October 26, 2015

Play SportsFilter's NBA Pick 'Em, Win Best Basketball Ever: SportsFilter is launching the first annual Pace Mannion NBA Pick 'Em contest, a game to pick the winners of nationally televised games on TNT, ESPN and ABC. The season starts Tuesday when Cleveland plays Chicago on TNT. First prize is an official ABA game ball.

posted by rcade to basketball at 12:31 PM - 11 comments

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.

This formula determines if your spread is close enough for those 3 points:

spread - round(0.3 * spread) <=your pick<= margin + round(0.3 * margin)

So if you pick Minnesota to defeat Golden State by 10, you get 5 points for the win, plus 3 points if the Timberwolves win by anywhere from 7 to 13, plus 2 points if they win by exactly 10.

You can pick one game a week as your slam dunk (optional). This triples your point total for that game if they win and costs you 5 points if they lose.

Contest posts will go up each Monday morning for games that begin Tuesday. A pick can be entered at any time prior to tipoff.

In the last week of the season, a game will be designated as the tiebreaker: Pick the total score of that game and the closest total wins. If two players choose the same score, the one who posted it first wins.

The small print: In order to receive the prize, you must respond to our email within 14 days of the winner announcement. Make sure you have a valid email address on SportsFilter or contact us within that time period. The prize does not include international shipping, so in that situation you can pay the cost or receive an equivalent cash prize over Paypal.

This Week's Games

Tue.Oct. 278 p.m. ETCleveland at ChicagoTNT
Tue.Oct. 2710:30 p.m. ETNew Orleans at Golden StateTNT
Wed.Oct. 288 p.m. ETSan Antonio at Oklahoma CityESPN
Wed.Oct. 2810:30 p.m. ETMinnesota at L.A. LakersESPN
Thu.Oct. 298 p.m. ETAtlanta at New YorkTNT
Thu.Oct. 2910:30 p.m. ETDallas at L.A. ClippersTNT
Fri.Oct. 307 p.m. ETMiami at ClevelandESPN
Fri.Oct. 309 p.m. ETGolden State at HoustonESPN

The NBA champs open the season by hosting New Orleans. Chicago hosts Cleveland, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs. Minnesota and the L.A. Lakers, who could have combined their wins last season and still missed the playoffs, battle for first place in the west. Dallas visits the L.A. Clippers, giving DeAndre Jordan the first chance to see both teams he reached contracts with this summer (not that I'm bitter).

posted by rcade at 11:52 AM on October 23, 2015

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.

...

So if you pick Minnesota to defeat Golden State by 10, you get 3 points if the Timberwolves win by anywhere from 7 to 13 and 5 points if they win by 10.

Plus the 5 points for picking the winner, right? 5 points for picking the winner + the point spread points. The max number of points earned for each game would be 10, right? (I don't know why I'm just now getting to asking this question. Maybe I already have? Years ago? I'm old.)

posted by NoMich at 01:11 PM on October 23, 2015

Right. Maximum points on a game is 10. Minimum is -5 on a failed slam dunk. I revised that line in the rules.

posted by rcade at 01:20 PM on October 23, 2015

I know jack about the NBA, but I like this type of game so I'll play. Hopefully others will as well. I would hate to win the sweet ABA ball *and* the Costanza at the same time.

posted by NoMich at 11:21 PM on October 24, 2015

Count me in, and here goes nothing:

10/27 - Cleveland by 12
10/27 - Golden State by 8
10/28 - Oklahoma City by 11
10/28 - Minnesota by 14
10/29 - Atlanta by 18
10/29 - LA Clippers by 15
10/30 - Cleveland by 12
10/30 - Houston by 9

One hint that might make it easier on you, rcade, is for us to preface the picks by the date of the game. Note that Golden State plays twice on TV during the week (as do others), and I have only picked them once. Were there no date specified, it might not be obvious in which game I was picking them.

posted by Howard_T at 09:19 PM on October 25, 2015

Oct 27:
- Cleveland by 9
- Golden State by 15
Oct 28:
- OKC by 6
- Minnesota by 13 Slam Dunk
Oct 29:
- Atlanta by 10
- Clippers by 8
Oct 30:
- Cleveland by 11
- Golden State by 4

posted by Ufez Jones at 08:54 AM on October 26, 2015

Oct. 27:
Cleveland by 5
Golden State by 10

Oct. 28:
San Antonio by 3
Minnesota by 6

Oct. 29:
Atlanta by 10
L.A. Clippers by 8

Oct. 30:
Cleveland by 6
Houston by 6

posted by NoMich at 10:50 AM on October 26, 2015

Oct 27:
Cleveland by 10
Golden State by 13

Oct 28:
Oklahoma City by 7
L.A. Lakers by 6

Oct 29:
Atlanta by 10 - LOCK it and DUNK it.
L.A. Clippers by 10

Oct 30:
Cleveland by 8
Houston by 6

posted by tron7 at 11:09 AM on October 26, 2015

Sounds fun but I'll set out until the playoffs. Good luck everyone.

posted by ic23b at 05:46 PM on October 26, 2015

Prefacing picks with the dates is a good idea. When in doubt I'm going to guess the intent of multiple picks for the same team is in chronological order.

Oct. 27:
Chicago by 6
Golden State by 9

Oct. 28:
San Antonio by 8
L.A. Lakers by 2

Oct. 29:
Atlanta by 8
L.A. Clippers by 12 <-- slam dunk (sigh)

Oct. 30:
Cleveland by 5
Golden State by 1

posted by rcade at 07:55 PM on October 27, 2015

Chicago 97, Cleveland 95. My bid for a wire-to-wire championship is intact.

posted by rcade at 10:34 PM on October 27, 2015

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