Guide to A Better NBA 2k12 Offline Experience w/o A Patch!!! (Long read…)

[ronglengco]

To the Mods: If you think this may be helpful to a lot of OSers, please feel free to sticky it. I intend to expand it in the future. If not, I hope it helps the people who are patient enough to read through.

Pro with some adjusted sliders (see below)...

I have long been researching for tips on this subject so I can get better as well as have more fun because, truth be told, I was starting to get frustrated. But that was then. Now is different. Here are a few tips I collected from the forums and some that I thought of myself:

1) Try to stay in front of your man just by using the left stick. Use the LT if you are guarding the likes of Lebron, Kobe or Wade, etc. But when using the LT, keep in mind that your man is slower so keep the right distance so that if you got beat on your man's first step, you can TAP the RT to allow you to recover the lost grounds. Remember to use RT sparingly or you'll get burned most of the time when the player your guarding shifts directions. Think TAP instead of HOLD.

2) Use the "hands up" defense (right stick). This is an effective way to defend in real life and in the game. Watch Da Czar's video on defense and you'll see what difference the spacing between you and your man and "hands up" vs hands down does to the shooting percentage of the player you're guarding.

3) Don't bite on the CPU pump fakes. Bear in mind that CPU in 2k12 uses this a lot because it is programmed in each of the players. If you look at the attributes and tendencies of the players this year, there are a few sliders for pump fakes. (Bonus: On offense, PUMP FAKES are also your best friend especially when driving to the paint with a lot of defenders around.)

4) If you get beat by your man, you can also switch immediately to the next closest guy nearer the basket. Once you are able to disrupt the drive, you can then switch back to your original defender so that the help defender goes back to his assignment.

5) "Hands up" vs the non-turbo block (Y without RT) has the same effect to the shooter's percentage. However, the bid difference is that "hands up" does not put you out of position on pump fakes.

6) I also observed that in POST defense, it's better and more efficient to just use the left stick with out any triggers as much as possible. One of the reasons is because LT+RT in the post often times makes you "over shoot" thus giving space to the offense. Combine this with the "hands up" defense for a killer combination. Unless you have a very good Post Defender who's also a shot blocker and you have good timing, then by all means, swat that ball into the stands and be in the highlight reel!!! Just make sure it wasn't a pump fake or you'll be in the highlight reel...for laughs

7) Don't forget to "pull the chair" under your man in the POST especially if you're the offense is aggressive in backing you down (your controller will let you know) It always puts a big smile in my face whenever I'm able to do this. However, if you try to "pull the chair" and he fades or drops steps, you'll be scratching your head.

8) On 2-on-1 fast break situations (oh boy...), all I can say is 1) say a short prayer, 2) try to imitate the CPU by camping in the lane and committing to one of them as late as possible, 3) try to create a collision with the driving player any which way you can (don't ask me how) because there's no sure and guaranteed way of doing this. There were times that LT helped. 4) Use the "Wrap Around" foul. A lot of people seem to forget about this, but this mostly used IRL basketball, and it's available in the game. Even Steve Kerr tells/reminds you to do it and the benefits of "making them earn their points at the line."

9) When you’re controlling a good defensive player, say RONDO for example, on a 1-on-1 fast break situation, don’t forget to use the strip button. It takes proper timing, but if this is done right at the correct angle, it is very effective even against the likes of Lebron and Wade. It gives you satisfaction as well because when you slap the ball right during their wind up, the ball hits their knee or something and results in a turn over!

10) SLIDERS are your BFF!!! Here are some that I found to be very effective in giving me a better simulation of real life basketball:

a) On Ball Defense: Increasing this allows your defender to have more effect on the shooter’s percentage. This is NOT CHEAP because it still requires you to be in right position to defend. I increased this for the USER because it seemed that the CPU flies by me more often that I would against the CPU. After my adjustment, I can get the same bump animation that the CPU does to you WHEN I am able to cut him off.

b) Driving Collision: I decreased this for the USER to minimize the bumping from the CPU. Just enough though so I still get the BUMP if the CPU defended me well. It just minimizes the CHEAPNESS in the CPU defense. More authentic feel.

c) Help Defense: Increasing this for both CPU and USER. This balances the adjustments I made in A & B. So A & B lets me get to the paint more often and more realistically, but the increased HELP DEFENSE prevents me and the CPU from scoring everytime we drive. Does this make sense? This also forces me to play smarter basketball and dish out if necessary because I know that if there’s a lot of defenders around the paint, either I miss the lay up or get blocked.

d) Play Passing Lanes: I increase this a bit for the USER only because the CPU is doing it enough already…sometimes even a little bit too much. I thought of decreasing it for the CPU instead of increasing it for the USER, but I thought that would only 1) make the game easier (CHEAP), 2) Increase my FG% (which I don’t want), 3) decrease the number of steals, which I don’t want as well. Get the logic?

e) In conjunction with C, I thought defensive awareness may have an effect also in balancing A & B. I haven’t done this yet because I’m already having fun with the four adjustments above.

I am sorry if I don’t have any pictures to show for my sliders. 1) I don’t have much time in my hands at home because I am married with two kids. (I am doing this at work because I feel I have to give back to OSers) 2) I don’t know how to capture a game screen, 3) I don’t know how to upload it here, 4) I can find out especially if you guys help me, BUT it may come back to number 1, not much time in my hands

11) Coach Profile: I consider this as my second BFF because adjusting my coach’s profile allows me to save time tinkering from the individual defensive settings. (I got this tip from Da Czar’s video as well. Thanks, man! You’re the bomb!)

a) Set defensive pressure to high and decrease help defense if you don’t want you AI teammates to leave the shooters. They still do at times especially if you get beat by the ball handler because once this happens, it triggers your AI teammates to react and adjust/focus on the ball handler. However, the adjustments above plus the coach profile can provide you a fine tuned basketball sim catered to your liking. Fair enough?

b) Increase Crash Boards if your getting outrebounded, but bear in mind that if you’re a fast breaking team, this will minimize that.

Thanks again to all the OSers that have shared their tips and arguments in the countless threads that I’ve read and participated in. Thanks to Da Czar for showing us the difference between the normal, hands up and aggressive defense. That video made me realize a lot about the sliders.

Hope this helps!!! Happy gaming!!! BTW, thanks again 2k for this amazing game!!!...Despite the flaws, of course…

Tips on OFFENSE to come in the future…I hope…

[coachimclutch504]

Knowledge is power

[Strings74]

Needs more love.

Good post, OP. Thanks.

[buickbeast]

Great post man!

[LouAllDay]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do, but I'm enjoying it with some realistic stats without modifying the sliders though.
This game is frustrating at first, but it gets better and better when you start to master it.
Excellent post BTW.

[Knickerbocker]

Great stuff. Don't know about the crash boards though. Isn't that for offensive rebounds? Think if you want your team to rebound more on D you have to decrease the FB slider. At least that was it on 2k11.

[jersez]

Finally a positive thread. Good tips but a patch is still needed for the ball physics.

[Spanky]

Biggest issue to me is too many passes getting tipped and/or intercepted, the inability to thread passes. It's very hard to make an entry pass into the post unless your man is wide open -- and that's even with icon passing, which seems to have no effect.

Anyone know if this can be patched? Was it also a problem in 2k11?