Friends in fast breaks,
A week before his 39th birthday and Lebron's still out there dropping 40 on insane efficiency like it's 2013. DET held up their end of the bargain and gave us another L to match the losing streak record. I've never been so invested in a random mid-season game as I am for Tuesday's BKN/DET matchup.
REMINDERS
MAKE YOUR PICKS >>
Due Friday (12/29) at 4:00pm PT
1) Our "second half" pools start January 12th! There's a Survivor, Weekly Pick'em, and Wins Battle with $4,000 in prizes. Then we have two Playoffs pools for $2,500 in prizes. There's a lot more basketball and prizes coming! Make sure you're in >>
2) NBA Squads lock on Jan 12th with the start of our H2 Pools. Squads are a way to play in our pools with your friends and win BONUS prizes together for every pool we run. Get three friends in a Pool, add them to your NBA Squad, and you're elgible! We give out Prizes to pool champ's Squad, as well as the Squad with the best combined Top 3 scores. There are only 6 eligible NBA Squads (out of 19) right now, so get some easy money just for playing with your friends!
3) Get $10 for each new NBA referral! Send your friends your referral link, have them buy the NBA Bundle, and you'll get $10 for each of them. They must be a new user (join after 12/21). Add them to your NBA Squad from #2 and get even more cash.
4) Who do you want added to NBA Points One-And-Done? As stated in our rules, we're going to evaluate adding players to the pool after Week 11 for the second half. The goal is to add any high-performing players that didn't make the original roster. I may add none, we won't add more than ten. I'll be evaluating over the next few weeks, but I'm happy to consider requested player from you all. You can submit them in a pick comment or email gm@theszn.com.
RESULTS SUMMARY
Points One-And-Done
L. James was our top scorer this week with 40 points. It was a "must-win" according the Lakers, and he insured it. Two pickers nailed this pick.
Our next top scorer was D. Bane, with a saucy 37 points. Guy has been great this season, but we all reasonable assumed J. Morant coming back would dampen his shine a bit. Yet I'm looking at 21, 31, and 37 in the last three games with Ja back, so Bane is here for real.
The other top scorers were J. Brunson (36 pts), then SGA, A. Edwards, and P. Banchero (34).
Our top pick, D. Booker, was dissapointing with 24 points for 41 pickers. Not a terrible outcome, but to take the crown you're hoping for more than 24 for basically every pick.
The best possible performance this week was 77 points, taking LeBron and Bane. No one managed that, but @Noahcarroll3412 did get 74 via LeBron and Edwards, a great week.
We scored 27.2 points/pick last week, a return to form for us better matching earlier in the season.
For DNPs, 9 pickable players from our roster didn't play, leading to a 41 DNP picks. But only one person Double DNP'd, resulting in zero points. Great job managing your players.
As always - Double check the injury report (linked on the pick page) on Thursday or Friday to make sure your picks aren't out. We leave a note on known injured players during the week and remove players with longer-term injuries to try and help prevent this issue, but you have to take control of your destiny here.
Interval 2 is off, with @jfink holding the lead at 142 points after two weeks. Interval 2 runs through Week 16 (just before the All Star game). There are three Intervals and five places each, meaning every few weeks you've got something new to play for.
Our Squads Leader is DFS Sweatshop with 1,411 points. Reminder that Squads will lock on Jan 12th, get yours together to compete for bonus prizes!
Survivor #1
There were 27 incorrect picks this week, resulting in 22 eliminations. We had an 84.7% win rate, and lost another 6.4% of the Pool in the process. We now stand at 45.3% remaining.
NOP was our "biggest" loss this week, with 6 pickers. That's just nothing, great work.
Our Squads Leader is a three-way tie between Basket-Balling with Nigel, WITS Legends, and DFS Sweatshop at 23 wins. Reminder that Squads will lock on Jan 12th, get yours together to compete for bonus prizes!
All 30 One-And-Done
Just like Survivor, the GSW gang was an easy-enough win for a tremendous share of the pool.
Our worst loss was BKN with 9 picks. They played DEN plenty close, but just didn't manage to get the W.
Our win rate was 78.2% this week, with our picked teams going 11-12. Not a bad week by any means, but the top-heavy pick makes it a bit less interesting.
We're now at a 24-way tie for the lead with 8 wins. Reminder that the NFL's All 32 Pool lasted through 11 weeks and 18 total picks with perfect records. We don't start double picks until Week 19, so we'll see if anyone can last until then staying unbeaten.
Our Squads Leader is Basket-Balling with Nigel at 22 wins. Still a lot of season left! Reminder that Squads will lock on Jan 12th, get yours together to compete for bonus prizes!
Yours in Roundball Rock,
The GM