Perimeter Defense Seems Way Too Tight - Smothering

[ggsimmonds]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bigrich170

Guys like you complain and 2k quietly updates the game and make things easier for you some of us like smothering defense it's the NBA not street ball in real basketball you have to work for a clean shot not just run around breaking ankles

You're not going to be popular in this thread but I don't think you are that far off. This thread is sort of a generic catch-all "defense needs work" thread. And imo, some of the complaints are valid and should be fixed, others not so much.

I'm by no means a "stick skills god" but on superstar I have no problem getting by defenders with Steve Francis and Rafer Alston at a realistic rate.

Your delivery could have been better tho lol

[m29a]

I can understand why some might like the smothering, maybe because of concern about easy layups/dunks, but the solution isn't to make every defender behave like a hounding bulldog, but to have dynamic and aggressive help defense and rotations. I could also say the solution is to remove green releases and lower shot make % across the board (still want to have to work for your shots?), but that is never happening.

I haven't seen people wanting it to be easier, more like people want the flow to more closely replicate what goes on in the real games. But it's a never ending balance of fulfilling the players who want 2K ball, and the players who want NBA ball. To me, 2K ball as it stands now IS street ball.

[VDusen04]

Quote: Originally Posted by m29a

I can understand why some might like the smothering, maybe because of concern about easy layups/dunks, but the solution isn't to make every defender behave like a hounding bulldog, but to have dynamic and aggressive help defense and rotations. I could also say the solution is to remove green releases and lower shot make % across the board (still want to have to work for your shots?), but that is never happening. I haven't seen people wanting it to be easier, more like people want the flow to more closely replicate what goes on in the real games. But it's a never ending balance of fulfilling the players who want 2K ball, and the players who want NBA ball. To me, 2K ball as it stands now IS street ball.

This is it right here.

For me, it's always been about whether I'm being rewarded for playing basketball. If I play an angle right, if I get a defender to lean off-balance, if I made a right decision, do I earn an advantage on-screen or is an invisible forcefield compensating to create a faux sense of competition?

If the game wants to send proper helpside defenders via sensible rotations, so be it. But it's a pain to know when you've made the right move only for it to be mitigated by a speed warping defender.

[The 24th Letter]

Quote: Originally Posted by ggsimmonds

You're not going to be popular in this thread but I don't think you are that far off. This thread is sort of a generic catch-all "defense needs work" thread. And imo, some of the complaints are valid and should be fixed, others not so much. I'm by no means a "stick skills god" but on superstar I have no problem getting by defenders with Steve Francis and Rafer Alston at a realistic rate. Your delivery could have been better tho lol

I agree. Especially with your last sentence.

Every possession may not include a complete blow by, even when facing a mismatch.

Some may require a quick move to shake the defender, some may result in a hip ride, some may have you turn the corner with the defender on your hip. As you said, you’re not a dribble god, but even on Superstar these things are possible.

For me personally, I appreciate the variance. We all have different interpretations of basketball but I tend to lean toward that being a more realistic outcome…though I understand why some players prefer the instant penetration like 2K18 gave us.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FixEverything2k]

Part of it is the lateral quickness issue.

If a player has high speed then in the game they will be moving fast laterally as well

[alabamarob]

Quote: Originally Posted by The 24th Letter

I agree. Especially with your last sentence. Every possession may not include a complete blow by, even when facing a mismatch. Some may require a quick move to shake the defender, some may result in a hip ride, some may have you turn the corner with the defender on your hip. As you said, you’re not a dribble god, but even on Superstar these things are possible. For me personally, I appreciate the variance. We all have different interpretations of basketball but I tend to lean toward that being a more realistic outcome…though I understand why some players prefer the instant penetration like 2K18 gave us. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep. I am slowly coming around driving past players. I can get by guys at an acceptable level. However, the 2 man animations on layups after separating from the defender on a drive are terrible.

Quote: Originally Posted by FixEverything2k

Part of it is the lateral quickness issue. If a player has high speed then in the game they will be moving fast laterally as well

There seems to be some chatter that this may be fixed. It would be a very big fix. There are some bad defenders sliding around the court on defense way to fast.

Trae Young being one of them.

[ggsimmonds]

Quote: Originally Posted by The 24th Letter

I agree. Especially with your last sentence. Every possession may not include a complete blow by, even when facing a mismatch. Some may require a quick move to shake the defender, some may result in a hip ride, some may have you turn the corner with the defender on your hip. As you said, you’re not a dribble god, but even on Superstar these things are possible. For me personally, I appreciate the variance. We all have different interpretations of basketball but I tend to lean toward that being a more realistic outcome…though I understand why some players prefer the instant penetration like 2K18 gave us. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The different interpretations are definitely a factor in conversations like this. For example when a bigger slower guy is guarding a quicker guard, I don't think the most common outcome is a blowby or even an attempted blowby in the real NBA. The most common outcome I think is creating space for a jumper.

Searching youtube for "best NBA mismatches" and this was the first result:


Even when the ballhandler does blowby the bigger defender, its because they tried to create a J first and the big overcommitted.

I do wonder how many people are just trying to aggressive breakdown followed by turbo launching towards the rim and expecting to be able to blowby poor defenders.

[m29a]

Even when the AI defenders overcommits, generally in my experience they are able to recover rapidly (sometimes with obvious warping) and the hip ride animation pushes you to the sides even after having a clear step advantage to the rim.

That said, I realize this is all kind of pointless. 2K18 soured a lot of people because the interior defense wasn't there to compensate.

For offline players, I think a slider to adjust AI reaction times would be nice.