What a JOKE!!!!

I can see why people get frustrated with this game! Here are REAL gameplay problems I have noticed. If someone can tell me specific sliders to help with these problems please share. If you don't see or have these problems which I doubt then there is no need to respond telling me you don't see the same problems.

* My players recover time is HORRIBLE compared to the cpu's. Example: 2 of my players on D under the basket of which one makes contact with the cpu ball handler. The ball comes loose and my players and the cpu player bounce REDICULOUSLY off eachother about 3 feet backwards. The cpu player recovers and dunks the ball over my 2 players. This is one example others would be if I go for a block and block it the cpu player always recovers faster after we both land on our feet.

* The cpu makes a rediculous amount of shots with my players right in there face!! I have to be somewhat open to make a shot.

* What slider keeps the cpu on defense from sticking to my players like GLUE!!!!??

Any help with these particular sliders would be appreciated. I know that if I get the settings to my liking I will enjoy the game. I have been searching and looking at available slider settings but would really just like to know which specific ones will affect the afore mentioned.

Sounds Like you Suck j/p

Use more of the freestyle and try to stay open. Up your Freestyle Effectiveness and the cpu's steals and defense lower.

Also the first thing im still having problems with. Theyll still my ball or block my shot and they twalk out of bounds for like 5 min. then they come back into control and then you can try to go get the ball back... its stupid. The reaction time after a defensive move is ridiculous.

* My players recover time is HORRIBLE compared to the cpu's. Example: 2 of my players on D under the basket of which one makes contact with the cpu ball handler. The ball comes loose and my players and the cpu player bounce REDICULOUSLY off eachother about 3 feet backwards. The cpu player recovers and dunks the ball over my 2 players.

hmm... I've never had this happen, maybe you are just slow to react on your controller, what I usually do is direct switch to the player closest to the ball and sprint towards it, and he usually comes up with it.

* The cpu makes a rediculous amount of shots with my players right in there face!! I have to be somewhat open to make a shot.

What do you mean right in their face? Even if you have your hands up, good shooters such as McGrady, Kobe, Rip etc will be able to score, you have to actually jump and try for a block.

* What slider keeps the cpu on defense from sticking to my players like GLUE!!!!??

I think its the "On ball physical defence" slider.

check out the slider thread to see what difficulty and mins u play so u can get better performance cuz it sounds like to me that ur sliders are not set right for them to do this cuz i have no problem like u, i get realistic plays

http://www.nbaliveforums.com/ftopic17938.php

Mine are okay. Its jsut the reaction time for me that gets on my nerves. Its not a real biggie cause im still killing the comp on ALl Star Mode.

It doesnt help to get the guy closets to the ball when its a 1 on 1 Fast Break and he \trys to Power Hop but he runs into you and he drops the ball your man backs up but doesnt react in time to run after the ball and the defense falls but still gets the ball before you.... Doesnt Make SENSE! No im not too slow. Im using keyboard so its not due to any GamePad difficulites.

But rest is okay.

hmm... dunno about that 1 on 1 fast break thing... cos usually when they hop into the defender, a team mate has already ran back to get the ball, otherwise, it has usually gone out of bounds.
The only frustrating thing I have is that the computer can sometimes get 2-4 offensive rebounds in a row, even though I have 3 guys that I'm constantly switching and jump to grab the board.

The CPU grabbing successive offensive rebounds irked me too the first time. As I played more, and have acquired better rebounders, I managed to do this as well, and prevent the CPU from doing it. I think the game is using the players' Off/Def Awareness to position the players (including yours) for rebounding opportunities. I think this is a good improvement from 2004 system.

I don't have any problem that the CPU sometimes recovers in time to retrieve a loose ball. Why? Because I can do this too at about the same rate. Your player just have to be quick (QUICKNESS rating) enough. I've had a couple of sequence where Odom (QUICKNESS 80+ so far in my dynasty) attempted a dunk, was forced to adjust, and recovered in time to get the ball and dunk it over the still-recovering defender.

