Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

[jrose57]

As per captioned topic, AI defense doesn't know how to find the right guy to match up, like they only follow positions, PG guards PG, SF guards SF, etc. there was a 2K before that can do this, but then it stopped (anyone can advise which series was it?), another thing is noticing mismatches and then double teaming, especially during the switch from PnR situations, this part is terribly done in previous 2Ks including 2k24. I wish these two main issues are solved in 2k25.

[vetmin]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

Two things I've wanted for a long time (please tell me if there's already a way to do this) are:

1. The ability to assign an optional defensive position (or multiple of them), so that—for instance—you can run LeBron as your point guard but have the game understand that he should be guarding a forward on defense. If no defensive position is assigned, the game would default to player's general position(s) for both offense and defense as it does already.
2. A 'Hide on Defense' toggle that triggers some sort of matchup logic that tries to reassign the player to guard the weakest offensive player within his position range (like maybe a SG with 'Hide on Defense' will defend whichever opposing guard is worse offensively).

I get that, for yourself as the user player, you can make these sorts of tweaks in each game using the matchup interface, but I wish it could be handled at the roster or gameplan level.

[VictorMG]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

I think 2K just needs to get more of a handle of basic team help defense. That'd be a huge step in the right direction. I've seen people say good things about help defense in 2K24, but (and admittedly I haven't played it very much), I don't recall seeing it, even with the Help Defense global and coaching sliders turned almost all the way up.

[m29a]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

Yes, this needs attention. They can add all the fancy dribbles and offensive moves, but if the core fundamentals on the defensive side are still at times completely nonsensical then it doesn't matter.

Nothing ruins my immersion more when the AI isn't programmed to be able to understand height+weight mismatches, as well as when to aggressively provide help off of weaker offensive players.

[sirdez]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

I think 2K just needs to get more of a handle of basic team help defense. That'd be a huge step in the right direction. I've seen people say good things about help defense in 2K24, but (and admittedly I haven't played it very much), I don't recall seeing it, even with the Help Defense global and coaching sliders turned almost all the way up.

Logical help defense would also hopefully mean CPU perimeter defenders could be more realistic, as opposed to the insane way they stick to you and recover in 2k24.

I'd imagine it's an incredibly difficult thing to code though.

[VictorMG]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

Tidbit from Kevin Cruz. I'm liking this dude more and more every day. He's really in touch with the community, and he's honest about what's gotten better, what's gotten worse, and what's stagnant.

[jrose57]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

CPU's defense on 2k25 is better than 2k24, like more oftenly CPU will notice mismatches and when the player is hot, they would double team and help out, BUT so disappointed about CPU not doing dynamic defense still, like what a waste of such a great game that the offense is so much fun this year, the CPU will only, put the PG on their team to guard my Luka, I wish CPU would put the best defender, to match up...

[VictorMG]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

CPU's defense on 2k25 is better than 2k24, like more oftenly CPU will notice mismatches and when the player is hot, they would double team and help out, BUT so disappointed about CPU not doing dynamic defense still, like what a waste of such a great game that the offense is so much fun this year, the CPU will only, put the PG on their team to guard my Luka, I wish CPU would put the best defender, to match up...

To be honest, I'd just make Luka a SF/PF. I don't really see why he's a PG but LeBron isn't.

[sirjam]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

Absolute controls on defense screws me up when trying to cut off. So how do you rip the ball on a drive in camera relative controls

[blk5tar5]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

What you should be doing is listening to Jerseymade93 he talks about defense and the principle of utilizing the left / right stick defense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OstT-kTe4CY

[MarkWilliam]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

The defensive AI in this game is completely horrendous.

I literally can play on Superstar using OKC against Atlanta. ATL will assign Trae Young to SGA (point guard vs point guard). I can just jog past him all game for a layup.

As an experiment, I tried this for a whole game (12 minute quarters). Won by 20 using 0 timeouts and making 0 subs. SGA finished with 118 on 47/73 shooting. Literally just driving past the guy guarding him for layups.

