NBA Live 16 News Post

NBA Live 16 Playcalling and Defense Details

11:58 AM - September 10, 2015 by Steve_OS

EA Sports and the NBA Live 16 team have just released a blog on the new playcalling system, which includes a new Play Wheel for calling and selecting plays. The team also talks about improvements on defense, which promises better help defense, ball denial, and screen defense.

NEW PLAYCALLING SYSTEM

You’ll find a lot more plays for each team, and that gives you more choices to keep your opponent off-guard. With more plays at your fingertips, you’ll get new ways to choose which plays to run.

CHOOSE A QUICK PLAY

First, when bringing the ball up the court, you can press the LB/L1 button to run the CPU-recommended Quick Play. A prompt tells you which play will run if you use Quick Play. No guessing and hoping that you might get a play you like. You’ll know exactly which play will be run.

SPIN THE PLAY WHEEL

If you don’t like the Quick Play suggestion, hold down the LB/L1 button and bring up the new Play Wheel. Select a play based on the top five combinations of players and play types for the line up on the floor. Want to learn Westbrook’s pick and roll plays easier and faster? Just select them from the Play Wheel and learn how they run.

If you want to choose the exact play, you can access the whole playbook through the Play Wheel. Sort plays by play type and find the exact play that you’re looking for.

SHIFT YOUR FOCUS

You’ll spend half your time on defense, so we’ve improved the AI on that side of the ball as well. Improvements include better help defense, ball denial on the perimeter, and screen defense.

Help defense is at its best in NBA LIVE 16. No more just driving at the hoop for easy dunks and layups. If you can beat your defender, be prepared to be challenged at the rim. The defense also will rotate open to shut down any threats the ball carrier penetration causes. Be prepared to make that extra pass from the kick out to get an open shot.

WATCH YOUR THREAT

You’ll discover denying the ball to outside threats too. Off-ball defenders will make it tough for you to get open shots or even get the ball to your best shooters. Get up on an off-ball player as a user, and deny him with the LT/L2 button when near your man.

Defenders will also try to bump cutters on their way to the hoop to get the offense out of rhythm and deny open cuts to the basket. You will really have to work hard to get your best players open looks in this year’s game.

SLOW HIM DOWN

Screens are going to be tougher for you too. No longer can you just call a pick and easily attack the basket every single time down the court. The screener’s defender is a smarter and more active in defending the ball carrier. From hedging, to switching, trapping and icing a screen, the defenders will do a much better job of containing the pick and roll game.

Not only will the two defenders in the pick and roll play better defense, but the other three defenders will be more aware in taking away kick outs and helping out on the roller. You’ll also see players switch on off-ball screens when a threat may get open off of one.

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Member Comments

# 21 Basketball Nate @ 09/10/15 01:31 PM

I hope there's more depth to the playbooks this year. Live 15 had like 8 plays.

# 22 Tonyattia @ 09/10/15 01:37 PM

How about out of bounds plays WTF? Can you speak on the depth of those?

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# 23 WTF @ 09/10/15 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basketball Nate


	I hope there's more depth to the playbooks this year. Live 15 had like 8 plays.

Seemed like it,didn't it. But it's vastly improved. That leads to better AI/CPU vs User gameplay. You can definitely tell it. CPU vs CPU is fun to watch too. I enjoyed watching how they'd pick each other apart. Last year, watching a CPU vs CPU game was like watching paint dry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonyattia


	How about out of bounds plays WTF? Can you speak on the depth of those? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Unfortunately, I didn't dive into it, so I can't really say anything about it. Sorry man.

# 24 swac07 @ 09/10/15 01:49 PM

That play wheel is Dope very intuitive...props to whoever thought of that...and its great hearing def has been improved...hopefully the drive kickout feature is on point

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# 25 WTF @ 09/10/15 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swac07


	That play wheel is Dope very intuitive...props to whoever thought of that...and its great hearing def has been improved...hopefully the drive kickout feature is on point Sent from my Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator using Tapatalk

Yeah, it took a second to get used to it, but guys will really enjoy it. It's very fluid and organized. Once you get used to it, it's tough to go back to another style of playcalling.

Drive & kick is nice, inside out is nice. Post & repost is nice. Skip pass while the help d/weakside d is cheating too far over feels really great.

# 26 Tonyattia @ 09/10/15 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WTF


	Seemed like it,didn't it. But it's vastly improved. That leads to better AI/CPU vs User gameplay. You can definitely tell it. CPU vs CPU is fun to watch too. I enjoyed watching how they'd pick each other apart. Last year, watching a CPU vs CPU game was like watching paint dry. Unfortunately, I didn't dive into it, so I can't really say anything about it. Sorry man.

No problem, have the baseline cameras been improved?

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# 27 mrprice33 @ 09/10/15 01:58 PM

Of course I'm away from my computer so I can't jump in this thread to really dig in. Later!

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# 28 blingballa333 @ 09/10/15 02:06 PM

Will playcalling be available in the demo?? I hope so.

Should be fun to see how they run and also how all of these defensive improvements look on the court during actual gameplay. I wish they would have included some clips as we haven't seen actual gameplay since June or July right?

Looking good though, graphics are top notch.

Aside from the legs and, as someone mentioned, everyone is wearing ankle socks for some reason.

# 29 WTF @ 09/10/15 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonyattia


	No problem, have the baseline cameras been improved? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought they were extremely fluid. That isn't much cup of tea though. I'm a broadcast fan myself, so I only used it for a couple of projects of mine. But I didn't notice any hiccups. You can really see the detail in the player models though.

