Celtics? Lakers? It may be a toss-up

The basketball world may be focused on the final round of the play-offs between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, but a battle of predictions may also be brewing between Electronic Arts Inc. and Lenovo.

To promote an upcoming video game, EA Sports NBA Live 09, Electronic Arts said that it ran game simulations that concluded that the Lakers will win the series.

Meanwhile, Lenovo, a provider of personal computers and laptops and the "official PC partner" of the National Basketball Association, crunched basketball data on team chemistry and came up with the forecast that the Celtics will triumph.

In EA's simulation scenario, the series is a "seven-game thriller" decided in the final game when Kobe Bryant of the Lakers emerges as the hero.

EA said in a press release, "After a quiet first half, Kobe scored 29 of his 38 points in the second half in an astounding triple-double performance cementing himself as this year’s NBA Finals MVP. The Lakers beat the Celtics in the NBA Finals for the third time in a row."

In coming to a different conclusion, Lenovo said it relied on the Lenovo Stat, a plus/minus statistic that is featured on NBA.com and that analyzes the "power of teamwork by calculating the point differential when a player, or a combination of players, is in the game to assess their effect on the team."

Lenovo said in a press release, "During an exciting 2007-08 NBA postseason, the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics featured the most dominant five-man player combination on the court and have the edge to win the Finals."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)