NBA Finals: The
Warriors will sweep the Cavaliers because our ‘2K18’ simulation says
soThis is what happened when we simulated the fourth edition of Cavs vs.
Warriors
There is no video game basketball
simulation more accurate than “NBA 2K18.” We’re going to put that
accuracy to the test. The NBA Finals begin Thursday with yet another
matchup between the Warriors and Cavaliers. Our experts at CBS Sports all predict that the Warriors repeat as champions, but what does the game think? Will the sim side with the experts, or does it have faith in LeBron James to pull off the upset?
It’s worth noting that Andre Iguodala and
Kevin Love played in every simulated game this series. It’s impossible
to predict injuries and it was easier to just put both teams on an even
healthy field instead of trying to predict when they might come back, or
what games they could miss.
Each game was simulated with the AI
playing against each other in “Play Now” mode with full 12-minute
quarters on “Superstar mode.”
Would it really shock anybody if this was
exactly how Game 1 played out? The Warriors, led by an onslaught of
points from Kevin Durant (32) and Stephen Curry (28), went on one of
their famous third-quarter runs. The Cavs were never really in
contention, but the gap of the lead was at least reachable until that
point. LeBron had 27 points, which usually is a decent amount, but it’s
not nearly enough to compete with Golden State. Remember that, because
it’s going to be a trend.
LeBron was an unstoppable force in this
simulation. He brought the ball up almost every time, was involved in
close to every play, and he held Kevin Durant to only 26 points. If
there was a game to steal in Oracle then this was it.
Of course, that ended up not being the
case. Klay Thompson dumped 27 points on the Cavaliers and dished out 11
assists. The Cavs had this game won, but they lost control at the end
when their offense froze. The Warriors knocked down big shots late and
worked Kevin Love in the post. Cleveland lost its best chance to steal
one.
This game was a classic Warriors victory.
LeBron was incredible again with 33 points, nine rebounds, and seven
assists, however, he just couldn’t pull Cleveland away. For the majority
of the game, this was a close back and forth. Then the Warriors went on
a run late in the fourth quarter and led by double digits. Curry led
the charge with 32 points on seven 3-pointers and 11 assists. This was a
huge blow to the Cavs because now they’re down 3-0 and lost two
straight winnable games.
This was completely one-sided in favor of
Golden State. The Warriors took a 10-point lead in the second quarter
and never relinquished it. Despite LeBron scoring 31 points, he was
outdone by Curry’s 37 points. The Cavs did attempt to make a run in the
fourth quarter, but all they managed to do was make the score look more
respectable. The Warriors pull off the sweep in a series that was never
that close to begin with.
Due to the nature of this kind of
experiment, there wasn’t an official NBA Finals MVP. That would require
going into the “My Legacy” mode and toying with teams while trying to
force this exact matchup. The winner of the NBA Finals MVP matched right
up with the original “Play Now” simulations and gave the award to
Stephen Curry.
He scored 30-plus points twice and dished
out 10 assists or more every game. More importantly, Curry was a
monster from 3-point range. He shot 48 percent from deep for the series
and was a huge factor in why the Cavs couldn’t even steal a game —
despite everything James did. The Warriors are champions and Curry is
the MVP.
Not only did “2K18” predict a Warriors
victory, but it has them winning decidedly. The Warriors are a common
pick to win the series, but most people respect James enough to give him
at least one win. The video game sim, on the other hand, has James
losing every game despite putting up 30-plus points in three of the four
games. They also have the Cavs blown out in two of the four games.