The beauty of the pick and roll is its an relatively easy 2-man action that takes three men to defend. From Stockton to Steve Nash and countless in-between, the pick and roll and the options it opens up have been causing defenses strategic headaches for decades. As difficult as it may be, there are certain basic principles to defending the pick and roll to minimize the damage, and the one I want focus on is containing the ball-handler.
Here we have an example of the pick and roll with what 2k would call a soft hedge. The defending big contains from the elbow to basically the baseline in an effort to protect the paint....he defeats the purpose when he doesn't hustle back to his assignment, but hey, he's on the Sixers.
In this example Kobe plays peek-a-boo around a Gasol screen with Big AL providing 'no hedge' or 'zoning up' the screen. Even with about 7 feet of space between himself and Kobe, Jefferson is still shifting with the ball-handler to stop penetration.
Another 'soft hedge' example, but this one is up high. Bass shuffles from elbow to elbow with no regard for his man to stop Felton from turning the corner. Weak-side defense falls into a coma however and K.Mart goes full Suns Gorilla on the rim, but that's not the point.
With the big so intent on stopping penetration, and the time it takes a person to navigate a screen, a late arriving 'hedger' leaves an opening for the ever problematic pocket-pass. This quickness of this pass gets the ball to the big with a head of steam and a rotating defender a second behind schedule.
This is what it would look like if actual humans tried to contain the ball-handler the way its done in NBA2k15... (an example of the matador defense 2k does)
only on 2k the screens aren't as solid, and the big is often so high on the screen that only a blocking foul could save them.
Haven't noticed it yourself? Well here I have a few examples to show how inept the hedging big is at containing the ball-handler. Since the focus is containing, i will be focusing on the soft hedge and no hedge settings as they put the responsibility on the big. Using the Thunder, I ran the same angle pick and roll play, and have the game set to superstar sim as my constants. New to 2k15 is the Pick and Roll defense I.Q, so to make sure I was choosing capable players I went with the defensively stout Chicago Bulls.
This first picture is just default defense without me switching to the Bulls to modify their defense. Here we have Gasol positioned at the freethrow line as the screen is set in position to use the zone-up or no hedge technique. His next move should either be to drop back or go to his right to keep Westbrook from diving into the paint. What does he do instead? Comes up AND closer to the screen, leaving a red ( or blue in this case) carpet to the rim....smile for the camera Russ
So i thought, "hey, maybe im being too aggressive when attacking the screen for the cpu to handle, maybe on 'auto' the defense is indecisive. What i'll do is wait for the screen to get established and clearly set the cpu to soft hedge". Here's how that played out.
With a setting making him responsible for the ball-handler, a close look at Gasol's placement (right side of the key) reveals he didnt shuffle, or even move much, other than to get out of the way. He was satisfied to simply be a witness to Russ' highlight reel.
Ok, ok, with all the complaints about bumping on the perimeter, maybe Gasol is turning his hips ( kudos to 2k for finally having defenders turn their hips and drop their lead foot) to avoid a collision which in the NBA would be a blocking foul. So I take a passive approach more akin to what a slow seven-footer would do. I set the defense to protect the paint, and no hedge/zone up to give Gasol more room for error. As we saw with Al Jefferson earlier, even in this setting, going with or away from the screen, stopping penetration is still the bigs' number one priority. How's Gasol's execution?
Gasol has good depth, but is still too close to the screen. But thats not the biggest issue here. As I approach Gasol literally leaps out of my way to give me a lay-up. Seriously. And again, this is superstar sim.
Alright, i know what you're thinking. "why are you abusing Gasol when you have Noah, a higher rated pick and roll defender, the defensive player of the year and, based on a recent GM's poll, a consensus to repeat there to contain the pick and roll instead?" Yea, i asked myself the same thing. Identical settings as the last Gasol test, surely Noah should do a tad bit better.
ehhh...not so much.
Look, im not pointing it out to say its game-breaking, or even that pick and roll defense is broken. Hell, I've on rare occasions seen these defenses executed better (not correctly), and here's a picture of the cpu running hard hedge and under p&r defense to perfection.
Im posting this because Beluba was unclear when i pointed the issue out to him in the Q&A thread, so i wanted to be as detailed as possible in an effort to get it fixed in the big patch. Mind you im on PS4, any one else notice this?