Help D was random and non reactive. No double teams on the perimeter. No defensive matchup adjustments.

ATL scored 112. So SGA beat ATL on his own just buy left stick dribbling past his defender for a layup/dunk/getting to foul line for 48 minutes.

Something fundamentally broken if this is possible haha ** FACEPALM **

[sirjam]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

What you should be doing is listening to Jerseymade93 he talks about defense and the principle of utilizing the left / right stick defense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OstT-kTe4CY

I saw the video. He doesn’t use 2k cam though so again how does it work with camera relative

[alabamarob]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

The defensive AI in this game is completely horrendous.

I literally can play on Superstar using OKC against Atlanta. ATL will assign Trae Young to SGA (point guard vs point guard). I can just jog past him all game for a layup.

As an experiment, I tried this for a whole game (12 minute quarters). Won by 20 using 0 timeouts and making 0 subs. SGA finished with 118 on 47/73 shooting. Literally just driving past the guy guarding him for layups.

Help D was random and non reactive. No double teams on the perimeter. No defensive matchup adjustments.

ATL scored 112. So SGA beat ATL on his own just buy left stick dribbling past his defender for a layup/dunk/getting to foul line for 48 minutes.

Something fundamentally broken if this is possible haha ** FACEPALM **

You have to turn up the help defense and attach settings to have a realistic game vs the cpu. Otherwise there is a lot of 2 on 2 basketball. The help defense sliders are set to low. Try that against the Cou with 85 help defense and stay attached to never all

[The 24th Letter]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

The defensive AI in this game is completely horrendous.



I literally can play on Superstar using OKC against Atlanta. ATL will assign Trae Young to SGA (point guard vs point guard). I can just jog past him all game for a layup.



As an experiment, I tried this for a whole game (12 minute quarters). Won by 20 using 0 timeouts and making 0 subs. SGA finished with 118 on 47/73 shooting. Literally just driving past the guy guarding him for layups.



Help D was random and non reactive. No double teams on the perimeter. No defensive matchup adjustments.



ATL scored 112. So SGA beat ATL on his own just buy left stick dribbling past his defender for a layup/dunk/getting to foul line for 48 minutes.



Something fundamentally broken if this is possible haha ** FACEPALM **

Always interesting -You can jog past defenders and a couple of threads below is a post saying there was a secret patch that doesn’t allow them to get past their man, lol

Should have captured this- would be some good feedback. I consider myself to be pretty good at the game and can’t duplicate it…get doubled by the end of the first.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[MarkWilliam]

Re: Everyone talks about offense, but defense is quite needed in 2k25 as well!

Always interesting -You can jog past defenders and a couple of threads below is a post saying there was a secret patch that doesn’t allow them to get past their man, lol

Should have captured this- would be some good feedback. I consider myself to be pretty good at the game and can’t duplicate it…get doubled by the end of the first.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

I'll be more specific.

The issue I encounter is under the following conditions;

- SGA with Trae Young matched up against him
- Bring ball up past half court
- Call for isolation

These conditions yield 8-10 points without any resistance at all. 100% field goal shooting. Then I might see a double team, but it's a bit random and it doesn't happen consistently. It happens on one off possessions for maybe 3-4 instances.

But I can consistently have 30 point quarters with left stick dribble moves to get past Trae and then a turbo boost to the basket for a dunk/layup.

I managed to do this for an entire game with SGA for 118 points.

Interestingly, SGA eventually fouled out so I started the same thing with Cason Wallace (which is who Trae was guarding). After 8 points, I started seeing double teams on the catch. Definitely more aggressive than what I was seeing with SGA.

I've never captured footage and posted it here. I don't know if I'll go to that extent - if you guys don't believe me, I'll leave it at that. I am being as specific as possible here. That's as much as I think I'll do on this..

But to me, there is definitely a fundamental issue here with;

- Double teaming not happening consistently
- Help D being very late/slow (yes, I saw your suggestion Rob, thanks)
- AI not assigning optimal player matchup for star players

I'm not trying to be negative. I am hoping to be constructive. Hopefully it is considered as such.