Da_Czar's Blog
I'm finally done with captures and requests and am sitting down to just enjoy the game today(Sunday).
First off I went into dynasty practice mode with the blazers to get familiar with their play book.
After that I fire up a regular season game against the Spurs in San Antonio with regular season atmosphere.
We (blazers) started the game off cold shooting 39 %.
In the first qtr while the Spurs had a steady diet of big Timmay to finish the 1st qtr shooting 46 %. From tip off the spurs were determined to get the ball inside.
We tried un-sucessfully in that first qtr to establish our inside game with Aldridge. Duncan proved to be to tall and too good of a post defender for that to happen( as I expected but I just wanted to see)
As we goto the second qtr I tell my squad I still want to run our turn down 5 to aldridge but lets run the our PP action option (manual pick and pop after play finishes with aldridge and roy).
This works like a charm as Duncan has to give help on the screen and hedge to keep Roy from getting to the basket so Aldridge is open for that sweet 15-17 foot J most of the qtr...
B-roy is having a tuff game from the get go and is not hitting his mid range J. So I start forcing the ball into the paint and turn the ball over at a horrendous rate.
Between our turnovers (18) and the spurs points off offensive rebounds (10) and our missed freethrow opportunities (7-13) and our poor shooting (39%) we had no chance in this ball game. We stayed close 3 qtrs but they blew it open in the 4th qtr to go on to about a 16 point victory.
Duncan had a manish 22 pts and 16 boards while Parker had 18 pts and 11 assists. Jefferson had 16 and did a great job scoring off the dirbble and getting to the foul line. He had a couple nice dunks also.
Bonner was matched up at center with Oden and did a great job at not settling for the jumper against him and would take one two dribbles then hop step or spin passed him... or hit the open jump shot. He finished with 20 on the night. Ginobli was relatively quiet with 13 points. They beat us 99 tp 83.
As a side note. With no backup pf on the roster for portland we were forced to either go small or go big with Pryzbilla and Oden. Neither matchup went well for us.
As I looked at the shot chart after the game. SA had a heavy concentration of shot opportunities in the paint. Not cheap backdoors but they kept banging the ball inside to Duncan or it was Ginobli off the dribble or it was Parker. You know with 11 assists we were helping and he was dropping dimes.. he was also effective blowing past us in secondary transition situations.
Our shot chart was almost exclusively perimeter jumpers and you know what they say live by it and die by it. So our initial solution to get Aldridge off on offense led to us being a very perimeter oriented team. Which, over the course of 48 minutes unless your hot all game will get you beat.
With the information from the shot chart digested. I aimed to get even in the Rose garden. I wanted to adjust my strategy and make certain we controlled our turnovers and attacked the paint and forced SA to shoot the ball from the perimeter and see if that enabled us to have a different outcome.
My strategy was to manually guard Bonner with Oden as often as possible and clog the lane and immediately double Duncan to force these guys to do something different.
We start the game off with strong focused and aggressive defense ( first game I was playing without a specific focus on defense).
We executed our plan to perfection with the exception of keeping Parker out of the paint. My main focus was on stopping duncan and Parker would pick his spots.
Overall they finished the 1st qtr going 7-21 33%.Duncan was 2-4 without haivng a single shot attempt inside the paint(4 shots right outside or right on the line of the key) Ginobli was 1-5 and bonner 1-3 with two misses on long jumpers.
I felt last game that our offense didn't go through Roy and that he was a part but not the main engine. We wanted to open up at home with him being the straw that stirs the drink. He finished the 1st qtr with 11 points although he shot 5-14 they were all great shots.
We finished the 1st qtr shooting 9-22 for 40.9 percent. With a good amount of shot opportunities in the paint.
Coach pop must have said something good. As they came out in the second qtr determined to get the ball into the paint. They like the matchup with Ginobli being guarded by fernandez and went right at him. If it wasn't a backdoor cut it was a back screen. On ginobli just beating him off the dribble.
Our gameplan was to help early and often so with all of this penetration that left us open for the offensive rebounds which they took advantage of in the 2nd They had 6 second chance points in the 2nd qtr to give them 10 total.
Just wasn't our night. We get the block and they get
We contributed 2 turnovers to their cause to give us 3 for the half. Its an ugly knockdown drag out affair but we ride into halftime up 45-44. shooting 47.5 percent to their 42.2. However our inability to hit freethrows makes this game much closer than it should be. We are 6-12 from the line so you can see we are really attacking the basket.
At the half Roy has 19 and Aldridge has 10. Instead of just shooting jumpers with aldridge on the pick and pop's were getting it to him in the post then letting him face up duncan and take one dribble either way and use his quicks.
Parker and ginobili are killing us with penetration. Parker has 12 and Ginobili has 10. Duncan has 6 but only scored 2 in the second.
As you can see we have shut down their primary offense they used to beat us in San Antonio and they have went to their other options.
The shot chart shows SA no longer satisfied to take those perimeter jumpers that failed them in the 1st qtr and are content to bang and make it ugly in the paint.
In the first 6 minutes of the 3rd qtr we commit 4 turnovers and they get 4 more pts off of the Offensive boards.
