Dear Sports Media: Real Steph Curry Would Beat Video Game Steph Curry

Feature Article

Submitted on: 12/08/2015 by Chase Becotte

"He’s playing like it’s a video game out here."

If you’ve watched the Warriors play on national television or read any number of articles by any number of basketball writers, you’ve read or heard some sort of amalgamation of “playing like a video game” in comparison to Steph Curry. But here’s the thing: people who play simulation basketball video games would never stand for Steph’s shenanigans.

The moment any number of some of Steph’s ill-advised, downright terrible shots went in, many would be screaming “LAZY DEVS!” or “THIS GAME’S BROKEN” or would immediately head into the sliders menu to start tweaking things.

People at Operation Sports understand that sometimes the absurd and unlikely does actually happen in the NBA, which is why this thread in the NBA 2K forum is one of my favorites in a very long time. The “If This Would Have Happened In 2K Thread” is great because it encompasses all the absurd ways video game players would speak out against the NBA if it were happening in a video game.

Of course, it’s all meant to be tongue-in-cheek comments, but it’s also a not-so-subtle way to point out that all the ways we try to control our video game experiences via sliders and difficulty levels and so on still fly in the face of how great players and teams can make us all look like fools for trying to be overbearing, stat-obsessed loons when we have a controller in our hands.

But this is not about the rest of the NBA, this is about the man who owns the NBA right now: Steph Curry. So after the jump, let’s chat more about Curry and how he would make you rage quit your favorite NBA video game.

Now, perhaps broadcasters and sportswriters say Steph is playing like a video game right now because there’s really no other way to describe the way he’s playing this season. His efficiency is unfathomable right now, and when taking into account the amount of shots he’s taking, there’s a very real and legitimate reason to claim he’s having the best offensive season since the three-point line and the modern NBA were born.

No, seriously his True Shooting Percentage is 70, and he’s doing that on 20-plus shots a night! Even big men, where their only purpose is to dunk the basketball and never shoot otherwise, don’t put up a True Shooting Percentage of 70. And it’s not like he’s taking uncontested shots, or even “smart” shots a lot of the time. Steph Curry is becoming the master of the “bad shot, bad shot, [ball swishes through the net], good shot Steph!”

And you know, I could throw more stats at you like how Curry is making more three pointers than some NBA teams, or how he shoots the most shots from 25-29 feet (FYI, top of the key three-point line is 23.9 feet) and is still the most efficient from that range, but let’s just talk about how Steph would break video games via some GIFs.

(And all thanks goes to FreeDawkins for uploading highlights to YouTube after NBA games end.)

The Situation: The Warriors are down three with under four minutes to go. Steph blitzes up the court after getting the rebound, and fires up a 24-foot shot with Lowry in his grill and Scola trailing from behind. He stops on a dime to fire up this contested shot; he’s also off balance, but of course the shot goes in.

In Video Game Terms: This is like a random room guy you play who panics because he finally lost the lead and now feels like he has to tie it up as soon as possible. You know exactly what he wants to do because many random room NBA 2K players grab the ball and speed ahead because they don’t usually know how to run an offense. So to avoid forcing up a terrible shot at the end of the shot clock, the best chance these folks have to get an open shot is speed up the court and fire one up before you can user to the ball handler and get in defensive stance. But that's not what happened here, you did everything right and forced the bad shot.

Then the ball swishes through the net and you scream out any number of obscenities while thinking “IT TAKES NO SKILL TO EVEN DO THAT, ALL YOU DID WAS TURBO UP THE COURT AND PRESS THE SHOOT BUTTON!” Then you probably bounce back and still win because, again, it’s a video game and that shot is not usually going to go in like it will in real life when Steph shoots it.

The Situation: Steph gets the steal and tries to go for the fast break. Z-Bo gets in his way and forces Steph to lose his handle. A defender (Russ Smith) dives for the loose ball, but Steph picks it up and then speeds towards the three-point line. Steph then senses contact and throws up the ball doing one of those I-think-a-call-is-coming-let-me-chuck-this-towards-the-rim-not-because-I-think-I’ll-actually-get-free-throws-but-just-for-kicks shots, only the foul call never comes and the shot goes in anyway.

In Video Game Terms: You had fat fingers during this entire sequence. You got the steal and then started speeding up the court trying to get a fast break. Only you didn’t expect the guy you were playing against to start spamming the steal button, which causes you to panic and you go for the behind the back Isomotion move, but you can’t do that in traffic at all anymore.

