NBA Live 2007

Introduction

One year ago, EA introduced us to their Freestyle Superstar mode, allowing superstars alike to pass and dunk like their real-life counterpart. With NBA Live 07, EA expanded this mode, allowing lesser players to show off their moves this year. A new and related addition, the X-Factor allows a randomly-selected player to elevate his game, possibly providing the needed points to win the game late in the fourth quarter.

The sheer number of possible moves may be a little daunting, but don’t fret... IGN Guides is here to help you through it all. In addition, we ’re here to help you play offense, defense, and create a dynasty team for the ages.

What are you waiting for? Grab a ball and let’s hit the hardcourt.

In this NBA Live 07 strategy guide, you’ll find:

Basketball strategy for both offense and defense. Freestyle Superstar move lists Tips on creating a dynasty for the record books. ... And much more.

Guide by: Jim Chamberlin

This PDF Guide is property of IGN Entertainment. Any unlawful duplication or posting of this document without the consent of IGN Entertainment will result in legal action.

Basics

With so many game modes in NBA Live 07, it may be a little overwhelming, so we’ll be offering a brief description of each one to help you out.

Play Now This mode is more or less a quick-match or exhibition game mode. You’re given two teams (home and away) and you can change them to whatever team you want. In addition to the regular league teams, you can also choose from All- Star teams, allowing you to relive recent memories of seeing guys like David Robinson and Karl Malone on the court. If you’re a little older, there are legends from the 50's and 60's in the game as well. See if you can use Wilt Chamberlain and score 100 points like he did in real life.

Play Online Very much like the play now mode, the play online mode is an exhibition game, but requires you to connect to the Internet. This will give you the ability to play against people from around the world.

Season If one game isn’t enough for you, give the season mode a look. You play for just one season from the first game to the NBA Finals. Can you take your favorite team to the promise land?

Dynasty Mode Always looked forward to, the dynasty mode gives you twenty-five years to take a team of your choosing to the NBA Finals. Put on your general manager cap and see if you wheel and deal and make your team a championship contender.

Playoffs Instead of playing one season, you can just play the post-season playoffs. If you’ve got what’s needed to. It allows you to customize and play your very own NBA post-season. This Mode allows you to determine what branch of the Playoffs you'll start in, or you can choose to customize the kind of playoffs you're running.

NBA All-Star Weekend This part of the NBA season is geared directly for the fans. You’ll be able to compete in various challenges including the Rookie Challenge, 3 Point Shootout, Slam Dunk Contest, and NBA All-Star Game.

1 on 1 This is pretty self-explanatory. You can choose one player to use to go up against another. You don’t have teammates to rely on when you’re in trouble; it’s time to put up or shut up.

Individual Practice Before you start playing a regular game, it’s generally recommended that you practice the controls. This mode is very useful for finding your shooting touch. Just select a player and hit the gym.

Slam Dunk Practice The Slam Dunk Contest during the All-Star Weekend use controls that aren’t otherwise used in other areas of the game, so we at IGN strongly recommend practicing for that contest in this mode. You’ll receive tool tips in-game to help you nail those insane dunks you’ll need to pull off in the competition.

Offense

Know Your Players

This may sound obvious, but it’s very important to understand what each of your players is capable of. This is not limited to your starting five, of course. Look at the attribute ratings each of your players have in shooting and passing, for instance. Your center probably has pretty poor ratings for 3-pointers, so try and keep him down by the basket whenever possible. On the same token, your point guard probably won’t be a great dunker, so feed the ball to your big man in the paint, and slam it down your opponent’s throat. Knowing what your players can and cannot do also becomes important when dealing with the offensive moves made possible in the Freestyle Superstar Controls, but we ’ll cover that a little later in the guide.

Practice Shooting

Before getting right into the game, practice your shooting in the gym. Get a feeling for the controls and understand how the shooting system works. You want to release the ball at the highest point of your jump. Releasing it too early or too late will increase the odds of you missing your shot. Once you think you’ve gotten this under control, go into the 1 on 1 mode. Shooting with no one defending you is one thing, but it’s another thing completely to have someone trying to either steal the ball or has his hand up in your grill.