# 30 The 24th Letter @ 09/10/15 02:09 PM

I actually think the way on ball defense was done in Live '15 was the catalyst for a lot of issues on the court...

What I noticed right away from the little footage we got is that the players look so much more 'free'...

I think this year we'll really see strategy come into play....

# 31 swac07 @ 09/10/15 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonyattia


	Lebron skipping leg day Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[emoji38] this and matt barnes arms looks like he's been lifting with Goldberg...ahhh good ol live

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# 32 WTF @ 09/10/15 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by king doe


	Hey wtf do the cpu take pull up midrange jumpers this year? I seen Durant pull up in the pro am trailer but I want to know if thy do it in the regular game.

Yes, the Currys, Hardens, Durants of the league, you don't want to give am inch of space to.

# 33 Tonyattia @ 09/10/15 03:20 PM

Anyone notice that conleys name shows up twice in the wheel? Must be a glitch

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# 34 WTF @ 09/10/15 03:26 PM

Not a glitch, but a commonly used play. If I remember correctly, the most commonly used plays will be on the face screen, without having to go into the full playbook.

# 35 iLLWiLL @ 09/10/15 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swac07


	[emoji38] this and matt barnes arms looks like he's been lifting with Goldberg...ahhh good ol live

and why does the Suns player have a BIG head? The Kings Carl Landry had this problem last year. HUGE head/face

# 36 mrprice33 @ 09/10/15 04:25 PM

Assorted thoughts:

This new playcalling system is very well-designed, but will take some getting used to. I needed to remember to let go of L1/LB first, otherwise a play wouldn't get called. You have to be deliberate the first few times since the play doesn't get triggered unless you are holding the right stick in a certain direction when releasing the playcall button. It does allow you to quickly move around the playbook, but just keep that in mind.

The defensive rotations and PnR coverages are even better this year, a place where this game has been great (really the only thing it's been good at) since '14. Closeouts look and feel incredible for both offensive and defensive players. The PnR mechanic on offense is no longer tied to how long you hold the button before releasing it (thank god), so you can quickly read a play and switch back and forth between a roll and a pop. I had a lot of success with Griffin and Chris Paul just by reading the coverage and altering Griffin's part of the play by clicking in the stick when the defense committed.

Other thing with the PnR coverages: they feel, for lack of a better term, more "loose" this year, so you won't see ICE-ing guards immediately slide into coverage in such a robotic way. This creates a more organic feeling when on offense and defense, so you can't make the same reads and the same plays every single time down the court.

Someone asked in one of the Pro-Am threads what the red symbol on the ground in front of the ball-handler was. Now you know. It's sorta like the tackling cone in Madden, and staying in that range is considered "lockdown" defense.

I like the quick-play-calling mechanic, but there is no longer an easy way to call for an iso in the game. I think there should be a "clear out" button for things like mismatches or end of quarter scenarios. You can use the full playbook to call an iso play, but it's not as fast.

I definitely saw the AI using plays. We didn't have the playbook fully implemented in our builds, but they weren't just dumping into the post like in 14 and 15. Hallelujah!

# 37 Basketball Nate @ 09/10/15 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WTF


	Not a glitch, but a commonly used play. If I remember correctly, the most commonly used plays will be on the face screen, without having to go into the full playbook.

That dude talking like the Grizzlies bout to run plays for everyone including Matt Barnes

# 38 mrprice33 @ 09/10/15 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WTF


	Not a glitch, but a commonly used play. If I remember correctly, the most commonly used plays will be on the face screen, without having to go into the full playbook.

I think it's more like those are your "best plays" based on your personnel on the floor.

# 39 WTF @ 09/10/15 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrprice33


	Assorted thoughts: This new playcalling system is very well-designed, but will take some getting used to. I needed to remember to let go of L1/LB first, otherwise a play wouldn't get called. You have to be deliberate the first few times since the play doesn't get triggered unless you are holding the right stick in a certain direction when releasing the playcall button. It does allow you to quickly move around the playbook, but just keep that in mind. The defensive rotations and PnR coverages are even better this year, a place where this game has been great (really the only thing it's been good at) since '14. Closeouts look and feel incredible for both offensive and defensive players. The PnR mechanic on offense is no longer tied to how long you hold the button before releasing it (thank god), so you can quickly read a play and switch back and forth between a roll and a pop. I had a lot of success with Griffin and Chris Paul just by reading the coverage and altering Griffin's part of the play by clicking in the stick when the defense committed. Other thing with the PnR coverages: they feel, for lack of a better term, more "loose" this year, so you won't see ICE-ing guards immediately slide into coverage in such a robotic way. This creates a more organic feeling when on offense and defense, so you can't make the same reads and the same plays every single time down the court. Someone asked in one of the Pro-Am threads what the red symbol on the ground in front of the ball-handler was. Now you know. It's sorta like the tackling cone in Madden, and staying in that range is considered "lockdown" defense. I like the quick-play-calling mechanic, but there is no longer an easy way to call for an iso in the game. I think there should be a "clear out" button for things like mismatches or end of quarter scenarios. You can use the full playbook to call an iso play, but it's not as fast. I definitely saw the AI using plays. We didn't have the playbook fully implemented in our builds, but they weren't just dumping into the post like in 14 and 15. Hallelujah!

I had the same issue. I was so intrigued with it though, I didn't even realize there was a quick play option. Once I saw this, it was on

The quick play and play calling MAY not be the same anymore. I talked about it with them and came up with some ways to remedy this.

# 40 mrprice33 @ 09/10/15 04:41 PM

That was the first thing I checked in the screenshots, and the tool-tips say to hold the stick before releasing the button, so I have to think it's the same.

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