GP Playoff Scoring Rules, Pick Instructions, Random Stats

[Irv]

As I said in an earlier post, this will be the last year that playoff picks will have to be private messaged to me. I'm just as sick of this manual method of making picks as you all are, and I'm glad to say that there is an end in sight. I hope the new system is ready sooner (before the end of the playoffs) than later (next year), but things are busy for my co-worker and I at our "real job."

Please private message me your picks for the series that you are responsible for picking. Sticky threads will be made to track the progress of your matchup against your opponent.

Scoring
Scoring is as follows per user for each playoff game:
10 points for the winning team
5 bonus points awarded for the closest margin of victory
5 bonus points awarded for the closest pick to the combined final score (home team points plus away team points)
5 bonus points awarded for the closest pick to the randomly selected statistic

If both users have the same pick or the same absolute differential from the actual score/statistic, then both users get the 5 bonus points.

Scoring is as follows per user for each playoff series (to be made before the start of a playoff series):
20 points for selecting the winning team
10 points for selecting the correct number of games that the series takes to complete

Tiebreakers used (in order) at the end of a playoff series if two competing users are tied:
1. Number of times during the series in which the winning team was correctly picked (excludes series pick)
2. Lowest series combined score differential *
3. Number of times during the series in which the random stat bonus was earned
4. User seeding

* Example: In a series that took four games to complete, the actual combined scores for each game are 190, 199, 203, and 195 respectively.

User A picks combined scores of 199, 202, 210, and 203.
User B picks combined scores of 172, 199, 203, and 196.

Game 1 absolute differential is 9 for user A, 18 for user B.
Game 2 absolute differential is 3 for user A, 0 for user B.
Game 3 absolute differential is 7 for user A, 0 for user B.
Game 4 absolute differential is 8 for user A, 1 for user B.

Total absolute differential is 27 for user A, 19 for user B. User B wins the tiebreaker.

Picks
Series Pick - Submit Before Series Start
Pick the team and the number of games

Game Pick - Submit Before Game Start
List game number
Pick winning team and score
Pick random stat

Sample Series Pick
Detroit in 4 games

Sample Game Pick
Game 1: Orlando vs. Detroit
Detroit wins, 97-90
Home team total rebounds: 40

Random Stats
Percentage picks may be listed to one decimal place (e.g. 33.3%, 62.5%, 66.6%, etc. -- no trailing decimal is assumed to be a zero: 75%=75.0%)

First Round
Game 1: Home team rebounds
Game 2: Away team assists
Game 3: Away team free throw attempts
Game 4: Home team field goal percentage
Game 5: Away team turnovers
Game 6: Home team free throw percentage
Game 7: Home team three-point field goal percentage

Conference Semifinals
Game 1: Away team field goal percentage
Game 2: Home team turnovers
Game 3: Home team free throw attempts
Game 4: Away team three-point field goal percentage
Game 5: Home team free-throw percentage
Game 6: Away team rebounds
Game 7: Home team field goal percentage

Conference Finals
Game 1: Home team assists
Game 2: Home team field goal percentage
Game 3: Away team free throw percentage
Game 4: Home team offensive rebounds
Game 5: Away team turnovers
Game 6: Away team free throw attempts
Game 7: Home team three-point field goal percentage

Finals
Game 1: Away team offensive rebounds
Game 2: Home team rebounds
Game 3: Home team turnovers
Game 4: Away team free throw attempts
Game 5: Home team three-point field goal percentage
Game 6: Away team field goal percentage
Game 7: Home team assists

[fredweis]

I guess we aren't doing game by game leaders in points, rebounds and assists like last year?

[Irv]

Nope. In preparation for porting the GP Playoffs to a more automated entry from the user side, it was easier to eliminate categories that were 1) dependent on users having to spell player names correctly and 2) required us to input box scores for non-Knick games into our database or manually cross-reference them to calculate the scores.