I am up to about ten games now in my online career and I am on the verge of selling my copy due to the fact that every time I play a game I walk away in frustration (even in victory).
Some of the bullshit from my most recent games (I always play as the Grizzlies):
This dude was playing as the Hornets. I was up about by about 10 - 20 points most of the first half. The second half starts, and this guy just starts chucking long range set shots with Chris Paul and Peja Stojakovic. Despite the fact that I am contesting virtually all of their shots with a hand in the face, Chris Paul finishes the game 8 - 11 on threes, while Peja finishes 9 - 14.
My most recent game, like a lot of the one's I've played, was against the Celtics. Again, I get out to about a 20 point lead by halftime, and the guy starts to jack catch-and-shoot threes with Ray Allen. Again, even with quality pressure in his face, he makes about 60% of them. As time starts winding down, he starts fast breaking and taking pull-up threes with Allen, which for some reason, makes the AI back off (?!) the shooter. I am not exaggerating when I report that the dude did not miss a single pull-up three that he took with Allen. Of course, if I try to jump and defend the shot manually, my idiot defender commits a foul like 75% of the time.
This third instance of BS is from a game with the Bulls, but it also applies to another game I had against the Celtics and Kevin Garnett. This dude was playing as the Bulls and gave the ball to Joakim Noah on about 75% of his possessions. Every time Noah got the ball, he'd back my defender down, then face up, and shoot a shot within two to three feet of the basket (or dunk it, if he got close enough). Of course, common sense spurred me to bring in a quick guard to steal it from Noah while he's taking his 4 -5 seconds doing the methodical "backdown" animation, and yet, when I bring my quick, nimble guard (Damon Stoudamire) in for the steal, my hand either swipes at air or goes through some part of the ball or the player’s body about 90% of the time! Oh yeah, and the refs apparently like to swallow their whistle whenever this happens, so don't expect to get a three-second violation called, even when the dude is in the paint for upwards of 5 seconds. Again, I am not exaggerating when I say that Noah DID NOT MISS A SINGLE SHOT THE ENTIRE GAME and ended up with 40+ points. Garnett would have done the same to me had my opponent not abandoned his inside game and started chucking threes with Pierce and Allen.
Then there are the free throws. Offline, I am good free throw shooter (about 80%-90%), yet, in the abovementioned Celtics/Bulls games, I went a combined 24 - 59. Why? Because the timing of the free throw system is not adjusted for lag, which means that the point (indicated on-screen by your player's various shooting animations) at which you normally would release the shot stick is often not even close to the point at which you have to release it to get the game to recognize a "perfect" shot. This means that the free throw timing turns into a complete guessing game of trial and error, which gives people who foul a lot (often intentionally) a ton more opportunities than they should really have.
There’s a lot more BS to talk about, but I think you get the point: this series, superior as it is to NBA Live, is still nowhere close to being an enjoyable emulation of basketball.
