Some late 4th quarter heroics from Stephon and a three by Crawford pulled me even with 7 seconds left. Charlotte couldn't do anything, so off to OT, where I finally took command and won easily.
The best news to report from this embarrassing near loss? The shot chart! OMG the mid-range jumper is BACK. The spacing is much better, though guys set too many automatic picks which messes things up from time to time. I can't comment on the graphics much, because I don't have a great TV, but I can predict that the game will look sweet on a good PC.
A few more random comments... Contrary to popular reports, the pro-hop is still useable, but it is very easy to get a charge if you over-do it. The announcing, IMO, has taken a slight turn for the worse. I loved the commentary for 2004, but it appears to be a little choppier this year. Speaking of choppy, the framerate is pretty abysmal if you're used to good PC hardware (the Xbox is only what? 700MHz?). It takes away from the really awesome animations, which I think constitute one of the biggest improvements this year. Oh, and I suck at the dunk contest.
Arrgh, got things to do. No more Live until later.
), most of it on pick and pop plays. I've been waiting sooo long for that play to be realistically possible in Live. And that's not just because I like to play that way in RL. 
