Sports Games Modeling and Prediction using Genetic Programming

Sports games are largely enjoyed by fans around the globe. Plenty of financial assets, such as betting, need a reference to determine which team is more likely to win. In addition, club coaches and managers can benefit from using a analytical tool that suggests more efficient and suitable strategies to win. Genetic programming is a powerful learning algorithm for prediction and knowledge discovery. In this research, we propose to use genetic programming to model and predict the final outcome of NBA playoffs. We use the regular season performance statistics of each team to predict their final ranks in the Playoffs. Historical data of NBA teams are collected in order to train the predictive models using genetic programming. The preliminary results show that the algorithm is able to achieve a good prediction accuracy, as well as to provide an importance assessment of various performance statistics in determining the probability of winning the final championship.