October 13, 2017

Enter SportsFilter's NBA Pick 'Em: The NBA season begins Tuesday when Boston visits Cleveland on TNT. SportsFilter is bringing back the Pace Mannion NBA Pick 'Em. Choose the winner and margin for the nationally televised games each week on TNT, ESPN and ABC (around 4-8 games). There is a prize.

How This Works

SportsFilter is running a season-long NBA Pick 'Em contest and awarding a prize to the season's winner: an NBA Hardwood Classics hat ($30 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 SpreadMargin Starts atMargin Ends at
111
435
759
11814
201426
So if you picked Dallas by 15, here's how you'd fare given certain outcomes:
OutcomeYour score
Dallas by 208 points (winner + spread within MoE)
Dallas by 105 points (winner only)
Dallas by 1510 points (winner + nailed spread)
Miami by 50 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

This Week's Games

Boston at Cleveland on TNT (Tuesday)
Houston at Golden State on TNT (Tuesday)
Philadelphia at Washington on ESPN (Wednesday)
Minnesota at San Antonio on ESPN (Wednesday)
New York at Oklahoma City on TNT (Thursday)
L.A. Clippers at L.A. Lakers on TNT (Thursday)
Cleveland at Milwaukee on ESPN (Friday)
Golden State at New Orleans on ESPN (Friday)

Teams playing more than once: Cleveland, Golden State.

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 04:55 PM - 11 comments

Thanks, rcade, for once again taking up the unenviable task of running the pick 'em. I truly appreciate your efforts, and I enjoy attempting to impose my superior knowledge of all things hoops upon the other competitors. I will invoke the spirits of Togo Palazzi and Fat Freddy Scolari, along with the TD Garden Leprechaun, to guide my choices. Picks will be in on Monday, once I get back from Atlanta.

posted by Howard_T at 05:48 PM on October 13, 2017

You're welcome.

Here's the 2017-18 full season NBA TV schedule. In weeks with less than four national games, I added a few from the NBA TV channel.

Some games may be changed during the season. The NBA sometimes uses flex scheduling to get the most interesting teams on the tube.

This post includes recognition for Howard_T and Ufez Jones, the winners of the first two seasons of the contest. Ufez made an epic comeback to win last year, going from 16 down to 14 up in the final week.

posted by rcade at 07:46 PM on October 13, 2017

Cleveland by 8 - SLAM
Golden State by 7 - SLAM
Washington by 6 - SLAM
San Antonio by 12 - SLAM
Oklahoma City by 13 - SLAM
Los Angeles Clippers by 8
Milwaukee by 3
Golden State by 11 - SLAM

posted by tron7 at 09:16 AM on October 16, 2017

Boston by 4
Golden State by 8
Washington by 8
San Antonio by 5
Oklahoma City by 14
Los Angeles Lakers by 5
Cleveland by 5
Golden State by 14

posted by NoMich at 10:10 AM on October 16, 2017

Boston by 7

Golden State by 12 (SLAM)

Washington by 8 (SLAM)

Minnesota by 5

Oklahoma City by 11 (SLAM)

Los Angeles Clippers by 9

Cleveland by 15 (SLAM)

Golden State by 17 (SLAM)

posted by Goyoucolts at 12:50 PM on October 16, 2017

Cleveland by 7
Golden State by 9
Washington by 13 (slam)
Minnesota by 4
Oklahoma City by 18 (slam)
Los Angeles Clippers by 8
Cleveland by 13
Golden State by 10 (slam)

posted by Ufez Jones at 01:43 PM on October 16, 2017

Back late last night from Atlanta and the Vergers Meeting, so now it is time to flat lay the hammer on this thing. Here we go.

LeBron may be out or at least hurting, Boston is deep, quick, and unconventional.

Boston by 6

With Chris Paul to feed him, Harden might score abundantly, but not yet.

Golden State by 12 SLAM

Philadelphia must not be underrated, but Washington will be strong early.

Washington by 9

T-Wolves are going to surprise a lot of people, but then there's Popovich

San Antonio by 8.

Knicks take the first step down the road to a tank job. They don't have to try hard.

Oklahoma City by 19 SLAM

Whose sneakers will be over the wires outside the Staples Center? Not the purple ones.

Clippers by 16 SLAM

Bucks are in NBA "No-Man's-Land", too good to lose a lot, too bad to win a lot.

Cleveland by 11

New Orleans has the twin towers. Bet on one of them being gone by the trade deadline.

Golden State by 13 SLAM

posted by Howard_T at 05:01 PM on October 16, 2017

Cleveland by 6
SLAM Golden State by 12 SLAM
SLAM Washington by 13 SLAM
Minnesota by 4
SLAM Oklahoma City by 10 SLAM
Los Angeles Lakers by 5
Milwaukee by 6
Golden State by 8

posted by bender at 09:36 PM on October 16, 2017

Cleveland by 8
Golden State by 11 <-- slam
Washington by 10 <-- slam
Minnesota by 5

posted by rcade at 04:31 PM on October 17, 2017

Oklahoma City by 17 <-- slam
L.A. Clippers by 7

posted by rcade at 02:45 PM on October 18, 2017

Milwaukee by 4
Golden State by 10 <-- lock

posted by rcade at 05:40 PM on October 20, 2017

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