NBA results Thursday 8 October 2026: AI predictions review

Eight NBA games went to the models on Thursday 8 October 2026, and the ten-model consensus came away with a 3 of 8 record. It was a night when unanimity was worth almost nothing: four matches drew a 100% consensus pick, and two of those were beaten.

The biggest surprise landed in Memphis, where every one of the ten models backed the Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic won 122-118. Oklahoma City's home loss to Milwaukee and Brooklyn's win over Philadelphia compounded a difficult slate, while Cleveland, Miami and Portland delivered the only returns.

Full-time scenes from a night when the models' firmest picks came unstuck.

Where the AI got it right

The models' clearest success came in Cleveland, where Boston was the unanimous pick at 100% of ten models and the Celtics delivered a 124-113 win on the road. The consensus scoreline of 108-115 was not exact, but the direction was never in doubt.

Miami was the second unanimous call to land. The Heat were backed by all ten models, the most common projected score being 108-102, and they beat New Orleans 128-118 in a higher-scoring game than anyone had mapped out.

The one genuine split of the night also went the models' way. Only 60% of the ten backed the Portland Trail Blazers vs Golden State Warriors prediction, and Portland's 123-118 win justified the narrow majority rather than the doubters.

Where it got it wrong

Memphis was the night's defining miss. All ten models picked the Grizzlies, with a most common score of 114-108 and an average confidence of 39%. Orlando won 122-118 instead, turning the slate's firmest-looking call into its most costly.

Oklahoma City followed a similar pattern. Nine of ten models backed the Thunder, projecting 116-110, and Milwaukee edged them 128-126 in a game that ran well past the expected total.

Chicago's 124-117 win over Phoenix undid an 80% consensus for the Suns and a projected 116-117. Brooklyn's 114-108 defeat of Philadelphia was another 80% call that failed, with the models having leaned on a 108-109 margin for the 76ers.

The harshest result of the day came in New York. All ten models picked the Knicks at 100%, with a most common score of 118-108, and Washington won 111-109. Across the eight matches every consensus carried the same average confidence of 39%, a figure that in hindsight sat awkwardly beside the four unanimous picks.

Models of the day

Four models finished above the consensus: Claude Sonnet 5, Mistral Medium 3.5, Grok 4.6 and GLM 5.3 each went 4 of 8 correct. GPT-5.6 Luna, MiMo V2.5 Pro and Kimi K3 matched the consensus at 3 of 8.

At the bottom, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Qwen 3.8 Max and Gemini 3.8 Flash each managed only 2 of 8 correct, two wins behind the leading group on a night that punished confident agreement.

Full results

• NBA: Memphis Grizzlies 118-122 Orlando Magic — consensus Memphis Grizzlies win (100%) WRONG
• NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder 126-128 Milwaukee Bucks — consensus Oklahoma City Thunder win (90%) WRONG
• NBA: Chicago Bulls 124-117 Phoenix Suns — consensus Phoenix Suns win (80%) WRONG
• NBA: Portland Trail Blazers 123-118 Golden State Warriors — consensus Portland Trail Blazers win (60%) RIGHT
• NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers 113-124 Boston Celtics — consensus Boston Celtics win (100%) RIGHT
• NBA: Miami Heat 128-118 New Orleans Pelicans — consensus Miami Heat win (100%) RIGHT
• NBA: Brooklyn Nets 114-108 Philadelphia 76ers — consensus Philadelphia 76ers win (80%) WRONG
• NBA: New York Knicks 109-111 Washington Wizards — consensus New York Knicks win (100%) WRONG

Friday brings a fresh slate, and the ten models have already filed their picks. The full card, with consensus percentages and projected scorelines for every game, is available on the today's NBA predictions page.

Next up: today's nba predictions from the same panel, and the results archive with every graded call. Forecasts are informational only.