Offensive Tips???

[Thrill703]

This is kind of a broad question, but does anyone have any tips for playing/developing offensive skills? I'm having trouble finding opportunities besides the 3 point shot and would appreciate anything anyone can give.

[Man-o-Vertigo]

what i have started doing, and i've been seeing pretty good success, is to play it like a real basketball game.

What i mean by this is, if you are playing against a zone, the way my team has always played them is to attack the gaps and pass out, keep the zone moving. you drive toward an open gap, when they close up on you, pass to the open man, you will get the defense moving and you will see players getting open for shots. best case scenario you will cause the center to move up to stop you, giving you an easy dump to your player on the block.

if youre playing against "man to man" defense, than try running plays that run your shooters off of screens. my favorite happens to be "SG take" mainly because it reminds me of the staggered screens i used to run. but its a great play to get a shooter open for a midrange jumper, and depending on how good you are at lead passing you can curl him around for a dunk or lay up.

Also i've learned to keep my pass icons up for the majority of the time. nothing worst than seeing an open man and passing it to a different team mate on accident. but like the zone, try to drive against the defense, suck a player into help defense and dish to the open guy. take the offense through the post, lots of dunks can be had off of help-side dishes.

i guess the big thing is to drive, and dish. or if you have the lane take it all the way. take it into the post, usually you'll suck the defense into a double team, leaving someone open for a 3, mid rage jumper, or a dunk. if you have any more questions ill answer them. its so hard to get a good convo going on this board, so im happy to help. and if you just need me to elaborate, just ask.

[Thrill703]

Do you use dual player controls much?

[Thrill703]

Also, can you explain exactly how to do an up and under???

[iceberg210]

I use an inside outside offense for a couple main reasons.

My team has some great three point threats especially my shooting guard who has a 89 rating for threes. So I can ussually get alot of points even with threes but with out anything else opponents will just stick with you on the perimeter and you won't ge any good three point oppurtunities.
So how do you solve this??

The way I fix it is by passing the ball inside to my big men. They can post up and shoot or dish back outside to hopefully an open three shooter who got open by a collapsing zone defender on the big man. Or they can dish to a cutter I have running through the inside. I especially with my back up SG/SF use these back cuts to pick up some easy layups.

I play solely as the point gaurd although I will let my SG or SF run the point once in a while if I think I can get a good open look 3 pointer with my PG moving without the ball.

Just try different stuff. You'd be suprised how many looks you can get by using just one offensive set (I use Flex). For example if you look at my legacy you can see games where I'm dominant inside and then sometimes I'm dominant outside or sometimes I'll be more balanced.

Run some practice games for fun and see what you like and what works. Remember there is no absolute miricle offense, defense or strategy in basket ball thats why you can have a Jerry Sloan, Don Nelson, Pat Riley etc etc that can all suceed even though they use insanely different strategies.

[vols21]

what helped me early on was to run some of the drills in practice mode. I developed my skills with the controller and learned how to run some of the plays. I think it is a lot more fun to play it like a real game (as opposed to just trying to win at all costs and "game" the system -- it's easy to take advantage of the system and do some things that are not very realistic).

The strategy you use will depend a lot on your team, what kind of players you have, and who your scoring stars are. You'll want to run plays that gets the ball into the hands of your stars. If you have a balanced team, then all the better and options are more wide-open. One thing I've noticed is the AI will make half-time adjustments --- if a player scores 20 pts in the first half, don't expect him to run as wild in the 2nd when their defense keys on him. But that just opens it up for someone else. also, a different player(s) will have the hot hand in different games - find him and ride him as far as you can. (example: a SG may be on fire and be able to hit everything from 3 pt land, where in other games he can't buy a bucket).

For inside scoring, watch for guys coming off the screens underneath - pass to them for a wide open jumper. Also, get the ball to ur centers/PF's when they are posting up. If they can make a move, you should have an easy dunk.....or pass back out for the open shot.

[IB33UKNOW]

What you could do is go set up for a 2-2-1 Press. What you do is see how their offense is maneuvering in the first few minutes of play. If they are trying to cherry pick all day, set up a 2-3 Defense. If you do get the opportunity to set up the 2-2-1 Press, do not rush it! Be patient and wait for the players with the ball to come near you about a few feet from mid court. If they try to dribble through you, block off the baseline, but you have to block it off right however, because they could dribble right through you or around you. If they try to pass deep however, they will either throw the basketball away or you will intercept the ball.