At this point the ball comes free, and the other defender presses the steal button again, which initiates a hustle action this time as he dives for the loose ball. But he misses on the dive, and now you have the ball back and you’re stunned you even have it. You pull up the icon passing setup, but totally forget that your small-ball lineup is in, so you’re pressing the shot button thinking Iguodala is at the small forward spot, only he’s at the power forward spot. The icons eventually go down by themselves and you keep smashing the shot button and flick up this magical whoopsie.

The Situation: Steph gets the steal and knows there’s little time left on the clock before the end of the third quarter. So he takes a couple dribbles and then gathers to fire off the shot from deep in the Grind House. He sticks it, and this is just minutes after the previous miraculous shot where he thought he was going to be fouled.

In Video Game Terms: You didn’t actually think anything good would come of this because these shots never go in anymore in NBA 2K, but it’s the end of the quarter so you shoot it up out of habit. The shot goes in, and you think man this new patch seems to have made it so you can finally hit some end-of-quarter shots. You then head on to the OS Forums to see a 42-page thread about how the new patch has totally imbalanced end-of-quarter heaves; it is now the new end-of-shot-clock cheese.

The Situation: Curry is bored. I mean, he’s just bored, right? Golden State is up 12 as they near the end of the half. This is on the second night of a back to back for the Warriors, and they just had an intense game against the Raptors the night before. Steph is looking to take the heart out of Brooklyn here, while also getting the fans in Brooklyn even more on his side (Nets fans were cheering for Curry like he was one of their own). He drills the 29-foot shot because, why not? (Brooklyn would actually take the lead in the third before getting demolished).

In Video Game Terms: There are two likely outcomes here, but either way, you’re taking no pity on the random player who decided to go at your three-star squad with his one-star Nets.

-The first option here is that you decided to just start messing with this online user by testing what the Limitless Range badge was really all about. If he quit in anger in the process, so be it.

-The second option is you were trying to ease your way up to the three-point line while coming off the pick and roll. Only, as with every NBA 2K before it, you battled the controls a bit to try and move your feet towards the three-point line with finite movement and ended up launching before you really got your feet where you wanted them. At the end of the day, you maybe still ended up hitting on the first scenario as you noticed the Limitless Range badge really does work, and your opponent also immediately paused and quit the game.

Simply put, Steph Curry is making video games seem boring and "too real" at this point. It's actually come to that.

NBA 2K16 Videos

Member Comments

# 21 eko718 @ 12/09/15 09:59 AM

Accurate tendencies can have the AI replicate Steph's play. I say it all the time, ratings alone won't get it done. As much as Hassan Whiteside for example has been increased, when I sim a season with this man he averages like 1 block per game. Tendencies need the same attention as ratings and they have the data is available to get it right.

# 22 jeebs9 @ 12/09/15 02:20 PM

I guess this article must of hit a nerve some where. Because Curry got another update today.... Mind blowing lol

http://2kmtcentral.com/16/players/delta/09-12-2015

# 23 Mikelopedia @ 12/09/15 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eko718


	Accurate tendencies can have the AI replicate Steph's play. I say it all the time, ratings alone won't get it done. As much as Hassan Whiteside for example has been increased, when I sim a season with this man he averages like 1 block per game. Tendencies need the same attention as ratings and they have the data is available to get it right.

100000% man, I can't play against the CPU without completely overhauling tendencies. Not to mention how they control sim stats as well.

And what you mean, Whiteside has a 64 Block Shot tendency and Rondae Hollis Jefferson has a 99, thats accurate right?? Lol jk.

Just wish the masses realized the importance of tendencies rather than their beloved overall rating so 2k would actually dedicate some time to them. I'd do the job for free and have everyone in the league playing like they should, and the sim engine producing a season that mimmicks the real 2015-16.

It's a shame that the beautiful world of stats that NBA.com has provided with their stat tracking isn't being utilized.

# 24 Guard-ian @ 12/09/15 03:36 PM

By the way this same thing is happening to me with Kevin Durant.... Why the hell I miss so many wide open shots with him while I can hit them consistently with Melo or PG? Truly unbelievable...

Cheers! ;-)

# 25 dubcity @ 12/09/15 03:40 PM

That thread is the most clever and original way to kiss a game's *** that I've ever seen, lol.