Use Pre-Set Plays

Unlike football, the sport of basketball doesn’t feature players huddling together to agree on a play to call. Instead, it’s a faster-paced game, with the point guard calling out all of the plays with his hands. You can do the same with your D- Pad. Since there are only four directions, you only get four plays to call. The plays available to you depends on which team you’re using. Each team’s playbook is a little different, and it can be customized, adding/removing plays to suit your needs.

Take It To The Hole

The defense won’t often give you an open lane to the rim, but when it does, take advantage of it. Regardless of the size of the player, they can all either do a dunk or a lay-up of some kind. Taller players will be able to do big dunks, while good shooting guards will be able to pull off flashier dunks and/or lay-ups. Driving the ball down the lane not only allows you to pull off a high percentage shot, but it increases the odds of you getting fouled and getting to the free throw line, occasionally giving you the opportunity for a three-point play. You can also get the opposing team into foul trouble when you drive to the basket often enough. Don’t Dribble Into A Crowd

The CPU often does a very good job at clogging the lane to the rim. It doesn’t matter which player you’re using, you’ll eventually have the ball stolen from. Instead of always driving the ball to the hoop, pass it to someone who is open or pull up for a jumper.

Kick It Out For a Three

The CPU can play some pretty stingy defense in the paint. Because of this, throw it in to your big-man. As the defense swarms him, toss it out to your perimeter shooter for an open shot.

Bring Up The Passing Icons

From time to time, you may end up passing the ball to the wrong player. This happens most often when you have more than one player in a small area. To combat this, use a more precise option. Bring up the passing icon list with your controller. Check with your manual to see which button this is. Having the passing icons up will give you much more control, giving you options similar to Madden’s passing icons.

Use Your Freestyle Moves

Your Freestyle Superstar controls can give you a lot of options. Learn the controls and master them. Pulling off a great dunk, for instance, can change the momentum of the game. We’ll get into more of this a little later in the guide.

Hit The Boards

When you miss a shot, don’t give up. Keep your center and power forward near the rim when possible. Grabbing rebounds isn’t particularly easy. It relies very much on positioning and timing. You have to time your jump properly. If you get the rebound, you have several options of course. While in mid-air, you can tip the ball in or even try and slam the ball. You can also choose to bring the ball down and either score with it yourself or pass it out to someone else for either an open shot or you can regroup and work with the fresh 24-second shot clock.

Defense

Know Your Opponents

Although you obviously cannot study film of your opponents, you can research the attribute points of your opponents. Look to see what each player can do well and what they’re terrible at. For instance, Shaq can be a big threat when he’s got the ball near the hoop, but he’s terrible shooting free throws. This is why many teams have used the "hack-a-Shaq" method of defense during certain parts of the game. Study your team’s strengths and weaknesses, and you won’t be surprised in a game.

Clog Up The Paint

When you’re on offense, you’ll often see that the CPU has defenders in the paint, making inside passes and drives to the hole a little more problematic. Why not do the same? You’ll cause similar problems for the CPU’s offense. Just be sure to keep defenders on their man, so as not to allow open shots on the perimeter.

Take It Like A Man

Whether you’re clogging up the paint or guarding someone on the perimeter, you will likely eventually encounter a player who has decided to drive to the basket. Get in front of him, plant your feet, and take a charge. Charges can sometimes change the momentum of a game.

Keep Your Hands Up

Whether your defending an in-bound pass or simply defending a player, keep your hands up. This will cut down on the number of passing lanes available to your opponent, possibly causing them to throw an errand pass. Just... Take It

Some of the best defenders in the NBA don’t wait for the point guard, for instance, to make a bad pass. He’ll actually create opportunities for himself by reaching in and taking the ball away. Don’t be afraid to reach in and steal the ball. Your steals won’t likely take place when you and the ball handler are standing still. Instead, you’ll likely get the ball if you time your steal attempt(s) when the ball handler is attempting to make a move, perhaps in a pick-and-roll, for instance. The refs won’t call a foul for every steal attempt, but they will call it on occasion, so don’t go crazy with it. After you’ve got the ball, you’ve got a great fast-break opportunity, so take it to the hole.

Stuff It

One of the most enjoyable plays on defense is stuffing a guy’s dunk or layup attempt. Such a play can not only lead to a fast-break, but it can be the start of a big shift in momentum. While it’s possible to block a shot from behind, you’ll be far more successful if your primary shot-blocker is in front of the shooter. Try to be as close to the shooter as possible. If he’s been able to get a cushion between the two of you, he’ll likely be able to get the shot off and over your outstretched arms. As the player goes up for a shot, make your leap upward. Timing is very important. Although it’s quite easy to move towards the shooter as he’s shooting, keep your hands off of the player movement control. Lunging at the shooter in mid-air may very well cause in a foul.

