After prestiging, here are some tips to win in MTO

[EarvGotti]

Quote: Originally Posted by harryl

I've used it extensively and it's a little challenging, as the switching doesn't seem totally reliable. Sometimes it ends up being more like a hard hedge and the big goes back to his guy once the small recovers. But when the ballhandler tries to swing wide to drive hard to the basket and the switch occurs to totally stifle the drive because there is no angle to attack, it's really nice. I stick with it, despite it not feeling totally reliable. Probably best lineup I currently have to run a Switch All defense is: 1. LBJ 2. Marion 3. Walker 4. Josh Smith (or Draymond or Rodman) 5. DeAndre (or Rodman or Draymond or AD)

Do you control any of the defenders in the switch or just let the CPU handle it? Sam Pham posted a video yesterday about Switch and he showed that if you control one of the guys and manually cover their man....it cancels the switch.

[harryl]

Quote: Originally Posted by EarvGotti

Do you control any of the defenders in the switch or just let the CPU handle it? Sam Pham posted a video yesterday about Switch and he showed that if you control one of the guys and manually cover their man....it cancels the switch.

Yes, for on-ball screens (and a fair number of off-ball ones), I'm controlling one of my two defenders involved in the action.

I haven't labbed this in a concerted way, primarily because 2K stupidly doesn't allow us defensive controls in Scrimmage mode, but I have a feeling that, in order to have P&R switching work, if you are controlling one of the defenders, you have to make sure you definitively move in accordance with a switch.

For example, if I'm controlling the big, I have a sense that, unless I basically hedge very hard, my small might go around the screen and go back to his man.

P&R Defensive IQ surely plays a roll in how consistently a defender will play his part in the scheme, and even for high-level defenders, mistakes will be made.

Frankly, even if not playing switch, switches will occur. So it still can make sense to construct a lineup that is very flexible in this regard: i.e. big, strong guards and laterally fast bigs.

I really think that a big, fast, strong, and high Def IQ team could do surprisingly well against even a loaded offensive team controlled by an experienced player. Last year, I was running Diamond Oscar, Diamond Kawhi, Amethyst LBJ, Diamond Millsap, and Diamond Draymond as a lineup and they could really throttle down on the other team.

[Biaxident]

Great thread. I'm closing in on Duncan (about 15 games left hopefully) and definitely agree that defensive settings can really help solve breakdowns. W/r/t hedging I've carried over Go Over/No Hedge x2 from 2K16 and it works fine, but I am very active. I start by crowding the dribbler and/or anticipating the side the ballhandler is going and then switch to the big to pull him into the right position. If I see anything breaking down, I'll pull help from a third defender to show in the paint off an average or worse shooter.

I'll just add that it's very important to have a great shotblocking and rebounding center somewhere on your roster because people score most reliably deep in the paint, or spam lead passes, etc.

[justlaze]

Just beat Ruby 7-0 on first attempt. Also got the Air Jordan 1 Diamond Shoe with the + Dunking / Speed / Vertical - looks really nice, I might save it for some PD in the future though.

Anyway the last guy I played was the first opponent who actually played good. No turbo, no PnR spams. He played sim all game through, with different plays from the playbook. Really enjoyed it. Too bad it's like 1 out of 10 opponents, who will play like this. Maybe it's getting better in the top 3 tiers.