How we score games

Each game gets an interest score from 0 to 100. It measures how compelling the matchup is, not which team will win. Matchup factors adjust a fixed baseline. Schedule data remains in the preview as context. It does not affect the game score. The final score has one of four tiers.

What feeds the score

• Competitive. How close the game should be. When a pregame betting line is posted, it comes from the point spread; otherwise from how close the two teams' records are.
• Team quality. The combined strength of both records. Early in the season each record leans on last season's, so a 2-1 start does not make a team look elite.
• Both near top. A bonus when both clubs sit near the top of the standings, once each has played enough games for the table to mean something.
• Stakes. Standings tension between the two teams — a seeding duel or a play-in/playoff-bubble race, shaped by the league's own playoff format. In the playoffs, the series state replaces the standings and counts for much more: later rounds weigh more than the first round, and elimination games and winner-take-all games weigh the most.
• Star power. The league's top scorers who are set to play, ranked on regular-season scoring blended with last season's, so a hot first week cannot outrank an established star. A team's second star adds a little, and stars on both sides are worth more than either alone.
• Hot start. A player opening the season far above last season's scoring average. It is rare, and it fades as the season's sample grows.
• Recent form. The hotter side's last-10 record, with an extra kicker for a live win streak and a bonus when both teams are rolling.
• Playoff rematch. A rematch of a playoff series from last season, weighted by how deep that series went.
• National TV. A nationally televised window.
• Injuries. Subtracts points when a team is missing a player whose scoring sits well above a replacement-level baseline, using the same blended scoring average as star power — the only factor that can only pull the score down.

Factors apply only when they are relevant to that matchup. Injuries are the only factor that can reduce the score. Preseason games skip the record, standings, stakes, and form factors, because exhibition results say nothing about a team. Preseason games never count toward a player's scoring average.

The tier ladder

When a score is underlined

An underlined score means the Hoops Menu desk — an editor, not the model — looked at the matchup and adjusted the number by hand. The board never prints two numbers; the game page for that matchup shows both the model's original score and the desk's note explaining the change.