Time to make our first picks!
Remember that not every team plays in each round of Group Play, so you might want to peak ahead and see who's playing next week. There are always enough that you won't literally run out of options, though.
Also, we'll keep going into the playoff rounds, if people are still alive, so you might not want to pick everyone you expect to make it into the playoff rounds.
At least 5000 sats to the winner and it will almost certainly be more. The first post netted more than half that (2700) and all sats raised by these posts (beyond 5k) will go into the pot. Remember that Stacker News rewards big zappers.
Here are the matchups for Friday with their current W-L records:
-Cavs (1-3) @ Pacers (2-1)
-Knicks (2-2) @ Bucks (2-1)
-Wizards (1-2) @ Heat (1-3)
-Nets (1-2) @ Bulls (2-2)
-Warriors (3-1) @ Thunder (3-1)
-Mavericks (3-0) @ Nuggets (4-0)
-Grizzlies (0-4) @ Blazers (1-3)
I can't piggyback off your collective wisdom until you pick.
I heard the Bulls have some guy named Jordan that is pretty good.
He was on the court when Freddy Brown made that horrible pass to Worthy that crushed Georgetown. I didn't know Jordan turned pro?
I'm higher on this Bowie kid in Portland. We'll just have to see how things shake out.
Fair enough. I will make my pick in nine minutes, because I'm very cheap and I just replied to this post a minute ago.
Whenever you're ready, @POTUS and I have both taken the 1-3 Miami Heat, for some reason. Feel free to make a wiser choice.
never doubt the zombie heat
Maybe the most apt sports nickname
Bulls
Oh no! We were just giving you a hard time earlier. Michael Jordan is 60 years old and hasn't played for the Bulls at any point this century.
What?? This is bullshit!! Someone told me he was really good. I'm outta here.
He was. 30 years ago he was really good. Some even say the best.
I heard he was a great baseball player too.
Not my sport, but that sounds right.
https://i.postimg.cc/FFCGxgpS/michael-jordan-white-sox.jpg
At least it's double elimination. Jordan must be rolling over in his grave.
Oh. It's double elimination? Is Magic still with the Lakers?
Surprisingly, Magic is not with the Lakers.
He came back from retirement once, then did a stint as head coach, and recently was the general manager, but at the moment he has no roll with the team that I'm aware of.
We decided to go double elimination when it seemed like there might only be three of us, just in case we all followed your lead and blew our first picks.
Wise move. Next time I'm piggybacking on one of you.
FYI @Wumbo @KeynesianClowns @POTUS @gnilma @BitcoinIsTheFuture @ssaurel @elnosh @beorange @Chep @TheWildHustle
Tagging you because you participated in at least one of the NBA Playoff bounties I ran in the spring. Thought you might like to join @Undisciplined's in-season tournament survivor pool. No buy in. Just pick one winner for every tournament post he makes. It's double elimination so you can lose once and stay in but lose twice and you are out. Hope you will join the fun.
Thanks @grayruby for letting me know about this tournament. Been so busy with work lately, and haven't been on Stacker News as much as I normally like; I would have missed out on this fun game if it wasn't for the notification.
You're welcome.
I am not sure the Bucks will ever be the same after they suffer the beat down they have coming to them tonight so I will follow the crowd and take the Heat.
The important thing is that you can believe it.
That's three for the Heat, who have done nothing to deserve this level of confidence. Good thing we made it double elimination.
Bucks will have no answer for what the Raps have in store for them.
I felt like going contrarian and taking the Grizzlies, since I don't think they should be this bad even without Morant but thought Heat at home was a safer bet.
Five minutes in and the Raps are running wild.
Hell of a game. Especially since the refs gave the Bucks 38 FT attempts compared to 14 for Raps. I don't want to gripe about the refs after a big win but some of those calls were completely ridiculous.
I was thinking about the Bucks, but that wasn't factoring in their soon to be shattered egos.
I was at this game:
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/400578467
This is how I will forever view every Bucks v.s Raptors matchup.
It wasn't clear what year that was, but judging by the rosters, I'm guessing you got swept by Lebron soon after.
All the way back in 2014
Their most convincing win so far
Pacers
Finally, an interesting pick. What's the theory behind the Pacers or do you prefer to keep your strategy secret until the victory parade?
Just darts at a dartboard
Sounds like hustler talk. I'm keeping an eye on you.
Keep your eye on the ball, nothing to see here, I watch 0 basketball
Pacers definitely need a bounce back game after last night.
That sounds like they might have lost in ugly fashion?
Shockingly, you survived.
Go team!
And you still have all the good teams to choose from. Well done
How often do we make picks?
Usually, it will be twice a week, but there are no NBA games on this upcoming Tuesday. I'll put the posts up on Saturdays and Wednesdays.
I don't like any of these games. Do I get a rebuy of my zero buy in?
Good question. We could go double-elimination. I was actually thinking about that, but forgot to suggest it.
I think it is good especially if we don't have a lot of players. Would make for a pretty lousy outcome if we all go out the first night. Haha.
Heat
Great minds...
Made it
Bang bang
Warriors
That was close, but you made it.
No joke, down to the very last second. But Curry delivers! I picked the Warriors because I didn't want to pick an "obvious" choice like Nuggets or Heat; something close enough to provide some excitement, but with one team still better enough to likely beat the other. I had not idea it was going to be this close. And damn it was exciting to watch!
Warriors were one of the teams I was considering, but I don't want to go against these young teams that might actually care about the tournament.
Glad you joined in. Good luck!
Nuggets
Enjoy your victory Saturday
That's two for the best team in the league. It makes you wonder why more of us didn't take the best team.
Nuggets
Victory
Solid pick. They look awesome this year. I'm hoping to save them for later, because I think they might win this whole thing despite not caring about it at all.
Update!
After careful consideration and consultation with the Stacker Sports team, we have decided to make this survivor pool double-elimination.
If you don't know what that means, just keep showing up and making picks until you're notified of your demise.
Haha perfect. We just need a few more competitors now. Let me look through my old playoff bounties and see who participated and I will tag them.
Nuggets
Got it. That's three for the best team in the league.
After last night, those of us who picked Miami are sweating bullets.
Well I was hoping to keep the Nuggets for later. Plus you never know what you are going to get with the Mavs. They could lose that game by 30 or they might win it 130-129
That's almost exactly what I was thinking. I was very surprised to see the Mavs at 3-0.
Nice win
I realized that at no point in this post did I make it clear that this is a survivor pool, so for new comers pick one team to win their game.
Good addition. Just a thought, maybe you should promote this in the saloon and see if it gets any interest. When I did the NBA playoff bounties I had a few folks that I don't see participate in our regular stacker sports crowd. Also seem to get a couple new people each week for the nfl pick 'ems. I am sure there are some NBA fans that aren't regularly talking with us that might want to join in.
Good idea
I'm glad it's double-elimination.
My pick is the Miami Heat. I know they don't care about the regular season or this tournament, but Heat Culture should beat the Wizards.