NBA Live 10 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 0-1

[Andrew]

Alright, I'm giving this another go. I'm not sure how long it will last as NBA Live 10 has a few post-patch quirks that I'm still coming to grips with and the random lock-up problem is still there, though if I run into it again I'll try disabling the automatic replays. In any case, I'm afraid I've had to leave my beloved Chicago Bulls behind this year and go with a team that's a little more fun to play with, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Andrew's NBA Live 10 Cleveland Cavaliers Dynasty



Settings

Difficulty: All-Star
Sliders: Default (for now)
Rosters: Official Update (from around December 20-22)
Quarter Length: 12 minutes

Salary cap rules are enabled and all other settings are configured to NBA defaults.

Team Staff

Head Coach: Mike Brown
Scout: Simon Williamson
Doctor: Samuel Simon
Defensive Coach: Johnny Collins
Offensive Coach: Paul Hamilton

Opening Night Roster

Starting Lineup

C: Shaquille O'Neal
F: J.J. Hickson
F: LeBron James
G: Anthony Parker
G: Maurice Williams

Bench

Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Delonte West
Anderson Varejao
Daniel Gibson
Jamario Moon
Danny Green
Darnell Jackson

Injured Reserve

Jawad Williams
Coby Karl
Leon Powe

[Andrew]

October 28th, 2009
Boston (105) at Cleveland (98)
Cavs fall to Celtics in home opener

The Boston Celtics rode a 17-2 run in the closing minutes and a 32-15 advantage at the free throw line to a 105-98 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers to open the 2009/2010 NBA season. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 23 points and all five Celtics starters scored in double digits with Eddie House scoring 17 off the bench to overcome a 44 point performance from the reigning MVP LeBron James.

It was a disappointing turn of events for the Cavaliers, who held several double digit leads throughout the game and appeared to be on the verge of closing out the Celtics before the 2008 NBA Champions made their tenacious run in the game's waning minutes. "We choked that one away," James commented after the game. "We missed way too many easy ones, got frustrated and didn't do a good job defensively. It's not the way we wanted to start the season." James also had 9 rebounds and 3 assists in the game and was showered with "M-V-P" chants every time he stepped to the line beginning in the third quarter.

Cleveland began the game by racing out to an early 8-2 lead and although the Celtics would recover, the Cavaliers spent most of the first half in control of the game before yielding a twelve point lead and led by just four at halftime. Although they would build a more comfortable ten point margin in the third, they relinquished the lead in the final minute before LeBron was drew a foul on a made three pointer with 1.1 seconds left in the quarter, converting on the four point play to enter the fourth quarter with a three point lead. Although Boston seemed to be on the verge of a loss with three minutes remaining and the Cavaliers gaining momentum, two costly turnovers and a three pointer by Ray Allen propelled them right back into the game and sparked a run that had the Cavs reeling.

A visibly disappointed Mike Brown said of the loss "We played really good basketball for about 40 minutes. We had (the Celtics) where we wanted them but we couldn't deliver the knockout punch." When asked about the free throw discrepency, Brown downplayed the issue but admitted that "it hurt us, especially in the fourth". Shaquille O'Neal, making his official debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers, was slightly less diplomatic. "We were screwed," the future Hall of Famer bluntly remarked. "Next question."

The Cavaliers travel to Toronto tomorrow to face the Raptors in their opening game of the 2009/2010 season. The Celtics will be at home against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Key Players

LeBron James: 44 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks
Shaquille O'Neal: 10 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks
Zydrunas Ilgauskas: 10 points, 6 rebounds
Anderson Varejao: 4 points, 6 rebounds, 5 blocks

Rasheed Wallace: 10 points, 15 rebounds
Kevin Garnett: 14 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks
Paul Pierce: 23 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Ray Allen: 20 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 8/8 from the free throw line
Rajon Rondo: 13 points, 9 assists
Eddie House: 17 points, 4 assists

Current Record: 0-1
Next Opponent: Toronto Raptors

[Kenny]

It's a bit weird seeing you play with a team other than the Bulls, but at the same time, it should be interesting. Good luck with it I'll do my best to follow this one.

[Andrew]

I really did want to play with the Bulls but unfortunately they're just not that fun to play with this season. Hopefully the Cavs will prove to be more fun, while still suitably challenging. It's only been one game but so far I think they will be, on both counts. Thanks for checking in.

[dare]

Nice of you to have a new dynasty especially not with your Bulls I hope this last long and please don't make LBJames so dominating

[deihatein]

Pretty weird for Andrew making a dynasty other than the Bulls. Other than that I am sure to be following this if it goes longer.

[Martti.]

Looks weird, as the Cavaliers are a division rival to the Bulls.

Lebron had an awesome debut, too bad for the loss though.

[raptorsfan21]

Following. And good luck against my Raptors.

