This makes a great opportunity to force turnovers by taking a charge. We've had quite a bit of success taking charges in our time with NBA 2K MT. And while we do not endorse flopping, it is possible to fake the effect by double tapping the button. Unfortunately, we've had success flopping, too.
Thankfully, CPU defense has improved from this past year, so you don't need to worry as much about cycling through defenders online loop. Although you can play off the ball defense and deny passing lanes, you do not necessarily have to do this for a great defender.
Right as soon as the ball leaves their hands, you are able to switch to the defender closest to it. If you receive nimble enough, it's still possible to disrupt lanes by simply stealing incoming moves and boxing out offensive rebounders with L2/LT right when you switch. It is the best of both worlds.
Remember that it's never a great idea to leave the CPU onto a dribbler for more than a couple of seconds. While the CPU is competent, they won't play as tight of defense as possible when controlling the closest defender.
Your number one goal on protection is to block the ball from moving through the hoop. Sticking with the ball handler and receiving your hands up for shots would be a start, but you also have to force the crime into lower portion situations. Simply getting a hand up when Steph Curry shoots a 3 right behind the arc may not help this much. Instead, you have to induce ball handlers to make ill-advised moves: cross-court passes, off-balanced shots, extremely reckless dribble moves.
For starters, using rapid shuffle (holding both triggers) allows you keep in a defensive stance while shutting down dribbling lanes. It's possible to cut drives off, forcing players straight back from the perimeter by always staying facing the crime. Around the perimeter, and especially from the corners, using chuck (tap O/B/A) physically nudges the dribbler back. Chuck can force dribblers out of boundaries, mess with their balance, and provide you time to either make a quick steal attempt or quality competition.
The further you minimize open offensive looks, the more likely you should come off with a shot. Sometimes you are going to get burnt no matter how great of protection you playwith. Sometimes they'll drain a heavily contested shot. However, the more you make the offense work to their points, the more stops you will make.
In our NBA 2K19 review, we talked about a brand new gameplay feature called Takeover that nba2king supplies boosts to key features. Each player has at least one Takeover, and all of the nine possible boosts pertain to defense. If you play nicely with a player for a constant stretch, then you can activate Takeover by pressing down on the ideal trigger. If their Takeover capacity is defensive, then it will appear as just one of three icons: A lock, a bucket encased in a shield, or a wine glass.