Staying with the issue of timing, you should be aware that the CPU offense tends to use the Pro-Hop frequently while in the paint. This can be difficult to defend against if you’re inexperienced, so be aware that the Pro-Hop is intended, in part, to throw off your timing. If you attempt to block the shot and get fooled by the Pro-Hop, you’re going to be up in the air, blocking nothing but the glare of the spotlights and looking like a damn fool. Be patient and study the move and time your jump properly, and you’ll be stuffing players left and right.

Hit The Boards

Whether on offense or defense, grabbing rebounds are a key to winning. If you want to win, don’t rely on the CPU to rebound for you. Keep your center and power forward near the rim when possible. Grabbing rebounds isn’t particularly easy. It relies very much on positioning and timing. You have to time your jump properly, so jump just as the ball bounces and hits the rim.

Dynasty

Regardless of the game, the dynasty mode is generally the biggest and most daunting mode of the game. While it’s not particularly challenging, the number of options it offers can be a little overwhelming, but don’t worry. We’re here to offer you some guidance.

As you begin the dynasty mode, you ’ll be told about some of the changes in this year’s game. Afterwards, look through the team list to find the one you will control for up to 25 years. You’ll find basic information on each team, including information on the head coach, arena, previous year’s record, salary cap room, and the team’s gameplay style and preferences.

After you choose your team, you ’ll have to make a few decisions as to how your dynasty will go. You have certain options pertaining to the draft, game (quarter) length, etc.

Next, you’ll see your roster and then move on to the 2006 draft, if you used the default settings on the previous screen. The first round of picks will be done for you, but it will be up to you to finish the draft. You will receive suggestions and scout information on each player courtesy of the ESPN Insider feature. This can be quite helpful when adding new prospects to your team. Try and fill the holes in your team.

Now that the draft is over, the off-season controls are handed over to you. You’ll need to hire staff for your team, specifically a scout, a trainer, an assistant, and an assistant head coach. Use the calendar to navigate to the "Hire Staff" screen. Before you do anything, keep in mind that your budget for staff hiring is limited, so you will have to consider salaries in addition to the benefits of hiring the person. Other teams will be competing for the same staff, so be sure to offer them a fair salary!

After you ’ve offered jobs to one person for each position, return to the calendar and sim to the next day. You’ll hear back from the guys you offered jobs to. Some will accept and some will decline your offer. It’s unlikely you’ll hire people for all four positions in the first attempt, so keep at it until you’ve got all four positions filled.

Training Camp

Now that you’ve got your staff hired, it’s time to put them to work. Your assistant is looking for guidance as how to train the players on the team. You have three categories to choose from: offense, defense, and athleticism. You may be tempted to put all 100 training points in offense, but we believe that would be a mistake. Instead, put 50 points in defense and the other 50 in athleticism. Why? The CPU-controlled players will be playing the majority of your defense, as you are usually only controlling one player, covering whoever has the ball at the moment. If you make the other four guys better on defense, your team’s overall defense will be better. As for athleticism, better stamina will allow you to keep your starting five in the game and on the floor for a longer period, possibly giving you the leg-up on the competition. After you spend the 100 points, the remainder of the training camp will be simmed for you, and you’ll receive an inbox full of e-mails from your staff, updating you on how your players have progressed during the training camp.

Season

Don’t rush right into playing your season games. Instead, get your assistant to train a player. To do this, pull up the menu and go into "GM’s Desk," then "Team Staff." Select "Assistants" and you should now have the ability to train one specific player of your choosing in one of the three categories we mentioned earlier, offense, defense, and athleticism.

While you are still in the team staff section, go to your scout. It’s never too early to look for quality players for next year’s draft. If you honestly believe you’ll make it to the playoffs, don’t bother scouting any of the top players, as they’ll end up going to the teams which performed the worst. Focus on players who have Excellent and Good potential. When you find a player you wish to learn more about, select him and you’ll be prompted to watch your inbox in upcoming days for updates on the scouting assignment.