Sometimes, any player can just plain shoot it regardless of defenders. The superstars do this practically with impunity. The rest sometimes have a two- or three-shot streak regardless of defenders. But then again, I can do this as well using my players. Sometimes, I attempt a jumpshot just so there'd be a rebound, and lo and behold, I make the shot. The defenders are pretty much ignored those times too.

That said, you CAN stop those players from raining points all over you. Just like the real game, the first step is to recognize who's hot and deny them the ball, or their scoring range, or both. If they DO get the ball, you can also try sending a help defender and force him to pass out. I've done this successfully when Kobe was lighting me up. I eventually shut him down in the fourth quarter.

As for defenders sticking like glue, I feel that this is one of the significant improvements in 2005. You can just use a pick to get rid of your man. In previous versions (2003/2004), picks are useless as your defensive man really is stuck like glue. This time, you can slam your man onto a pick and have that split-second of wide open look you want. On your defensive side, you can also stick to them like glue. You can even try and fight thru screens if you really want to.

A caveat though: another improvement in this game is that defensive players are actually somewhat effective in slowing down opposing scorers. The reverse, however, is also true: a weak defender on a strong offensive guy is just inviting trouble. As an example, Odom is my designated defender, and I play him at SF. Opposing SFs, even the superstars, have trouble lighting me up. Then Odom gets a minor injury which slowed him down. A lot. Suddenly I noticed that opposing SFs are taking advantage. (I check the box scores and compare)

And another thing, I began actually marking the opposing player whom I think lit me up, and checking the box scores to see if it's true. And it's not. Turns out that he just had a good quarter on me. Like when Redd once shot 7/7 in the third. I was furious to say the least as I was throwing a lot of defenders his way. In the fourth, he slowed down and only made 1/5. IIRC he finished in the low 20s that game -- which I won.

Overall, I think this game actually forces us to consider ALL the players in our roster. Used to be that a dunker and a three-point shooter is all that's needed to win games. Now, you might need a shot blocker or two, a couple of designated defenders, some shooters, penetrators (high inside scoring guys), strong frontcourt guys (to prevent the opposition from pushing you all the way to the rim), and good passers to start your play. Just like the real game methinks.

This game frustrates me too. But if you adjust the sliders correctly, the frustration will reduce a bit. One of the biggest frustration is blocking. Just when you thought you had the open J, a defender suddenly flies towards you from 9 feet and blocks the ball and you couldn't recover and get the ball back. But at least we can adjust the sliders.

Everytime I lost due to frustration, I would usually punch my fist. But when I won, I would be glad I bought this game.

Sometimes (or many times) when I stick to my man on defense, he would always break free of my D by taking a pull-up J right over my player. Come on! In real life, people can't even pull off a shot after being guarded tightly. And in NBA Live, the CPU shooting over a defender seems more accurate than shooting an open J.

You can just use a pick to get rid of your man. In previous versions (2003/2004), picks are useless as your defensive man really is stuck like glue. This time, you can slam your man onto a pick and have that split-second of wide open look you want.

I definitely agree on that one! Pick-and-roll this year is the most important play. After I call a pick-and-roll, I would drive to the basket and then the kickout to 3pt shooter outside. To me, it seems that passing back to the screener doesn't bring me much good.

Wow! Alot of great info! Thanks for the tips everyone. I will check out slider settings and combine that with some of the other great hints and see what I can do with the game! A couple more things if I may. Does the hop or ally-oop work pretty well for anyone? I haven't really tried it alot myself and can a person map playcalling to a particular button on a gamepad for the PC version? Thanks again all!

I don't have any problem that the CPU sometimes recovers in time to retrieve a loose ball. Why? Because I can do this too at about the same rate. Your player just have to be quick (QUICKNESS rating) enough. I've had a couple of sequence where Odom (QUICKNESS 80+ so far in my dynasty) attempted a dunk, was forced to adjust, and recovered in time to get the ball and dunk it over the still-recovering defender.

Actually, there are several situations where the player would just not move but kind of stare off into space before I'm able to make him move.