We were unprepared for their double teams on roy and aldridge as they did not get doubled in our first game.
The spurs go 7-15 while we are disorganized and go 0-7. Time out is called and we search for answers.
They also used ball movement to destroy our double teams. Watch as the pass happens just as I rotate Roy over to help. Perfect pass and Matt Kemp finishes
(Beluba please check this mans dna he can't be as good as we made him look)
I decide to adjust our matchup setting and put everyone on loose defense to encourage the jumpers and cut off drives to the paint. They break up our play out of the time out and I am convinced matt bonner has received a dna transplant as he hits a turnround jumper over tight defense.
After a few minutes we are now 0-11. they took away our favorite 2 plays and I get frustrated and start free styling looking for a bucket and take some bad shots and bring our turnover total to 5 for the qtr. As Bonner hits a transition 15 ft on a drop off pass from Parker I raise the white flag and call a time out
It appears I will really have to make some kind of adjustment. Whatever I did in the first half if just not working anymore. I actually should have made a better adjustment after the 1st time out but I didn't really believe it was necessary.
Out of the timeout I run a rub 24 for Roy call a pick and slip for Oden as a pass that admittedly should have been picked off goes through the defenders leg.... but screw that. I need that bucket to quell this hilatious hole were in. I remind my self to keep my composure and consider not taking any more notes as this is looking embarassing with 2:40 seconds left in the 3rd.
As the 3rd qtr closes were down 19 and I hear what I believe to be boos from the home crowd... Fair weather ******* how about a little positive reinforcement.
We finish that qtr shooting 2-16 all due to their pressure and double teams we weren't expecting. Admittedly I took a good number of bad shots hoping to hit one or two and get on a roll. We didn't stay disciplined in our offense and that is what happens against a good team.
We held them to 12-27 in the 3rd but our offense hurt us. Whats worse is B Roy needs oxygen now and we still need his scoring.
Spurs lead to start the 4th 70 to 51.
Duncan who has been quite all game and whom we have forgotten about to this point. Muscles Aldridge for 2 off set play to start the 4th for the Spurs. After another turnover by brandon roy trying to do too much they score and an appropriate graphic pops up called getting to the rim....As if I didn't know that !!!
You could hear a mouse fart in the arena as Roy waves off my request to rest him and scores 7 straight points to force Popovich to call a time out with us down only 16.
During the timeout a foul trouble overlay pops up to inform me that Bonner has 4 for the Spurs and Outlaw has 3 for us. Time to make our push !!!
With 6 minutes left parker hits a wide open 3 off of good ball movement to counteract a double team of Duncan.
I start looking down my bench and decide to let the less fortunate get some run as I rest my starters for the next showdown.
I am now perplexed as the bench mob takes the floor and jerryd bayless couldn't find sand at the beach.
I didn't see him play much last season and a brief look at his DNA scouting report let me know why. Poor soul was a 25% jump shooter with 21% from mid range and 25% from 3 point land...
Oh joy. That settles the argument for me of dna over ratings. Unless this kid gets better this year you would be a fool to start him or give him major minutes....
With my mind more on my blog than the final outcome I am pissed that POP has left his starters in with 2:40 to go. I called a timeout hoping he would remove them but he has chosen to offend my family and the shaolin temple. (enter the dragon)
Portland goes down to the spurs in game 2 101 to 72. Our offense was... well offensive as we finished 38% from the field. The ice cold 2-16 in the 3rd qtr sunk our battle ship. They turned up the defensive pressure and made what were easy plays for us in the first half very very difficult.
Their 18-2 advantage on second chance points were a direct result of my decision to double the paint penetration with my center and although we forced them to miss shots we got beat on the boards and that sent their shot percentage up and artificially inflated their point in the paint numbers.
Embarrassed but not deterred I had a wonderful afternoon battling the spurs. With this type of cpu adjustments happening I can not wait to lock horns for a 7 game series in the playoff.
After I finished this game I wondered too myself if I had discovered a hole in the AI. The spurs were so determined to get the ball into the paint I thought maybe this is an exploit. So I decided to play a game vs the suns to see if that was the case. To my delight the game against the suns turned out completely different. Both teams shooting above 50% at half time and the suns just flat got up and down the floor. It was night and day from my experience playing the spurs. Nash pick and rolled with anyone he could find on the floor and they only had minimal interest in going into the lane. Any open jumpers were airborn. Including one play were nash stoped and popped a 25 ft Jay on a 1 on 2 fast break... All Net.... What a wonderful experience !!!!
# 17
JkA3 @ Oct 6
Yo Da_Czar -I bet you contributed to a lot of NBA Live 10 purchases. People respect your game, sim'ness, and style. I'm looking forward to your views on 2k10. Can't wait for another battleground series.
# 19
iltd @ Oct 7
Got it as well... What I really like about it is the authentic shot percentage. No exploits (well so far), No one strategy to beat the other team, you can't just post your way to victory or slash all day & night.
# 21
sarlndr @ Oct 7
EA's colors are always off in sports games. Especially the dark colors, just look at Portlands uni's, they looked like they've been washed to many times. I just don't understand it.
Da_Czar
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Great write up.