One last staff member to visit before playing actual games is your assistant head coach. He’s responsible for scheduling off days, media days, practices, etc. He’s also responsible for investigating rumors from within the organization. Scheduling the events is pretty straight forward. You will need to find a balance between days off and having the team spend time together in practice, for example, to increase team chemistry.

At any time now, you can begin playing your season games. I refer you to the Offense and Defense sections of this guide for guidance as far as actual games go. As you progress through the season, you’ll receive e-mails from your staff, offering updates on scouted players, injury updates, etc. Make sure to keep your staff busy with scouting and training players. Off-Season

Once the regular and post-seasons are over, it’s time to deal with off-season transactions. These include things like the NBA draft, free agency, releasing players, etc. This is a very good time to get players to fill the voids you couldn’t during the previous season.

The second day of the off-season is the draft lottery, which tells you the draft order. If you did well during the post- season playoffs, you won’t likely get a very good draft position.

Next is the rookie scouting. If you scouted players in the season like you should have, you should have a nice, long list of players to check out here. This mode allows you to use any of the prospects in a 1 on 1 situation against an NBA player to see just how good the player really is.

The next step in the off-season road is re-signing players. Some of the players on your team have had their contract expire, so it you wish to keep them, re-sign them to a contract. If you don’t want them, don’t re-sign them and they’ll become a free agent later.

With your players re-signed, it’s time for the big NBA draft. This works just like we discussed earlier, so there’s no need to repeat anything here.

After the draft, you have access to the big free agent market. There are likely a lot of solid choices out there to fill out your roster, but if you’re over the salary cap, there’s nothing you can do here, so sim the dates on the calendar.

If you weren’t able to get the player in free agency, perhaps you can trade for him. Just like before, if you’re over the salary cap, you’ll have to sim the dates on the calendar; there’s nothing for you to do here.

Just like when you started the dynasty mode originally, you’ll now have to hire any new staff if someone’s retired, and then you can start your next season and then enter training camp. Good luck in season number two!

Freestyle Superstar -- Current Gen Systems

Introduced last year, the Freestyle Superstar controls are back with some adjustments. With a new year comes a whole slough of new plays your superstars can perform. Your superstars aren’t the only ones capable of performing flashy plays; now some of your regular players can have these special abilities. There are two tiers of plays available: Star- level plays and Superstar-level plays. Also, there are now eight possible Freestyle Superstar types: the High-Flyer, Playmaker, Inside Scorer, Outside Scorer, Shooter, Power, Inside Stopper, and Outside Stopper. The star-level types are exactly the same but have a more limited number of moves available to them. Also new this year is the ability to switch Superstar types on the fly. This is very handy for those players who are great in more than one area of the game.

The controls for pulling off these moves have changed since Live 06. Instead of using the Superstar trigger (varies on game system, check game manual) and pressing a face button, you’ll have to use the Superstar trigger and use the Right Analog Stick on your controller. Moving the stick in a certain direction or combination of directions will allow you to perform the desired move.

In addition to the controls being a little different from year to year, the next-gen controls (Xbox 360) are different than the current-gen console (and PC) system. One of those differences is when you get "In The Zone" on the Xbox 360 version. When an internal momentum tracking system has determined your player is "In The Zone," additional Freestyle Superstar moves will be made available to that player. Because of these differences in the systems, we’ve decided to split up the controls onto separate pages. The current gen controls will be listed below, and the Xbox 360 (next gen) controls will be on another page. High Flyer These are the guys who make the majority of the ESPN highlights. Think Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, Vince Carter, etc. These guys have a large arsenal of dunks at their disposal and can make them happen even if they’re far away from the hoop. Michael Jordan’s famous free-throw line dunk comes to mind. It’s in the game!

Playmaker The playmakers are great ball-handlers, capable of throwing just about any kind of pass imaginable. Guys like Jason Kidd come to mind. You’ll be able to do bounce passes, no-look passes, etc.

Inside Scorer Inside scorers are typically your center or power forward, guys who are big and tough enough to get to the post and make a short jumper or hook shot near the basket.

Outside Scorer Your outside scorers are just the opposite as your inside scorers. These are typically small forwards and shooting guards, capable of hitting perimeter jump shots and making shots in clutch situations.

Shooter Shooters are very similar to outside scorers but typically have a better range from beyond the three-point line. These are your go-to guys in clutch situations. They’ll be heavily defended because of this.