If they DO get the ball, you can also try sending a help defender and force him to pass out. I've done this successfully when Kobe was lighting me up. I eventually shut him down in the fourth quarter.

I shut down Kobe the cheap way Whenever I was on offense in the 1st quarter, I focused on faking him out and jumping into him to draw a foul, or go at him on the drive, putting him in foul trouble. He didn't play for the rest of the 1st half, since I did it again when he came back, and he only played 5 minutes in the 4th quarter, and I was winning by 15 by that time.

I shut down Kobe the cheap way Whenever I was on offense in the 1st quarter, I focused on faking him out and jumping into him to draw a foul, or go at him on the drive, putting him in foul trouble. He didn't play for the rest of the 1st half, since I did it again when he came back, and he only played 5 minutes in the 4th quarter, and I was winning by 15 by that time.

lol! I don't really beat Kobe because I usually be Kobe.

:D Wow! Alot of great info! Thanks for the tips everyone. I will check out slider settings and combine that with some of the other great hints and see what I can do with the game! A couple more things if I may. Does the hop or ally-oop work pretty well for anyone? I haven't really tried it alot myself and can a person map playcalling to a particular button on a gamepad for the PC version? Thanks again all!

I don't usually use hop step because this year it's too useless. The same goes to alley-oop because the only fastbreak I get is 1-on-1 or 1-on-nobody.

The default buttons for playcalling are the directional pad but you can change the default playcalls by going to the settings --> playbook

If you're all over the computer and he still makes the jumper, I think it's because you jump too early. You can get the computer to miss if you time the jump correctly, and it's not at the same time when CPU starts shooting. It's about when CPU is reaching the top of its jump. And of course, it's much harder to get CPU to miss if you use a smaller defender to jump.

I play on All-Star and I can usually get CPU to shoot in the low 40%s, sometimes even in the 30%s.

Thanks again for the tips and I will put all of them to use and see if I can improve my game

Yes on alley-oops. They work much better in this year's version. And even if they miss, there are some great new animations for it as well. Oh, and they can also work during pick and rolls. Be sure the receiver has an open passing lane to catch the pass, and be certain they can actually dunk.

If you're all over the computer and he still makes the jumper, I think it's because you jump too early. You can get the computer to miss if you time the jump correctly, and it's not at the same time when CPU starts shooting. It's about when CPU is reaching the top of its jump. And of course, it's much harder to get CPU to miss if you use a smaller defender to jump.

I agree with this one. Many times when the CPU burned the defender and made a contested jumpshot, I check the replay and see that I did indeed mistimed my contesting jump. Also, be careful of jumping TOO early as the CPU is quite capable of fishing for shooting fouls. And this is another good thing.

I shut down Kobe the cheap way Razz Whenever I was on offense in the 1st quarter, I focused on faking him out and jumping into him to draw a foul, or go at him on the drive, putting him in foul trouble. He didn't play for the rest of the 1st half, since I did it again when he came back, and he only played 5 minutes in the 4th quarter, and I was winning by 15 by that time. Very Happy

I do this too. I only play the second half. Before I actually play, I go the stats screen to check who are in foul trouble in my team and sub them out. More importantly, I also check the opposing team's players and take advantage of guys in foul trouble. I manage to foul out Gilber Arenas in the first 3 minutes of the third quarter because he was playing with 5 fouls.

I usually get at least 2 sucessful alley-opps a game and sometimes a lot more against weaker teams. One of the reasons why is because I user-lock on to Lebron James and have Amare waiting for me in the post.

The nice thing is that even a wide open alley-oop will sometimes be unsucessful.. it really adds to the thrill of pulling one off and it is realistic. If you use quality players for the 'oop and the basket is clear you should have a pretty good chance of pulling one off.

I wish there were some sliders related to tips because there are way too many. Its almost comical to watch the computer go back in forth trying to tip the ball in the basket... tip-miss, tip-miss, tip-miss, tip-make. Also, because the players arms aren't taken into account on rebounding, players often jump right past the ball or even right over it without getting possesion of it. This would make sense only for unathletic players AND poor rebounders.