NBA 2K12 Developer Insight #8 - Post Game

Up-and-Under – The mechanic to pull this off last year was far too difficult even for our experienced players.

In 2K11, there were no negative consequences to users spamming the steal button.

By now you might be wondering, “how do I defend all this?” With all the new additions to the offensive post game, we had to show just as much love to the defensive end. The best way to do so was to allow users to counter moves or stop them before they even start.

There are three ways to defend post moves in 2K12: anticipate, counter and steal.


Anticipate – Let’s say you’re playing against your buddy and you recognize that he continually spins baseline with Robert Parish. ‘Kevin Willis isn’t that bad of a post defender, right?’ You may have been able to force a few neutral results but for the most part he’s getting where he wants to go. Luckily for you, you’ve now got the ability to anticipate the move before he performs it. In 2K12, you can press your LSTICK in the direction you believe he’s going to go and it will force a ‘defensive win’ that will make your buddy rethink his go-to move. Essentially, his spin won’t gain any ground and you’ve rendered it basically useless. Spins, Drives, Aggressive Backdowns and Dribble Disengage moves all have the ability to be stopped before they’re started, forcing your opponent into expanding their post game. Be careful, however, as a wrong anticipation will result in a clear offensive win. It’s a major risk/reward type of decision. If you’re playing against a well-versed post player you might be best waiting until the move starts and then countering it.


Counter – In 2K11 you may have found yourself defending a post move by pressing your LSTICK in a direction that you felt might be shoving the ball-handler out of where he was trying to go. It felt like the right thing to do, right? Unfortunately, the result of the move was already chosen so your reactionary pushing and shoving meant nothing. Thankfully, you can now counter the same moves that have already begun by pressing your LSTICK into the ball-handler. This means you can turn a potentially bad result into a more desirable one simply by reacting to the move you’re defending. Let’s take the Aggressive Backdown move, for example. Shaq is feeling Alonzo Mourning’s strength so he starts to aggressively back him down. Leaving your stick neutral, you’re recognizing Shaq is treating Mourning like a rag doll. The next time Shaq tries this, you can counter and immediately notice Shaq gain less ground. You’ve now countered the move and turned what would have been a “win” for Shaq into more of a “neutral” result. Against someone with less strength and weight than Shaq, Mourning could turn a neutral result into a defensive win, where the offensive player gains zero ground. The Aggressive Backdown also has two other counters, where pulling your stick away during the move will either “pull the chair” on the ball-handler (seen above) or will have your defender flop. Every move you see listed in the Anticipate section can also be countered. There’s a bit of a learning curve here, as you only have a certain amount of time to counter a move once is starts, so be on your toes.


Steal – As with 2K11, you’re also given the ability to potentially strip the offensive player of the ball during a post move. We look at your timing as well as some ability checks to determine the result. In 2K11, there were no negative consequences to users spamming the steal button. New to 2K12 are what we call ‘steal fails’. Each post move gives you a small window during which a steal attempt can be successful. That same window is available for failing. Steal fails are chosen based on ability checks, so if you’ve got a guy who is not good at stealing from the post, steer clear from that strategy. Otherwise, you risk giving your opponent a clear lane to the basket.