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.