There is nothing wrong with the CPU on-ball defense. Here are some tips....

[Jadakiss88]

In all honesty the defense does need adjustments...too many times have stolen the ball mid air and by the time I cross the court there are already two to three defenders there in front of me. The defense is tougher which makes the game fun for me but there are some instances that aren't basketball.

Defenders don't just instantly recover after being burnt by a dribble move. The only time when I just flat out beat the CPU off the dribble I usually have to trigger the body contact crossover animation to get the defender shifting. I am fairly certain there are counters but some of the complaints are warranted.

[Hadlowe]

Quote: Originally Posted by xCoachDx

My issue is that poor defenders lock down the same as good ones. If a slow post player gets mismatches onto a quick guard, the bumping and morphing prevents you from exploiting the mismatch. Everyone wants to say "Take what the defense gives you." And while I love that mentality (I coach basketball so I'm constantly looking for stuff like this), the bumping and morphing really keeps you from utilizing that mindset.

And from my experience playing the game, that just isn't true. Poor defenders get caught on picks more, make worse decisions on rotations and are out of position for help defense far more often leading to easy assists when they overcommit. Being able to stop a drive is a BASIC skill NBA players have, which is why it is noteworthy when someone is good enough to beat them off the dribble. It is also fairly uncommon in actual games. Kyrie or Jamal Crawford or Harden may break down a guy a couple times a game (usually to take a lightly contestedpull-up jump shot), but a majority of his plays come in team concept ball. Same with Curry. Lebron doesn't blow by guys terribly often except in transition. Most of the time, he posts them up or plays pick and roll with Love and Mozgov.

The bumping serves an important, anti-cheese purpose this year. There are definitely ways around it (and almost as importantly, over it.) Reading and recognizing the defense is a necessary skill right now in the game, and it is going to take more than four days of playing the game to be good at.

[24ct]

Right. Out of 4 quarters of 12 mins you might see maybe 10 iso plays that are really a guy trying to break down another. I mean actually plays in which they call iso. When Lebron calls an iso he backs a guy down.

When you actually see Curry cross a guy it isn't because he called an iso, it's because the play broke down and his options have changed so he goes freelance. I don't think ppl really understand that. Heck even I catch myself trying to ISO with my SF like last year, when it's really not that possible this year. I usually just call for a pick and go from there, like most NBA teams lol. There will be warping, but it isn't so much that they should change or patch the defense to make it easier.

[Hadlowe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scrooge

This is all I'm saying.. It's not about trying to beat the tough defender everytime, I'm fine with that, I welcome the challenge, but when I CLEARLY have the defender beat and he warps back in front of me, that is clearly an issue. my issue is simply with the instances that occur in the videos I posted in the thread. Which contrary to popular belief happen more often than you think if you actually go in and look at replays a lot.

That is an issue with the animation engine trying to match what the stats engine is trying to say. You SEE the defender being beaten, but the underlying engine says no.

Alot of my game rage went away a few years ago when I realized that the animations are just an approximation of the math going on underneath the hood. When a rebound warps through your body into a defender, that's just the math not knowing how to display rebounds correctly.

If you play sim ball, most of these concerns will go away. Run plays, set picks, call for backdoor cuts. Add in practice on the sticks to work out launch points in your dribble moves. Experiment to see how much space you need to launch a clean shot over a defender. There are so many workarounds for the issue.

[Scofield]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scrooge

Exhibit A and B: http://youtu.be/XgwyPvYG3gE Exhibit C courtesy of jroc23 Exhibit D courtesy of impetous65 http://youtu.be/4YoBWmeA7s0

In case anyone has missed them. These are the types of plays that I think most reasonable folks believe are worth looking into.

[DmaXmius101]

Does warping = a defender jumping in a player path? The side stepping seems a bit different this year. I'm paying more attention to the animations and it looks like a wide jumping type HOP that will knock or push, even stop momentum when you are trying to drive. Maybe that warping could be counter by some dribble moves. I'm still learning this game..its really different from previous 2k basketball games.

[ehh]

I play on Pro because I find it to be the best balance and most realistic without needing to be a wizard with the sticks. I believe these issues are worse on AA/SS.

With quick guards by far the biggest thing is to create space before you start to try to go past a guy, namely using size up moves. If your defender crowds you and gets up in your space before you've used your dribble then you're going to have a really hard time getting past them - which is good and realistic. So my advice is to liberally use size up moves and don't bother trying to cross up a guy when he's crowding you. If you're crowded and don't use a size up move then you either hope for a blow-by animation, call a screen or pass the ball. Personally I have not found much success using jab step yet, even with Melo.

Quick guards and guys with good handles are pretty easy to use but I'm still struggling with power guys like Melo and LeBron. I find myself double-tapping X a lot with Melo for that power spin move but I miss a majority of my shots.

[Scrooge]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hadlowe

That is an issue with the animation engine trying to match what the stats engine is trying to say. You SEE the defender being beaten, but the underlying engine says no. Alot of my game rage went away a few years ago when I realized that the animations are just an approximation of the math going on underneath the hood. When a rebound warps through your body into a defender, that's just the math not knowing how to display rebounds correctly. If you play sim ball, most of these concerns will go away. Run plays, set picks, call for backdoor cuts. Add in practice on the sticks to work out launch points in your dribble moves. Experiment to see how much space you need to launch a clean shot over a defender. There are so many workarounds for the issue.

So if I pull up for a jumper and the nearest defender is 5 feet away but it gets a blocked shot animation, that's perfectly fine because of the formulas under the hood?

That's "simulation" basketball to you?

Y'all have to stop this blind captain saving, because the game doesn't improve that way