Since I am pretty well honed on the HOF sim sliders, when I was looking at this, I thought it made sense to get a game in before I got serious.
Unfortunately I didn't keep the practice game.
The other thing that might have affected the test some is that over time, my play evolves and this game might have been at a slower pace even on the defensive end because I put way less pressure on Tony Parker playing him a step inside the 3 point line now instead of picking him up at 3/4 court trying to force the action.
I too was wondering if the CPU adjusted coaching sliders during the game. My best guess is that it does adjust either in defensive settings (most likely) or both the defensive setting and coaching sliders - at least the ones in the timeout area.
I personally leave everything on auto expecting my CPU teammates to adjust to my play without ever adjusting coaching sliders or defensive settings and that's probably what the CPU does when you play it only all five guys are on auto with defensive settings if that makes sense.
Good points.