[cavs4872]

Tough loss, but I love that you're doing a Cavs dynasty. Z gave you some great minutes off of the bench. How many points did Mo have? He has one of the easiest shots in the game. Single-digit scoring is unacceptable for him.

[Andrew]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I have actually strayed from the Bulls in Live before in the years following the championship era, but again this is just one season where they're just not that fun to play with even for a hardcore fan.

Tough loss, but I love that you're doing a Cavs dynasty. Z gave you some great minutes off of the bench. How many points did Mo have? He has one of the easiest shots in the game. Single-digit scoring is unacceptable for him.

I actually struggled a bit with Mo in that one, he was only 2/7. Sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces, I'm sure I'll shoot much better with him in the games to come.

[cavs4872]

I actually struggled a bit with Mo in that one, he was only 2/7. Sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces, I'm sure I'll shoot much better with him in the games to come.

I completely understand. I've had plenty of games like that from him in my NBA 2K10 association.

[kibaxx7]

As everyone said, weird not to see you with the Bulls, Andrew, but good luck!

Tough loss against Boston, they had a really balanced scoring. LeBron was awesome.

[Clutch]

this is just one season where they're just not that fun to play with even for a hardcore fan.

hahah Andrew, try growing up in the bay area and being GSW lifer

good to see you with any team; despite the loss i've a feeling this may be the year of the King - best of luck

[Fresh8]

I have a gut feeling you are going to help James bring home a title. You planning on this lasting the full 82 games?

[Andrew]

That's the current plan. I might have to sim a few and it depends whether the post-patch quirks and potential lock-ups cause me to pull the plug. However, I think there's a much better chance that I can last playing with the Cavs than the Bulls.

[Fresh8]

Yeah, I would love to see you sim a few and catch up with the real life schedule... eventually!

[The X]

Yep, I'd like to also see you sim & keep up with current schedule

I'm guessing it was too hard to use the Bulls given that you wouldn't feel right about sending them to a 50+ win season & a title shot

With Cavs it's all good to win it all

[Andrew]

That too. To be honest I'm not sure I'd be able to achieve 50+ and the title with the Bulls anyway.

[Dee.]

Haven't been in NLSC for a bit.
Good to see a new dynasty from you Andrew,nice team selection too.

[Andrew]

Happy New Year, everyone! I'll be playing some more games in the near future but in the meantime, here's a clip of the four point play with LeBron in the season opener.

phpBB [video]

[Fresh8]

Nice shot by LeBron

[The X]

Tough break. I like 2k10 as Association is deep but I can understand you not liking controls as much as Live. If basing off demo, I can definitely understand you passing, much like I did with NCAA Bball 10 after that demo.

But yep, no way of deleting cache so you don't have two patches installed?

[Andrew]

Thinking about it, but then I can't do Live Run/online leagues and it would be a bit of a pain to have to download the updates for all the other games again. Not impossible of course, but definitely a bit of a pain and not being able to play online without the updates is certainly a downside. Another advantage of the PC version, unpatching one game doesn't affect anything else.

I'll see if there's anything that can be done about the lock-ups though and give the game another try when I'm feeling a bit fresher. Probably picked it up a bit too late this evening and then tried to play subsequent games while still feeling frustrated about what happened minutes ago which doesn't help (like re-attempting a level in Goldeneye 007 back in the day after failing it in a frustrating way, the second attempt never goes as well). Cooler heads may prevail and the first game was probably my most enjoyable since the updates (aside from getting screwed over in the final minutes) so for now I'll keep the thread open and give it another go.

[Andrew]

Nope, I'm done with NBA Live 10 for offline play. The patches have absolutely ruined this game; I'm fed up with missing layup after layup while Chris Bosh calmly nails turnaround fadeaway threes with twenty seconds left on the shot clock, something that did not happen out of the box. I'm tired of constantly being knocked to the floor on jumpshot and layup attempts and not getting the whistle while the CPU is able to rack up free throw attempts at the other end. I'm sick of being punished for taking advantage of the CPU's defensive lapses by it waterbugging back to make steals or my players for some reason throwing a sloppy pass when the CPU has left one of my players wide open. The broken alley-oop logic, the dumbed down teammate AI, the CPU's complete disregard of its playbook and frustrating ability to waltz into the lane while my teammates watch them, only to run into a brick wall at the other end.

It's really, really disappointing. They had a great game in NBA Live 10, but they fiddled too much with the patches, changed things that didn't need to be changed and didn't fix things that remain a problem. I'm sure a lot of time and effort went into the patches and I appreciate that, but they've tried to fix things that weren't broken...or maybe they're listening to the wrong feedback. In any case, I'm going to have to call it quits on this one. NBA Live 10 is still capable of being a fun multiplayer/online game but against the CPU, it's become a very unenjoyable experience.