I figure that it's best to bump an old thread with the same problem than to create a new one, so here goes - hopefully someone can help.
I have the exact same issue (with recently updated drivers - although I am now downloading the newest, so we'll see if that helps).
My PC is near-identical (Athlon 1.4; GeForce 2 GTS 64mb; 256mb ram) and I'm guessing it's the GeForce that's the problem. That said, it's caused problems with previous NBA Lives, but they've all been ironed out in the end (I wish my memory was better so I knew how!).
Anyone got any ideas on this at all? I've done a clean install twice now, so it must be something directly to do with the hardware/software combination, but I hope it's fixable. I will report back once my drivers are finished DLing (damn 56k).
P.S. Hi! First post... Been reading for a while. Great site here