Here we have an example of the pick and roll with what 2k would call a soft hedge. The defending big contains from the elbow to basically the baseline in an effort to protect the paint....he defeats the purpose when he doesn't hustle back to his assignment, but hey, he's on the Sixers.
Spoiler
In this example Kobe plays peek-a-boo around a Gasol screen with Big AL providing 'no hedge' or 'zoning up' the screen. Even with about 7 feet of space between himself and Kobe, Jefferson is still shifting with the ball-handler to stop penetration.
Spoiler
Another 'soft hedge' example, but this one is up high. Bass shuffles from elbow to elbow with no regard for his man to stop Felton from turning the corner. Weak-side defense falls into a coma however and K.Mart goes full Suns Gorilla on the rim, but that's not the point.
Spoiler
With the big so intent on stopping penetration, and the time it takes a person to navigate a screen, a late arriving 'hedger' leaves an opening for the ever problematic pocket-pass. This quickness of this pass gets the ball to the big with a head of steam and a rotating defender a second behind schedule.
Spoiler
This is what it would look like if actual humans tried to contain the ball-handler the way its done in NBA2k15... (an example of the matador defense 2k does)
Spoiler
only on 2k the screens aren't as solid, and the big is often so high on the screen that only a blocking foul could save them.
Haven't noticed it yourself? Well here I have a few examples to show how inept the hedging big is at containing the ball-handler. Since the focus is containing, i will be focusing on the soft hedge and no hedge settings as they put the responsibility on the big. Using the Thunder, I ran the same angle pick and roll play, and have the game set to superstar sim as my constants. New to 2k15 is the Pick and Roll defense I.Q, so to make sure I was choosing capable players I went with the defensively stout Chicago Bulls.
This first picture is just default defense without me switching to the Bulls to modify their defense. Here we have Gasol positioned at the freethrow line as the screen is set in position to use the zone-up or no hedge technique. His next move should either be to drop back or go to his right to keep Westbrook from diving into the paint. What does he do instead? Comes up AND closer to the screen, leaving a red ( or blue in this case) carpet to the rim....smile for the camera Russ
Spoiler
So i thought, "hey, maybe im being too aggressive when attacking the screen for the cpu to handle, maybe on 'auto' the defense is indecisive. What i'll do is wait for the screen to get established and clearly set the cpu to soft hedge". Here's how that played out.
Spoiler
With a setting making him responsible for the ball-handler, a close look at Gasol's placement (right side of the key) reveals he didnt shuffle, or even move much, other than to get out of the way. He was satisfied to simply be a witness to Russ' highlight reel.
Ok, ok, with all the complaints about bumping on the perimeter, maybe Gasol is turning his hips ( kudos to 2k for finally having defenders turn their hips and drop their lead foot) to avoid a collision which in the NBA would be a blocking foul. So I take a passive approach more akin to what a slow seven-footer would do. I set the defense to protect the paint, and no hedge/zone up to give Gasol more room for error. As we saw with Al Jefferson earlier, even in this setting, going with or away from the screen, stopping penetration is still the bigs' number one priority. How's Gasol's execution?
Spoiler
Gasol has good depth, but is still too close to the screen. But thats not the biggest issue here. As I approach Gasol literally leaps out of my way to give me a lay-up. Seriously. And again, this is superstar sim.
Alright, i know what you're thinking. "why are you abusing Gasol when you have Noah, a higher rated pick and roll defender, the defensive player of the year and, based on a recent GM's poll, a consensus to repeat there to contain the pick and roll instead?" Yea, i asked myself the same thing. Identical settings as the last Gasol test, surely Noah should do a tad bit better.
Spoiler
ehhh...not so much.
Look, im not pointing it out to say its game-breaking, or even that pick and roll defense is broken. Hell, I've on rare occasions seen these defenses executed better (not correctly), and here's a picture of the cpu running hard hedge and under p&r defense to perfection.
Spoiler
Im posting this because Beluba was unclear when i pointed the issue out to him in the Q&A thread, so i wanted to be as detailed as possible in an effort to get it fixed in the big patch. Mind you im on PS4, any one else notice this?
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