NBA 2K Tips: On-Ball Defense & Defensive Shading

Here are some NBA 2K tips for how to play better on-ball defense and understanding different defensive concepts. Online you often see players playing way out of position on defense. Playing with random players, it’s difficult to play team defense at an optimum level, which is why many prefer to play with friends or pick up some good 2K ballers on the fly. Individual defense is part of a bigger team defense concept, and is best utilized if you have teammates who understand shading towards the help defense and when to be aggressive or conservative, and when to rotate.

Here are a few quick tips for on-ball defense:

Learn your opponents tendencies and strengths / weaknesses

Is he a passer? A dunker? A 3 pt threat? Does he pump fake or go straight up? Does he use isomotion or just turbos for the dunk? Figuring out his go to moves and tendencies is crucial to capitalizing on opportunities to steal the ball or when to contest the shot and when to sag off. Bonus Tip for Online: Try to figure out which camera angle your opponent is using since using different camera angles can change the way you play the game.

Shade towards the help defense

This works best if you have teammates who know how to rotate and pick up your guy if he gets free of your defense. If all he does is go to side to side and shoot 3’s all game, take that angle away by shading him so that he goes to the hoop (towards help defense) instead of the 3pt line. If he is a dunker, sag off and cut off the angle and wait for the contact animation.

Utilize all the tools

Using the L trigger for intense-D squares up your defender to prevent sliding. Also try using the R stick for the hands-up animation when you want to contest a shot but not leave your feet.

Have any tips for playing on ball D in NBA 2K? Let us know in the comments!

 

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