ESPN NBA

The TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackown is rolling along. And so far, the competition is pretty intense. With a few little exceptions here and there, everyboy picked the correct winner in every series. ... Except in the Dallas vs. San Antonio series, in which only three of eight got it right, and Portland vs. Houston, where only one expert predicted the Blazers would not defend their home court. (Ironically, that expert, Jeffrey Ma, sometimes works for Portland. I choose to believe that makes them look smart, for taking advice from a sharp guy.)

The leaderboard of the Smackdown is constantly updated at the link above.

This year, however, we're also running something of a shadow competition, in which we're following three other categories of experts, to see how they compare:

• Various bloggers (as corraled by Matt Moore on Hardwood Paroxysm, who deserves a gold star)
• Professionals from ESPN's Statistics and Information Research team
• Experts from the NBA section of ESPN.com

Everyone gets five points for correctly picking a series winner, and two bonus points if they also correctly pick the number of games. A perfect score for the first round would be seven points for each of eight series, or 56 total points.

Here is a giant leaderboard, with every kind of expert all mixed together:

45 Kurt Helin, Forum Blue and Gold
45 Jeffrey Ma, TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown
45 Chris Sheridan, ESPN Expert

44 Pete Newmann, ESPN Statistics and Information Research

43 John Hollinger, ESPN Expert/TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown
43 David Thorpe, ESPN Expert
43 Natalie Sitto, Need 4 Sheed

41 David Berri, TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown
41 Rob Mahoney of the Two Man Game
41 Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm
41 Marc Stein, ESPN Expert
41 Scrum of TrueBlueJazz

40 Chris Broussard, ESPN Expert

39 Brett Hainline, Queen City Hoops
39 Basketball John, SLCDunk
39 Brett Pollakoff, NBA FanHouse
39 Howie Schwab, ESPN Statistics and Information Research
39 Carey Smith, Philadunkia

38 Niall Doherty, Hornets247
38 M. Haubs, The Painted Area

37 Bret Lagree, Hoopinion
37 Kevin Pelton, TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown
37 Josh Tucker, Silver Screen and Roll

36 Henry's Mom, TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown
36 Henry Abbott, ESPN Expert
36 Chad Ford, ESPN Expert
36 JakeTheSnake, Bullets Forever
36 CB Jack, True Blue Jazz
36 Tim Legler, ESPN Expert

35 Corndogg, Hardwood Paroxysm

34 Alok Pattani, ESPN Statistics and Information Research
34 Lisa Brooks, ESPN Statistics and Information Research
34 J.A. Adande, ESPN Expert
34 Paroxi Wife, Hardwood Paroxysm
34 Jalen Rose, ESPN Expert

32 Neil Paine, TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown
32 Ben Q. Rock, Third Quarter Collapse
32 Matt Watson, Detroit Bad Boys
32 Royce Young, Daily Thunder
32 Tom Ziller, Sactown Royalty

31 Michael Jackson, ESPN Statistics and Information Research
31 At the Hive
31 Empty the Bench
31 Jeremy Wagner, Roundball Mining Company
31 Stephen Ilardi, TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown
31 Phoenix Stan, Bright Side of the Sun
31 Tim Varner, 48 Minutes of Hell

29 Mike Lynch, ESPN Statistics and Information Research
29 Raphael Garcia, ESPN Statistics and Information Research
29 Injury Rate, FanIQ
29 Zach McCann, Orlando Magic Daily
29 Sandy Weil, TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown

25 Ben Couch, NJNets.com
25 Tom, Indy Cornrows
25 Dan Feldman, Piston Powered

22 Ben York, Deep Purple
22 Michael Schwartz, Valley of the Suns
22 John Krolik, Cavs The Blog

20 Brian Powell, Awful Announcing
20 Ben Golliver, Blazers Edge