Lakers vs. Celtics

History between the two:•32 championships between the two teams (of 63 total)•17 Celtics championships•15 Lakers championships•The two teams have met in the finals 12 times•All time greats like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Jerry West, and Bill Russel made the rivalry Research Design: I will do a a random survey using the above survey question to determine public opinion in who will win the 2010 NBA championship. Then to do a statistical analysis I will get statistics from the 2010 NBA playoffs thus far from www.nba.com. I will then compare the stats from the 2010 NBA playoffs of the Lakers and Celtics using a 2 sample t-test with a .10 confidence level.

By:Edvin AleksandrovPeriod 1

Public Opinion Survey

Survey Question: Which team, the Boston Celtics or the L.A Lakers, do you think will win the 2010 NBA

championship?

Survey ResultsLakers-41 (68.3%)Celtics-19 (31.7%)

Statistical Analysis

Research Question: Based off of five key basketball stats in the playoffs; points allowed, points scored, rebounds, assists, and field goal percentage, I will determine whether the Celtics or the Lakers are more likely to win the 2010 NBA championship.

Hypothesis: Based off of points allowed, points scored, rebounds, assists, and field goal percentage in the playoffs the Lakers are significantly more likely to win the 2010 NBA then the Celtics.

Alpha Level: .10

Significance Level: .90

Test: I will use a 2 sample t-test.

Data: All data will be obtained from www.nba.com for the 2009-2010 NBA playoffs.

Test 1, Points Allowed:

Null:Celtics points allowed ≥ Lakers points allowed

Alternative:Celtics points allowed<Lakers points allowed

t=-2.348 CV=1.337

p=.0128

RTN(Celtics win)

Test 2, Points Scored:

Null: Celtics points scored ≥ Lakers points scored

Alternative: Celtics points scored < Lakers points scored

t=-3.514 CV=1.337

p=.0010

RTN(Lakers win)

Test 3, Rebounds:

Null: Celtics rebounds ≥ Lakers rebounds

Alternative: Celtics rebounds < Lakers rebounds

t=-4.562 CV=1.337

p=.0002

RTN(Lakers win)

Test 4, Assists:

Null: Celtics assists ≥ Lakers assists

Alternative: Celtics assists < Lakers assists

t=1.8762 CV=1.337

p=.110

FTRN(Celtics win)

Test 5, Field Goal %:

Null: Celtics field goal % ≥ Lakers field goal %

Alternative: Celtics field goal % < Lakers field goal %

t=-2.132 CV=1.337

p=.025

RTN(Lakers win)

Final Decision

I support my hypothesis that the L.A Lakers are more likely to win the 2010 NBA championship than the Boston Celtics are. Of the 5 tests, the Lakers were superior in 3. Thus they are statistically more likely to win the NBA championship.