Five Defensive Tips for NBA Live 09

[edubbs]

Any tips on trying to defend in the post? Everytime I try to lock on to a offensive player down low, I end up sliding all over the place.

Playing post defense manually seems to be really broken in this game.

[Ballatician]

Didn't even know about the defensive assist button. Great article

[23]

Stop holding on to the face up button and using it as a crutch. Give yourself enough room to anticipate his shot but not enough where he can just drive right by you if he turns.

You can body him up then move back real quick (with good timing) to not give him the feel that you're just playing on side of his body

Also let the CPU do it sometimes and you come over as the help man. You wont always swat the shot but you do get your share of making him adjust his shot where he wont make em all.

[Pared]

Quote: Originally Posted by edubbs

Any tips on trying to defend in the post? Everytime I try to lock on to a offensive player down low, I end up sliding all over the place. Playing post defense manually seems to be really broken in this game.

It's not broken, just pretty much non-existent outside of being able to body-up and stop a player from spinning in one direction in the post.

There are too many fundamental flaws in defense in this game. Defense in its current form is passable but there really needs to be work done in this area for next year.

It's not all bad but there's HUGE room for improvement, especially in the post.

[kwas676]

Quote: Originally Posted by TopCop7980

Heres a defensive tip...stop buying crap EA games...Get NBA 2k9!!

You know what man if you dont like the game why are you wasting your time here.

[23bluesman]

Yeah this is a great article, and if I didn't know any better I would've thought that KDRE wrote this, lol.

Anyway, it's good to see that a lot of people are seeing how good the defense is in this game. Not great, because it needs improvement in some areas (as everything in video game basketball does), but pretty darn good.

[Court_vision]

Great post.

[Bumble14]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pared

It's not broken, just pretty much non-existent outside of being able to body-up and stop a player from spinning in one direction in the post. There are too many fundamental flaws in defense in this game. Defense in its current form is passable but there really needs to be work done in this area for next year. It's not all bad but there's HUGE room for improvement, especially in the post.

Pared, I completely disasgree with you on post defense. Post defense is challenging, but if you actually hit the NBA Academy and practice it you will start to realize you have more weapons available to you other than just a body up and spin stop.

The first thing you have to realize when playing in the post is take your finger off the defense assist button. This will cause you to be out of position 99% of the time when the offensive player makes his move. The second thing you have to learn to use is small movements on the left stick once you are engaged- stop jerking the stick in big motions back and forth-slow and steady will allow you to shadow your man and anticipate his moves.

The third and MOST IMPORTANT skill you need to learn on post defense in this game is about "tapping" the Y or Triangle jump button. What people don't seem to get is that if you are in good position in the post, and anticipate an offensive move, not only can you man up on the offensive player, but you can actually perform several defensive swats by tapping the jump button once (very light tap). I have been able to slap the ball out of the defenders hands when they try to make a move, block the ball just enough without going for the full jump to negate the shot, and also initiate enough body contact to make the offensive player adjust their shot and fall down.

If you "jam" on the jump button hard, or use turbo, your character will gather momentum to make a big jump. If you tap jump, depending on your body momentum and movement with the left stick, your player will make a less pronounced attempt to make a play on the ball.

Defense in this game is not broken, and does not need work as many of you claim. I will repeat this as I did in my article, if you play this game defensively like 2K basketball, you will fail. Live 09 has an extremely deep defensive skill set that is easy to play once you learn the buttons, but difficult to master. People who attempt to use the 2K controller style to play this game are simply going to complain that the game is broken- much like I did the first couple hours with it. It is pretty difficult to adjust to the fact that you can not spam a button and automatically play good defense like in the 2K games- Live makes you work with your left stick and buttons if you want to be successful. If you really want to learn this game, put 2K down for a few days, erase what that game has taught you, and completely relearn how you play hoops defense.