Replicating the Playoffs Experience in NBA 2K24

With the second round of the NBA Playoffs set to begin tonight, there’s been some discussion on the forums about the playoffs experience in NBA 2K24 and whether there should be more focus on differentiating the gameplay between the regular season and playoffs.

It’s a good question to ask because a lot of the discussions we have about making the playoffs feel different than the regular season usually go back to presentation. However, gameplay is king and the playoffs are different than the regular season. Still, there’s layers to this because 2K already maybe has too many factors that go into gameplay. We have hot zones, attributes, tendencies, sliders, badges, and so on that seemingly make balancing the game a nightmare. I’ve been a believer in trying to strip away some of these elements because it even feels like gameplay is getting worse as we get more “stuff” that factors into the gameplay.

But it doesn’t mean you couldn’t make the gameplay feel different if you wanted to. OS user lifetimez started the thread by asking if they could “turn on” that playoff feel, and others chimed in with what that might mean. In general, the playoffs are amped up versions of things that already exist. With that in mind, OS user simbayless pointed out some general tactics that could be highlighted, calling out specific players in various eras.

-Build a wall against the Freak, especially in transition

-Tight coverage against Harden that plays hard to his dominant driving hand

-Miami plays more zone

-Teams will start to dig and double Shaq more

All these things are already part of a team’s tactics in the regular season, it’s just about making them more of a focus come playoff time.

These feelings are not shared by everyone, and I tend to agree with OS user vetmin who says, “They should just fix whatever universal game mechanics are literally broken (i.e., not functioning as intended) and leave stuff like this to us.” It’s one thing to want the intensity of the playoffs, but 2K can’t quite balance the “normal” gameplay right now, and they’ve already tried to add Eras-based gameplay changes that aren’t exactly great much of the time.

And like I said, I think part of the balancing issue is not just due to the massive amount of users and game modes, but also due to a massive mount of factors that go into that gameplay. If there is one thing I do think they could focus more on, it is the rotations. OS user Real2KInsider calls it out in the thread as well.

It’s all about rotations. Top 7-8 players, not these 4-5-man line changes goes a long way.

-Real2KInsider

Much like the sliders, we can change the rotations for the playoffs, but it does feel like something that could more easily be handled by 2K without having knock-on effects elsewhere. Stamina could end up being the issue, but beyond that I don’t see any major problems.

Regardless, if you do want to make the game feel different in the playoffs, then how do you go about it? OS users go at it in different ways but OS user tc020791 focuses on sliders: “I increase contest shots, hustle, help D, driving contact, and inside contact — only by a few points though, maybe 5 at the most. I will also lower shooting fouls by a point or two to replicate the refs letting them play a bit more.”

OS user Hassan Darkside focuses more on the coaching side of things: “I take control of the other team and set an 8-9 man rotation based on what I think is realistic. I’ll also change the coach settings matchups and coverages based on what I imagine a team would do. With sliders I’ll also up the offensive and defensive awareness for the CPU, drop the offensive consistency for my players.”

However people end up trying to make the playoffs feel different, the funniest way 2K could do it on their end would be of course to add referee badges and then have Scott Foster added to the game with the “extender” badge (though I guess we’d need a new name since there’s already an extender perk).