2019 NBA Finals: Who Will Be the Finals MVP? A.I. Predicts Why It Might Be Curry's Year
Is this Steph Curry's post-season?
Who will be the 2019 NBA Finals MVP? Of the likely contenders, you have Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson of the Warriors, and Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam, of the opposing Raptors.
Ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, May 30 (9 p.m. Eastern on ABC), a hive-mind of NBA fans have made their prediction. The favorite might be Curry, who is a three-time regular season MVP, but he has never won the Finals MVP prize. (The previous two seasons saw his teammate, Kevin Durant, take home the award.) This post-season, a left calf strain has fans wondering if Durant will even play in the NBA Finals, leaving open the opportunity for Curry to step up — assuming he will consistently perform for his team.
So, who will be the 2019 NBA Finals MVP?
See also: Why the Underdog Raptors Have a Biological Advantage
To predict the answer to this big question about the 2019 NBA Finals, Inverse partnered with Unanimous A.I., which used its swarm intelligence technology. A “swarm” of more than 20 NBA enthusiasts worked together as a hive-mind to make their prediction. As you can see in the animation below, each participant controlled a golden magnet (using their computer mouse) to drag the puck toward the result they thought was the most likely outcome. This is where it gets interesting: As one user sees how other users are behaving, and watches the puck move toward a particular decision, it triggers a psychological response. They might readjust their thinking as the group builds toward a consensus. It’s an artificial intelligence, produced by human brains, working together as a swarm.
Steph Curry is the favorite to become the most valuable player in the 2019 MVP Finals.
As you can see above, the swarm has high confidence that Curry will indeed be the 2019 NBA Finals MVP, a decision it made with 93 percent conviction.
Other than Curry, who’s the most important player for the Warriors? The swarm predicts Thompson and Green will be key as they attempt a third consecutive championship and fourth in the last five seasons. Here’s how that prediction was made:
The second most-important player for the Warriors during the 2019 NBA Finals will be Klay Thompson, predicts the swarm -- but Draymond Green will be key as well.
Unanimous A.I. has made some scarily accurate predictions in the past using swarm intelligence, as our this article explains. For instance, the swarm has picked Oscar winners with 94 percent accuracy and the 2016 Kentucky Derby Superfecta. Here’s Unanimous A.I. founder Louis Rosenberg explaining swarm intelligence at a recent TEDx Talk:
