Playing Defense

[JoFri]

Playing defense in NBA 2K16 has come with some challenges since game launch. I would like to post some sharing and discuss how playing defense can be fun and effective at the same time. The thread should cover topics like, do you go with off-ball or on-ball D? What are the controls you use? How to get more blocks and steals? What are some of the defense breakdown that you observe and counter successfully for certain teams? What is your defense strategy?
Feel free to share your tips here as I'm sure everyday we are learning to play the game. Best if you have videos to break it down.
I play offline myleague and hence these thoughts may not apply to online gameplays.


Difficulty & Sliders Settings
Superstar Simulation Default


Defense Settings & POE
1. On-Ball Pressure Moderate
2. Off-Ball Pressure Moderate
3. Force Direction Baseline
4. Screen On-ball Go Over
5. Hedge No Hedge
6. Screen On-ball (Center) Go Over
7. Hedge (Center) No Hedge
8. Screen Off-ball Go Over
9. Post 3/4 Top


10. POE Defensive Focus Auto
11. Aggression Auto
12. Rebounds Run In Transition

13. Auto AI Coach Settings On


With these settings, some of the challenges were addressed:
- backdoor cuts frequency reduced to none
- weak side help by your CPU teammate reduced
- bail out fouls reduced


With these settings, the next thing to take note is you have to keep playing on-ball defense all the time. If you notice, my setting is "No Hedge" because i want my man to stay with his screener man and i will pro-actively go over before the screen is set.


Note: The above setting still poses problems for stretch 4. I will break it down in the next posts.


Controls
When do you hold and release the left trigger when guarding the perimeter/post player? Do you jump to contest or just raising hands?


When guarding the post player, i prefer to use jump to contest but i will release the left trigger first before jump. Yes, sometimes i got faked but most of the time, it works.

https://youtu.be/6va71_hNWys

Any thoughts on this?

[QNo]

Re: Playing Defense

Why do you insist on playing all players with the same on/off-ball pressure? Leaving them on auto or adjusting manually for each player will give you much better results. Only mentioning this because you had previously posted that you use tight/tight on all players. Makes no sense. Same with going over on screens against everybody. This is a bad idea against anybody but the best shooters. The problem is exacerbated by not hedging at all, the ball-handler will get an open lane to the hoop more often than not. Of course with these settings the help will come quickly, but another pass or two and they'll shoot an open 3.

[info0]

Re: Playing Defense

vs AI you can basically leave all on AUTO as AI does whatever it wants regardless of your settings .

Though I do Force all to Baseline, turn Pre-Rotations to Yes, Switch Guards only and depending on my Center I will have him be No Hedge/Soft Hedge or Hard Hedge (when I used Al Jefferson I had him on Hard Hedge, but Biyombo was just fouling too much so moved him to Soft, works wonders, with Noah No Hedge worked, none other seemed to work ).

I play mostly 3-2 Zone/Man to Man mix. Therefore, Limit Permieter Shots, Neutral Defensive, Some Crash/Some Run combo.

Like I said, works fine on Pro/All Star. Would prob be fine for SS/HoF as there AI is just CHEESE anyway :P.

Ach and be SURE to have AI Coach adjustments on MANUAL. Actually everything on MANUAL if you can... That goes for Defensive Help in Controller Setting too (I have MUCH more control with 0/0 and Manual than 100/100 Always :P). Just sayin. Plus PRACTICE. PRACTICE makes PERFECT .

Online tho is much different experience. There you need to see how player plays and adjust.

[JoFri]

Re: Playing Defense

Why do you insist on playing all players with the same on/off-ball pressure? Leaving them on auto or adjusting manually for each player will give you much better results. Only mentioning this because you had previously posted that you use tight/tight on all players. Makes no sense. Same with going over on screens against everybody. This is a bad idea against anybody but the best shooters. The problem is exacerbated by not hedging at all, the ball-handler will get an open lane to the hoop more often than not. Of course with these settings the help will come quickly, but another pass or two and they'll shoot an open 3.

Thanks QNo. i play all the same bcos frankly, i'm too lazy to set for each player and also, setting the same for everyone means i play D against everyone the same way. even though i set go over for screen, i can still go under the screen but that setting allows my man to stay with his man. when i have it on auto, my man will hedge even when i successfully go over the screen. now this is where my cpu teammate weak side help defense triggers as the AI sees an open man.

yup i used Tight so my man can keep up with his man but that will cause a lot of backdoor cuts. i adjusted to Moderate and realised it solves the problem (ran that for few games).

noted on going over screen for bad shooters. what i do notice is it does not matter much when the cpu opponent runs kind of double screen play for their shooters. my cpu defender will hit the off-ball screen man. i usually pay more attention when teams runs these schemes i.e. Mav. so i switch to off-ball and chase the cpu shooter myself.

definitely will try out Auto in my next few games. after hearing yor input in thenother posts, I already switched to Auto for POE Defense and AI Coach and really, i'm seeing the better of it.

[JoFri]

Re: Playing Defense

vs AI you can basically leave all on AUTO as AI does whatever it wants regardless of your settings .



Though I do Force all to Baseline, turn Pre-Rotations to Yes, Switch Guards only and depending on my Center I will have him be No Hedge/Soft Hedge or Hard Hedge (when I used Al Jefferson I had him on Hard Hedge, but Biyombo was just fouling too much so moved him to Soft, works wonders, with Noah No Hedge worked, none other seemed to work ).



I play mostly 3-2 Zone/Man to Man mix. Therefore, Limit Permieter Shots, Neutral Defensive, Some Crash/Some Run combo.



Like I said, works fine on Pro/All Star. Would prob be fine for SS/HoF as there AI is just CHEESE anyway :P.



Ach and be SURE to have AI Coach adjustments on MANUAL. Actually everything on MANUAL if you can... That goes for Defensive Help in Controller Setting too (I have MUCH more control with 0/0 and Manual than 100/100 Always :P). Just sayin. Plus PRACTICE. PRACTICE makes PERFECT .



Online tho is much different experience. There you need to see how player plays and adjust.

Thanks info0. i'm abit confused. do u mean u play jefferson, biyombo as yor defenders or playing against them as opponents? biyombo is a beast and i count on him for block shots.
i have 30 for defensive help and i'm good with that. wont touch that for now. hey u cant practice defense unless u go black top!

[QNo]

Re: Playing Defense

Thanks QNo. i play all the same bcos frankly, i'm too lazy to set for each player and also, setting the same for everyone means i play D against everyone the same way. even though i set go over for screen, i can still go under the screen but that setting allows my man to stay with his man. when i have it on auto, my man will hedge even when i successfully go over the screen. now this is where my cpu teammate weak side help defense triggers as the AI sees an open man.

yup i used Tight so my man can keep up with his man but that will cause a lot of backdoor cuts. i adjusted to Moderate and realised it solves the problem (ran that for few games).

noted on going over screen for bad shooters. what i do notice is it does not matter much when the cpu opponent runs kind of double screen play for their shooters. my cpu defender will hit the off-ball screen man. i usually pay more attention when teams runs these schemes i.e. Mav. so i switch to off-ball and chase the cpu shooter myself.

definitely will try out Auto in my next few games. after hearing yor input in thenother posts, I already switched to Auto for POE Defense and AI Coach and really, i'm seeing the better of it.

Yeah I think you'll be better off leaving most settings on auto and adjusting manually for players that pose you problems. Seems like a better, lazy solution to me Though it really only takes a minute to use a full defensive system, SamPham covers that stuff pretty well.

I do the same on screens, except I set them all to under/soft hedge and then manually go over when I want to.

[coldkevin]

Re: Playing Defense

great thread.....do you have a solution for that stupid touchdown passes they make when in transition? and to minimize point in the paint? maybe i'm just not good enough with sticks but with last roster update i can't stay in front of my man anymore, and when this occurs they score even with my hands right in their faces. How do you guys improve help defense speed?

