Last year the Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the great sports stories in recent memory. Coming back from a three games-to-one deficit in the NBA finals, the Cavs stunned the sports world and brought home the first professional sports championship in generations to long-suffering Cleveland fans. That was a happy, feel-good story…unless you’re a fan of Golden State. The Warriors had one of the great seasons in NBA history turn to ashes in the 2016 finals, and have been determined to make amends this year.
According to a recent swarm of NBA fans, Steph Curry and the Warriors may get to avenge that bitter loss. Researchers at Unanimous A. I. convened a swarm of fans and had them work through the NBA playoffs, bracket by bracket, to predict an eventual champion using their Swarm AI platform, UNU. The long journey through the NBA playoffs begins in the first round, as seen below.
UNU sees no surprises in the first round here. If there’s going to be a rematch in the NBA Finals this season, both Golden State and Cleveland must get through their first round matchups, and UNU thinks they’ll do so fairly easily. Interestingly, the swarm also sees pretty smooth sailing in the West for both San Antonio and Houston, setting up an epic potential second round matchup.
Like the NHL, starting in 2016 the NBA no longer re-seeds brackets for subsequent playoff rounds, so the swarm can work through the potential bracket matchups it creates and select winners there as well.
If things play out the way UNU predicts, look for a couple of fantastic conference finals series. The swarm predicts Lebron and the Cleveland Cavaliers having a relatively smoother trip getting through Boston in the east than Golden State will have in the West. UNU forecasts a chance that a crafty Spurs team will push Steph Curry and Kevin Durant and their Warriors teammates a bit. With that said, in the end the swarm does indeed see the rematch of 2016’s championship final happening. This year, according to the UNU Swarm, Curry and company take their revenge.
Every week Unanimous A. I. brings together swarms of regular people just like you to help us predict sporting events, investment opportunities, and technology as well as provide insight into everything from pop culture to politics. If you’d like information on joining one of our swarms – or just want to know what UNU sees for the future – please drop us a line below.
