nor tonight's result. I was at the Boston vs Chicago game last night, and after watching the Bulls, with advantage at nearly every position on the floor, lose to Boston, I was sure that Cleveland would win. Boston had no real "bigs" to work against Gasol or even Mirotic, but managed to keep both of them somewhat under control. It was aggressive defense that held Bulls off when they threatened to take a lead. The turnover margin was decidedly in favor of Boston as well. Chicago pulled together to get a nice win on the second half of a back-to-back, while Cleveland appears to need a hole in the schedule to get some practice time.
posted by Howard_T at 11:40 PM on January 23, 2016
Tron7 wins the week and Ufez moves into second place. I nail my slam dunk exactly while managing to have the worst week. Despite a 20-point margin of error, nobody gets extra points on Golden State's demolition of Cleveland.
Rules
Pick the winner and spread for each game. Score 5 points if the team wins, 3 more points if your spread is close and another 2 if you hit the spread exactly.
At your option, make one game a slam dunk to triple your score in victory or lose 5 points in defeat.
Read the detailed rules on the first week's post.
If SportsFilter is down and you need to submit your picks, you can send them in email to me.
This Week's Games
ABC joins the rotation with a Saturday night game bringing Cleveland to Chicago. Atlanta and Portland get some rare time on the national stage and Chicago takes on a Golden State team at home that just embarrassed Cleveland on their floor.