# 26 RLebron12 @ 12/09/15 04:18 PM

I haven't played with newly 96 rated Curry but I will say that their does need to be some fixing in his shots. I consistently miss lay ups, and easy floaters that Curry would never miss and I find myself missing a lot of them. Including his And 1 tendencies..I mean how many times do you see Curry drive to the hoop, get fouled and still make it? He does a lot but most of the time in the game he misses.

As far as 3 pointers, I feel like you can't start the game shooting 3's with him or even having him rest for a little. You have to shoot mid range baskets for a little before he will make a 3. I get that some times players have to warm up but I'm taking Curry missing wide open 3's. I was playing last night and went on a streak in the 3rd Quarter, computer subbed him out and brought him back in the middle of the 4th quarter and he couldn't make anything, until it was close to a minute left then he's clutch

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 27 RunN1st @ 12/09/15 09:42 PM

I'm just glad Walton and Kerr know how to cheese with him.

# 28 Caelumfang @ 12/09/15 10:30 PM

If you want to play like Curry, go pop in 2k15 and play Park/Rec. There you go. Y'all really don't realize you're basically asking for Patch 4 to return.

# 29 thormessiah @ 12/10/15 12:05 AM

Saw some gameplay of the new diamond Steph being used in MyTeam from that scrub Cashnasty. He hit about 4 heavily contested 3's of zig-zagged pick n' rolls, so there you guys go.

# 30 JoFri @ 12/10/15 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ViolenceFight


	I'll be the first to say most of Kobe's shot selection is bad too.

ah i hope u are saying now.
else, bad shot selection can mean winning 5 championships or scoring 80 pts a game.

he makes the triangle looks easy when attack, to be frank. u look at the knicks. play the triangle like a square.

back to topic, its really hard to defend cpu curry onball ingame bcos he's the only player i played against so far to do a stepback shot. it was beautiful.

# 31 jdareal21 @ 12/10/15 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_Posse


	He's truly on an incredible tear that we haven't seen (for a perimeter scorer) since MJ or LeBron in their physical & mental prime. And neither of those two can touch Steph from the outside.

Not trying to be "that guy" because obviously I'm a fan, but Kobe's made a career off tough shots. He's bigger, and his percentage was never this good, but making unbelievable shots comprised a good portion of his offense. Pretty much everything in that closeout 4th qtr against the Suns in the WCF, that reverse pivot jumper against NY (and others) fading out of bounds left-handed, like 6 or 7 straight games with 40+, 81 pts, 65 in 3 qtrs, that boy's a legend for a reason. But certainly, Chef Curry is doing it more efficiently with a smaller frame, props to him.

I wrote about something like this years ago, and it's difficult to replicate accurately in a game. "Cheese" is an overused term to begin with, if I choose to shoot nothing but 3's with a player that's actually good at that distance in real life, it stands to reason that I should make a good amount of them. It's the decision to play that way that can be cheesy, the game itself has to be true to the mechanics that decide whether it should go in or not.

Speaking of which, I think they need to add a new category, something called tough or bad shot ability. Guys like Curry, Kobe in his prime, Durant at times, Melo...certain guys willingly take and make a good amount of contested shots, and shouldn't be penalized for it if that's how they really play. Trying to manage all that and keep the game true & not over the top, is almost impossible I'm sure. But it needs to happen.

# 32 Sundown @ 12/10/15 03:52 AM

Steph not being able to fully Steph in 2K isn't because it's "too sim". It's because it's NOT sim enough.

The trick about modelling these transcendent players who can take difficult shots in volume is modelling the context and frequencies when they go off. A Curry that can dibble step-back every contested shot isn't realistic. That just encourages a player to spam hard shots and play completely unlike Curry actually plays. But a Curry that only makes tough shots based on some purely random low percentage isn't realistic either. Somehow 2K needs to capture when these contested/off the dribble shots "make sense" and when they dont, why such a player wouldn't take these shots every time down the court, and even if they did, why they wouldn't be successful when they are successful taking these shots selectively.

2K also needs to model and relay back to the player when these stars are in Uh-Oh mode. The mechanic of "getting hot" sort of works but it feels a bit random. It comes and goes and rarely do you feel the occassional "I'm on" game. When it happens it should "feel" a bit more like it and distinctive from when one's just having an ordinary game. Like Klay Thompson will have that VERY occasional 3-point shooting robot game. It's very clear he's in a different mode when it happens, but it's a very rare thing. Of course this could just be us seeing "streaks" and a player "being on" after the fact to explain for purely random clustering of shots, but I don't think that's the case.