[JoFri]

Playing Defense

great thread.....do you have a solution for that stupid touchdown passes they make when in transition? and to minimize point in the paint? maybe i'm just not good enough with sticks but with last roster update i can't stay in front of my man anymore, and when this occurs they score even with my hands right in their faces. How do you guys improve help defense speed?

after i miss, i'll icon switch to whoever is nearest and sprint back to the paint.
after i make the basket, i'll switch to 4 or 5 to run back (no need to sprint but just make sure they dun bump to anyone and lost their man).
yes, sometimes they'll score even with hands up. i like vertical jump contest (left stick away from opponent) as i felt much more effective. the thing is, the AI knows how to pump fake too. use with care.
in what way do u feel the help defense speed is lacking? i actually felt they overhelp very "effectively" Lol. just last night, i played the bulls and their 4 and 5 screened each other in the paint, and the 4 went up to the key to set a screen for rose. the screen in the paint created one small opening, and my wing defender left his man in the corner and sprint to help cover in the paint.

[coldkevin]

Re: Playing Defense

after i miss, i'll icon switch to whoever is nearest and sprint back to the paint.
after i make the basket, i'll switch to 4 or 5 to run back (no need to sprint but just make sure they dun bump to anyone and lost their man).
yes, sometimes they'll score even with hands up. i like vertical jump contest (left stick away from opponent) as i felt much more effective. the thing is, the AI knows how to pump fake too. use with care.
in what way do u feel the help defense speed is lacking? i actually felt they overhelp very "effectively" Lol. just last night, i played the bulls and their 4 and 5 screened each other in the paint, and the 4 went up to the key to set a screen for rose. the screen in the paint created one small opening, and my wing defender left his man in the corner and sprint to help cover in the paint.

my help defense seems to be always too late when i need it, and i play the Bulls with very capable defensive players like noah, gibson and butler. which defensive settings i can use to say each player what to do in situations where i need an effective help against players attacking constantly the rim?

[JoFri]

Re: Playing Defense

my help defense seems to be always too late when i need it, and i play the Bulls with very capable defensive players like noah, gibson and butler. which defensive settings i can use to say each player what to do in situations where i need an effective help against players attacking constantly the rim?

Try setting Off-ball Pressure "Sag Off" for big man. Note: Not advisable to use that on stretch 4.

[JoFri]

Re: Playing Defense

This is why you shouldnt use AUTO
Okay, i tried a few games with these settings.
1. On-Ball Pressure - AUTO
2. Off-ball Pressure - AUTO
here are the findings:
1. Inconsistent behaviour. When playing against the Bulls, my CPU defender James Johnson (I am using the Raptors) failed to play tight on shooter Mcdermott.

https://youtu.be/H1VcDl0_JHI

2. Terrence Ross failed to play tight on shooter Mirotic too.

https://youtu.be/pla9LDKFlWA

3. I was playing on-ball D using Biyombo. Look at the cut by Mozgov and how my CPU defender Valanciunas loses him.

https://youtu.be/LmYviBsvcWc

4. I was playing on-ball D using Lowry on Irving. See how Kevin Love free himself from my CPU defender Biyombo (knowing Kevin Love has high offense threat and played Tight D on him) by cutting into the paint. Nice play by CPU Mozgov.

https://youtu.be/7cLh1qtmrM4

5. I was playing on-ball D using Lowry on Sloan. See how my CPU deffender Terrence Ross playing Tight/Deny off-ball on Bogdanovic and lost him an easy 2.

https://youtu.be/gFsINvI-Rck

The players' behaviour were auto-triggered by the AI without my intervention. With this, i wouldnt want to set AUTO for all ...