Power Power players are your big men at center, typically. When I think of power players, guys like Kevin Garnett and Shaq come to mind... men who can dominate near the basket. Feed them the ball and watch them rock the rim!

Inside Stopper On the opposite end of the court as the power players, your inside stopper is generally tall and capable of blocking shots and grabbing rebounds. Shaq is an excellent example of an inside stopper.

The controls for defense don’t use the Right Analog Stick so much. The Right Analog Stick with the Superstar trigger can perform moves, but they’re generally not that much more effective than the regular controls for defense, so stick to the regular controls here.

Outside Stopper Very similar to the inside stopper, the outside stopper is excellent at at defense, specifically at stealing the ball, though he may be able to block the occasional shot. The controls for defense don’t use the Right Analog Stick so much. The Right Analog Stick with the Superstar trigger can perform moves, but they’re generally not that much more effective than the regular controls for defense, so stick to the regular controls here.

Freestyle Superstar -- Next Gen Systems

Somewhat similar to the current gen controls, the next-gen controls offer us more incredible moves to perform. There are three levels of Superstars this year to help differentiate between the players in the league. No two players are alike this year. Level 1 superstars are the up-and-coming players. Level 2 superstars are those players who are potential All- Stars and frequently have big moments in almost every game. Level 3 superstars are the big stars in the league, the ones we all come to see (LeBron James, Shaq, Dwayne Wade, etc). Every level 3 superstar will be able to access even more moves when their team gains momentum and they are deemed "In The Zone." When you are "In The Zone," you will be told so on the player ’s heads up display.

High Flyer These are the guys who make the majority of the ESPN highlights. Think Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, Vince Carter, etc. These guys have a large arsenal of dunks at their disposal and can make them happen even if they’re far away from the hoop. Michael Jordan’s famous free-throw line dunk comes to mind. It’s in the game!

Inside Scorer Inside scorers are typically your center or power forward, guys who are big and tough enough to get to the post and make a short jumper or hook shot near the basket.

Outside Stopper Very similar to the inside stopper, the outside stopper is excellent at at defense, specifically at stealing the ball, though he may be able to block the occasional shot.

FAQ

This brief FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) will cover some of the more commonly-asked questions in regards to NBA Live 07. Should you have a question that isn’t answered in this section or any other section of this guide, you can turn to our NBA Live 07 message board to ask the regulars for help.

Q :: I don’t have a favorite team, so which team should I play as? A :: If you don’t have a favorite team, perhaps you have a favorite player. Check out the team he’s on and play a game or two. If not, look elsewhere. You have a lot of choices to find a team you feel comfortable with.

Q :: Is Michael Jordan in the game? A :: Unfortunately, no. His shoes, signature free-throw line dunk, and name were all licensed for use in the game, but not his own likeness.

Q :: The game is a little slower than I expected. What can I do about it? A :: We recommend cranking up the game speed in the game settings. You’ll find the game feels a lot better when it’s up to 70 or so.

Q :: How can I improve my free throw percentage? A :: With no practice mode for this, it can be a little frustrating to miss free throws. Use the in-game help screen when you have to shoot free throws as it’ll tell you what you need to do. Move down on the right analog stick and when the ball is up in front of the shooter’s face, push the stick upwards. Make sure you do it in a straight line, however. We’ve witnessed many free throws which were off to the left or right because some people hold their controller in such a way that when they press the stick up, it ends up left or right slightly. Be careful of this.

Q :: In Dynasty Mode, why does my backup player show up as a starter? A :: We’ve noticed this happening in other areas of the game as well. The simple way to fix this is to quickly scroll down to the player you don’t want to start and use the left or right button on your d-pad to scroll and find a different player to start in his place. In Dynasty mode, you can change the start game percentage. The game automatically gives backups a low start percentage, so you’ll see him start a game every now and then. This can be found in the reorder roster section of your menu.

Q :: Why doesn’t my CPU-controlled opponent substitute players very often? A :: They don’t sub players because of a bug. There’s a big bug in the game which effects substitutions and fatigue. The only time they will sub players is when someone gets into foul trouble. If you have the PC version of the game, this will likely be fixed via a patch in the future.

Q :: Why does the point guard on my CPU-controlled opponent take so many shots? A :: Like the previous question, this is because of a bug. It will likely be fixed for those of you who have the PC version.