Celtics defeat Lakers, EA Games in 6

Stealing a page from Take-Two’s play book, the Boston Celtics have flipped EA the proverbial avian critter and let them know exactly where they can shove their fancy predictions. In open defiance of an NBA LIVE ‘09 prediction that the LA Lakers would triumph in 7 games, the Celtics unceremoniously tossed the Lakers out of the 2008 NBA finals. It may well be the gaming EA’s biggest setback since SimPresident1870 predicted Samuel Tilden would obliterate Rutherford B. Hayes in the second overtime of the 1876 elections.

NBA LIVE 09 will be released on just about every platform on October 7, but EA couldn’t resist an early trip on the gravy train lured by the most anticipated NBA Finals in recent memory, so they ran a cyber fantasy version of the series through their shiny new simulators. Much like 9 out of 10 ESPN pundits, EA predicted a Lakers victory.

To their credit, while its simulations do not have the predictive power of the Oracle of Delphi, NBA LIVE 09 is still extremely realistic. The box scores for the games – both virtual teams averaged in the mid-90’s – were on target. The Lakers were the most popular pick among basketball stat-heads across the board, so EA’s failure to call the NBA finals outcome doesn’t discredit the predictive ability of the simulation.

Statistics can only take you so far: No line of code can capture Kevin Garnett’s aneurysm-inducing intensity or, for that matter, Kobe Bryant’s petulant whining and fussing at his teammates. No simulation will ever be able to capture the contrast between the good-old-fashioned hollering and hooliganism of the Boston fans and the near silence of the clueless Southern California social climbers who showed up to the games to “network” and “be seen.” And it’s somewhere in that ethereal space that the Boston Celtics made up for their numerical disadvantages with something unquantifiable, something transcendent. And that, the well-worn cliché goes, is why they actually play the games. (Ok, I’m a Celtics fan).