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Stacker Sports - Meta Meta Takeover Takeover - NBA In-Season Tournament

471 sats \ 48 comments \ @Undisciplined 15 Nov 2023 meta freebie

That was a fun night of basketball. There were multiple kerfuffles in the late games, including an excellent choke hold by Draymond, and the Pistons gave half the pool a pretty good scare. Ultimately, three participants will be joining @siggy47 in the one-strike club: @Wumbo and @gnilma paid the price for their poor choices and @Chep paid the price for not getting a pick in.

Here is Friday's slate:

Bucks (6-4) @ Hornets (3-7)
Knicks (5-5) @ Wizards (2-8)
76ers (8-2) @ Hawks (6-4)
Pistons (2-10) @ Cavs (4-6)
Celtics (8-2) @ Raptors (5-5)
Kings (5-4) @ Spurs (3-8)
Magic (5-5) @ Bulls (4-7)
Nuggets (9-2) @ Pelicans (5-6)
Suns (4-6) @ Jazz (4-7)
Lakers (6-5) @ Blazers (3-7)
Rockets (6-3) @ Clippers (3-7)

There appears to be some low hanging fruit there. I need to consider my options, so I'll make my pick after I've had a cup of coffee. I'll also give an update of what the prize is up to.

Remember that all zaps go towards the prize pool. Also, SN zaps top posts and rewards those who zap bigly.

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494 sats \ 5 replies \ @siggy47 15 Nov 2023

I'm going out on my own limb and setting the noose: Rockets

993 sats \ 1 reply \ @gnilma 15 Nov 2023

I agree the Rockets is a solid pick. They have been playing good basketball lately, beating teams like Lakers, Kings, and had a very close loss to the Nuggets. Their actual center, Sengun, plays hard. The team is young and has good energy. I like watching them.

Then there's the mess that is the Clippers. Ever since Harden joined the team, they have yet to win a game. On paper, they have 4 supersatrs on the team and should be abke to beat most teams. In reality, they have no chemistry and have yet to figure out how to play with each other. They really need to try something new or else their losing streak will continue.

I'm rooting for you and the Rockets.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 15 Nov 2023

Thanks. If history is any indicator I can use the support.

228 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

That's actually a pretty nice pick. The Clippers are staying true to their franchise identity by shooting themselves in the foot at every opportunity and Houston actually looks pretty good.

I've only seen one Houston game, but they have an awesome young center.

390 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 15 Nov 2023

That Olajowon guy?

423 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

Maybe. That name sounds familiar. Like I said, I only watched the one game.

390 sats \ 18 replies \ @grayruby 15 Nov 2023

I predict the "giant killer" Raptors will take down the Celtics (no they won't) but despite my confidence in this occurring I will save the Raptors for later. I am selecting the Lakers.

401 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 18 Nov 2023

How can I watch this game with that blinding red court? I may just need to save my retinas and trust that Lebron can take care of this one without me.

50 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 18 Nov 2023

Most of the courts were so mellow today, too. The Pelicans' bright green wasn't great, but I did manage to get used to it.

50 sats \ 15 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

I'm starting to wish I had saved the Lakers for the playoff rounds, because they're crushing the tournament so far.

390 sats \ 14 replies \ @grayruby 15 Nov 2023

I am just going with whatever matchup looks best to me. I don't trust the Knicks. Bucks and Suns are not playing well and unlike Siggy I don't think Hakeem the dream is going to keep the Rockets playing at this level. I don't want to use the Nuggets or Celtics yet (especially since the Celtics are playing the giant killers). So the Lakers seemed the obvious choice amongst the remaining games, especially against the Blazers.

551 sats \ 12 replies \ @gnilma 15 Nov 2023

As a man from the North, I was tempted to take the Raptors too. But being already down a strike thanks to the inconsistent Mavs, I decided to take a more "safe" choice. After all, a lot of sats are on the line.

It was between taking the Lakers or the Knicks. Yes the Lakers had been doing well in the tournament; maybe Le Coach/GM Bron really wants to add that new trophy to his trophy case. And yes they will be playing a pretty bad team, the Blazers. But like @Undisciplined, I decided to save them for a later round.

The Knicks had been pretty solid, not a very good team, but solid with Brunson leading the way. Also, the way the Wizards had been playing lately was just horrible. Their supposedly star player Poole is playing so bad that their whole team is probably losing trust in him, if they haven't already. You can see it from that game against the Raptors. I like my chances with the Knicks.

494 sats \ 2 replies \ @grayruby 15 Nov 2023

Quality and rational analysis but I am an irrational person and I still don't trust the Knicks. Haha

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @gnilma 15 Nov 2023

Rationality doesn't help when it comes to picking winners. Faithful prayer to the basketball gods and the basketball gods answering that prayer is what matters.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 16 Nov 2023

Often the case. Raps did not look good last night. Yikes.

121 sats \ 8 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

I hadn't even thought about how LeBron would want to win the first tournament for legacy reasons. He's looking way down the line when people are making lists of who's won both championship MVP awards and regular season and whatever else. It's another way to separate himself from Jordan.

Now I really wish I had saved the Lakers.

Is there an MVP award for this tournament? There must be. Right?

680 sats \ 7 replies \ @gnilma 15 Nov 2023

Oh, I thought you haven't pick the Lakers yet. Didn't realize you had already picked them.

In term of MVP, I tried searching online about it but didn't find anything. I think since it's a minor tournament and only a few games, the NBA will not give out personal awards.

121 sats \ 5 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 16 Nov 2023

I was reading the tournament rules while waiting for my daughter to fall asleep last night, and not only is there going to be a tournament MVP, there will be an All-Tournament Team.

I think LeBron's laser focused on that MVP award.

391 sats \ 4 replies \ @grayruby 16 Nov 2023

Good thing they aren't playing the Kings Friday.

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71 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

the NBA will not give out personal awards

That seems like a missed opportunity. It's longer than the Finals and that has an MVP award. There's no way these guys don't want to be the first In-Season Tournament MVP (Jimmy and Joker being exceptions), so that would be an easy way to get buy-in.

121 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

I also don't trust the Bucks or Suns to win those games, but I feel a bit differently towards the Knicks.

I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but I'm starting to look ahead. The Knicks should beat the deplorable Wizards pretty easily and they might miss the playoffs because they already have a tournament loss.

390 sats \ 1 reply \ @gnilma 15 Nov 2023

Sad to join the one strike club. I hope this next one don't strike me out.

I pick the Knicks this round.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

That's who I'm leaning towards, too.

390 sats \ 5 replies \ @Wumbo 15 Nov 2023

Nuggets

0 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

You already took Denver.

390 sats \ 3 replies \ @Wumbo 15 Nov 2023

Rockets

Sorry, should of kept a running list like NFL survivor pool

100 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

No problem. I've got the master list. There's a lot riding on Houston.

390 sats \ 1 reply \ @grayruby 15 Nov 2023

Is your master list as highly technical and scientific as mine was for the NFL Survivor pool? (as in pen and paper)

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

Revealing details of the master list seems like bad opsec. You're just going to have to win without tampering with the list.

390 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 15 Nov 2023

So who am I picking?

527 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

There's a lot of hype around this Shaquille (weird name) O'Neal kid the Magic picked. Personally, I'll believe an Irishman playing basketball when I see it.

391 sats \ 1 reply \ @POTUS 16 Nov 2023

Bucks

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 16 Nov 2023

Alright. I hope The Greek Freak is back for that one.

391 sats \ 3 replies \ @elnosh 16 Nov 2023

Knicks

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 16 Nov 2023

No better motivation than being threatened with the Pistons.

391 sats \ 1 reply \ @elnosh 16 Nov 2023

lol it would’ve been worse if you said Wizards

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 16 Nov 2023

I agree, but it would have been really tempting fate, since I took the Knicks too. Not to mention the punishment last time was the Grizzlies and I just happen to have picked against them. Eventually that was going to blow up in my face.

205 sats \ 0 replies \ @BTC_Bellzer 15 Nov 2023

Bucks

200 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 16 Nov 2023

We need picks from @POTUS, @elnosh, and @Chep who seems to have disappeared.

Failure to make a pick will result in being assigned the lowly Pistons (I happen to think the Wizards are even worse, but technically the Pistons have the worse record.).

200 sats \ 2 replies \ @Chep 17 Nov 2023

I'll take the pistons. Underdog time bb

9 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined OP 17 Nov 2023

How are we supposed to punish you, if you just do it willingly?

Pistons, locked in.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Chep 17 Nov 2023

FEW.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

Update on the pot

I just did a legit tally of all the post and comment zaps.

The grand prize is 12601 Sats and growing.

Zap big. Zap often.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 15 Nov 2023

I've decided to take the Knicks.

The Wizards are god awful. Also, the Knicks already have a tournament loss, so they might not make it into the playoff rounds.