October 16, 2018

Enter the SportsFilter NBA Pick 'Em: The Pace Mannion is back. Pick the winner and spread of the nationally televised NBA games this season on TNT, ESPN and ABC. Lock as many games as you like to double your points in victory or lose points in defeat. First prize this season is an official NBA game ball.

How This Works

SportsFilter is running a season-long NBA Pick 'Em contest and awarding a prize to the season's winner: an official NBA game ball ($109 value).

To play, pick who you think will win and by how many points. You then get points based on the result:

Picked the winner? You get 5 points
Picked the winner and a spread within the margin of error? You get 3 more points
Picked the winner and the exact spread? You get 2 more points

What's the Margin of Error?

A window around the spread that's defined as the following:

spread - round(0.3 * spread) <= Margin of Error <= spread + round(0.3 * spread)

You get rewarded for being close to the spread. The bigger the spread, the bigger the margin of error, so you don't have to be as accurate predicting a blowout as a close game.

Examples:

Actual Spread	Margin Starts at	Margin Ends at
1	1	1
4	3	5
7	5	9
11	8	14
20	14	26

So if you picked Miami by 15, here's how you'd fare given certain outcomes:

Outcome	Your score
Miami by 20	8 points (winner + spread within MoE)
Miami by 10	5 points (winner only)
Miami by 15	10 points (winner + nailed spread)
Miami by 5	0 points

Slam Dunks

You can choose any game as a slam dunk. This doubles the points you win for that game, but if that team doesn't win, you lose 10 points (even if you get the spread). You can make as many picks a slam dunk as you like or pick no dunks at all.

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 me 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.}

Hall of Champions

2015-16: Howard_T
2016-17: Ufez Jones
2017-18: NoMich
2018-19: rcade

This Week's Games 1

Philadelphia at Boston on TNT (Tuesday)
Oklahoma City at Golden State on TNT (Tuesday)
New Orleans at Houston on ESPN (Wednesday)
Dallas at Phoenix on ESPN (Wednesday)
Chicago at Philadelphia on TNT (Thursday)
L.A. Lakers at Portland on TNT (Thursday)
Boston at Toronto on ESPN (Friday)
Golden State at Utah on ESPN (Friday)
Houston at L.A. Lakers on ESPN (Saturday)

Teams playing more than once: Boston, Philadelphia, Golden State, Houston, L.A. Lakers.

Picks must be submitted in this discussion before the game's tipoff. So if you miss Tuesday games you can still choose the games for the rest of the week.

posted by rcade to basketball at 11:10 AM - 16 comments