So, why not TIGHT? If you do that, you will have a lot of backdoor cuts leading to easy basket:

https://youtu.be/kOWwfIpX7XU

Captured some clips on how vertical jump contest can be very effective here. Make sure the left trigger is released before pressing the jump button! If possible, pull left stick away from the opponent too.

https://youtu.be/8tCkXIh92EQ

https://youtu.be/cj3eA7fQFsQ

https://youtu.be/7EW7oUjur0A

[coldkevin]

Re: Playing Defense

This is why you shouldnt use AUTO
Okay, i tried a few games with these settings.
1. On-Ball Pressure - AUTO
2. Off-ball Pressure - AUTO
here are the findings:
1. Inconsistent behaviour. When playing against the Bulls, my CPU defender James Johnson (I am using the Raptors) failed to play tight on shooter Mcdermott.

https://youtu.be/H1VcDl0_JHI

2. Terrence Ross failed to play tight on shooter Mirotic too.

https://youtu.be/pla9LDKFlWA

3. I was playing on-ball D using Biyombo. Look at the cut by Mozgov and how my CPU defender Valanciunas loses him.

https://youtu.be/LmYviBsvcWc

4. I was playing on-ball D using Lowry on Irving. See how Kevin Love free himself from my CPU defender Biyombo (knowing Kevin Love has high offense threat and played Tight D on him) by cutting into the paint. Nice play by CPU Mozgov.

https://youtu.be/7cLh1qtmrM4

5. I was playing on-ball D using Lowry on Sloan. See how my CPU deffender Terrence Ross playing Tight/Deny off-ball on Bogdanovic and lost him an easy 2.

https://youtu.be/gFsINvI-Rck

The players' behaviour were auto-triggered by the AI without my intervention. With this, i wouldnt want to set AUTO for all ...



So, why not TIGHT? If you do that, you will have a lot of backdoor cuts leading to easy basket:

https://youtu.be/kOWwfIpX7XU

Captured some clips on how vertical jump contest can be very effective here. Make sure the left trigger is released before pressing the jump button! If possible, pull left stick away from the opponent too.

https://youtu.be/8tCkXIh92EQ

https://youtu.be/cj3eA7fQFsQ

https://youtu.be/7EW7oUjur0A

don't know man, i'm completly incapable to play a decent defense, they kill me in the paint finding always a man under the rim, backdoors, bullet passes, falling like rain, i tried every kind of tips on this forum but nothing seems to work for me, when the AI decide to score there's nothing i can do to prevent it. my opponents score at least 105/110 against me every single time.

[JoFri]

Re: Playing Defense

don't know man, i'm completly incapable to play a decent defense, they kill me in the paint finding always a man under the rim, backdoors, bullet passes, falling like rain, i tried every kind of tips on this forum but nothing seems to work for me, when the AI decide to score there's nothing i can do to prevent it. my opponents score at least 105/110 against me every single time.

are u on HOF? my settings work well for Superstar.
havng the right settings in-place helps me play on-ball D with ease of mind and importantly, allow me to switch quickly to off-ball defender to help too.
in other words, to use the above settings, u need to play on-ball D especially playing against curry. setting to no hedge means u gotta be able to go over the on-ball screen every single time. else, he'll rain the threes just like irl.
playing on-ball D takes some time to learn the angles and master the release and hold of the left trigger and turbo. u cant stop all the time but in some instances, yes.
i'll put up some videos in my next post on playing on-ball D against the Heat's perimeter players.

[The 24th Letter]

Re: Playing Defense

Great thread Jo, will contribute soon..

[coldkevin]

Re: Playing Defense

are u on HOF? my settings work well for Superstar.
havng the right settings in-place helps me play on-ball D with ease of mind and importantly, allow me to switch quickly to off-ball defender to help too.
in other words, to use the above settings, u need to play on-ball D especially playing against curry. setting to no hedge means u gotta be able to go over the on-ball screen every single time. else, he'll rain the threes just like irl.
playing on-ball D takes some time to learn the angles and master the release and hold of the left trigger and turbo. u cant stop all the time but in some instances, yes.
i'll put up some videos in my next post on playing on-ball D against the Heat's perimeter players.

i'm on allstar, what is driving me mad is when i can contain perimeter players they do always that bullet pass to the man cutting behind my player, even in traffic, as said in an other thread is ridiculous how easy is to pass the ball in the post, but i say, is too easy passing in general, both for me and cpu