Perhaps 2K should model this mechanic similar to some fighting games where star players build "momentum" like fighters build "fury". Taking a difficult shot when "momentum" is charged or the player is hot reduces the usual penalties of dribble moves and defense, but expends that momentum the harder the shot is. Stars then would have a higher "momentum tank" if you will.

I realize this is already similar to the "Hot" mechanic, but it doesn't seem to distinguish between the "hotness" of stars and doesn't have the mechanic of draining "heat" for difficult shots-- it only drains on misses and builds on makes. While the original "Hot" mechanic encourages good shot taking, perhaps we need a mechanic for stars that allow for selective and judicious, game swinging shots of high difficulty.

This would help allow the highs of star players without encouraging only cheese, unrealistic, high volume isolation play, while also putting the unlikely shotmaking of stars into the players' hands and allow us to get into a stars head.

# 33 GSW @ 12/10/15 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sundown


	Steph not being able to fully Steph in 2K isn't because it's "too sim". It's because it's NOT sim enough. The trick about modelling these transcendent players who can take difficult shots in volume is modelling the context and frequencies when they go off. A Curry that can dibble step-back every contested shot isn't realistic. That just encourages a player to spam hard shots and play completely unlike Curry actually plays. But a Curry that only makes tough shots based on some purely random low percentage isn't realistic either. Somehow 2K needs to capture when these contested/off the dribble shots "make sense" and when they dont, why such a player wouldn't take these shots every time down the court, and even if they did, why they wouldn't be successful when they are successful taking these shots selectively. 2K also needs to model and relay back to the player when these stars are in Uh-Oh mode. The mechanic of "getting hot" sort of works but it feels a bit random. It comes and goes and rarely do you feel the occassional "I'm on" game. When it happens it should "feel" a bit more like it and distinctive from when one's just having an ordinary game. Like Klay Thompson will have that VERY occasional 3-point shooting robot game. It's very clear he's in a different mode when it happens, but it's a very rare thing. Of course this could just be us seeing "streaks" and a player "being on" after the fact to explain for purely random clustering of shots, but I don't think that's the case. Perhaps 2K should model this mechanic similar to some fighting games where star players build "momentum" like fighters build "fury". Taking a difficult shot when "momentum" is charged or the player is hot reduces the usual penalties of dribble moves and defense, but expends that momentum the harder the shot is. Stars then would have a higher "momentum tank" if you will. I realize this is already similar to the "Hot" mechanic, but it doesn't seem to distinguish between the "hotness" of stars and doesn't have the mechanic of draining "heat" for difficult shots-- it only drains on misses and builds on makes. While the original "Hot" mechanic encourages good shot taking, perhaps we need a mechanic for stars that allow for selective and judicious, game swinging shots of high difficulty. This would help allow the highs of star players without encouraging only cheese, unrealistic, high volume isolation play, while also putting the unlikely shotmaking of stars into the players' hands and allow us to get into a stars head.

Yes,

All of this would be so ideal.

# 34 chtucker18 @ 12/10/15 01:23 PM

I always have trouble shooing with him.

# 35 E The Rhymer @ 12/12/15 03:27 PM

Because it's about balance 2k designs the game so you have the same chance to beat the Warriors with the lakers as you do the cavs albeit not very realistic on some accounts it's probably what's best as this is like u said a game not real life and in a game especially a competitive one such as this it's important for them to try and have every one on as equal footing as possible

Sent from my iPhone with minimal cares for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

# 36 JoFri @ 12/13/15 12:43 AM

i jus ousted gsw in 7 games in round 2 playoffs in offline myleague sim superstar. steph curry, if play him onball d, success rate of winning is close to 0%. i actually lost the first 2 games at home.

i think gsw and steph curry is really, really good in 2k. somehow, i could feel their offense efficiency boost which is so much different when i played them in the regular season. steph curry, if u give him a space, just a split fraction second, he'll drain the shots. his high arching layup, unblockable. and he pump fakes. yeah cpu does that. u clamp him down, he passes to the open man. dray green is beast at the top of the key.

« Previous 12Next »

More Links

"He’s playing like it’s a video game out here."