Game charting Rashidi's NBA 2K11

After receiving many questions about "what Synergy does" in my rosters, I decided to chart one quarter of a simulated game and see the results. Simulation was done on hall of fame difficulty with default sliders.

12:00 - Bulls win tipoff.

11:44 - Rose at top of key, waits about 5-7 seconds for pick from Boozer. Hawks double-team, and Rose throws it wide of Noah on the right elbow. Out of bounds. (CHI TURNOVER: 1)

11:34 - Bibby at top of key, passes to Johnson (coming off Smith screen) on left elbow. Johnson drives by Brewer towards the middle of the paint for a runner before Noah can contest. It's good. (ATL 1-1 FG)

11:14 - Rose at top of key, hands off to Deng, who gives it to Brewer on right elbow. Brewer dumps into Boozer, who works on Horford for a bit and then dumps to Noah on the same side, who goes up for a layup and is fouled by Horford. Noah makes two FTs. (ATL FOUL: 1, CHI 2-2 FT)

11:01 - Bibby brings up ball to left elbow, dumps into Johnson in the mid-post. Johnson spins and puts a layup over Brewer. It's good. (ATL 2-2 FG)

10:52 - Rose brings ball up. Nobody picks up Deng in transition so he passes it to cutting Deng. Deng goes up 14 feet from basket with a leaner but Horford recovers to contest. Deng misses the shot. (CHI 0-1 FG)

10:48 - Smith rebounds and passes to Johnson, who brings the ball up (fastbreak). Johnson tries to hit Bibby with a bounce pass for a transition layup, but it's intercepted by Rose and picked up by Boozer (ATL TURNOVER: 1)

10:31 - Boozer passes to Rose. Bulls try to break but Hawks recover. Rose gives it to Deng on right elbow, opts not to take uncontested three. Triple threats, and drives past rotating Johnson to top of foul line. Deng passes inside to Brewer (has Williams on him), who kicks to Rose for a reset. Rose drives left, loses Bibby, and gives back to Brewer, who throws a bounce pass between Williams' legs to Noah, who scores on an uncontested sweeping hook. (CHI 1-2 FG)

10:03 Bibby brings ball up to top of key, gives it to Johnson on left elbow. Johnson dumps into Smith in post. Smith faces up, drives left of Boozer and passes to Horford on right wing. Horford resets to Bibby. Bibby passes to Williams on right wing, re-posts Horford on the right block (Deng guarding). Horford backs Deng down for a second but the clock is running and Horford passes out to Johnson on the left elbow for a missed 3pter (toe on line) as the clock expires (ATL: 2-3 FG)

9:47 - Rose brings up, passes to Boozer on right elbow (18 ft). Boozer with the ball acts as a screen for Brewer's man, and Boozer passes to Brewer on 3pt line. Brewer drives towards FT line and passes to Rose who is now uncontested behind Boozer. How this happened: Rose cuts to basket when Boozer has ball - Bibby follows but rotates to Brewer once he gets the ball from Boozer. Nobody picks up Rose, as Horford is watching the ball to possibly contest the shot, while Smith is essentially left guarding both Boozer and Rose simultaneously. ANYWAY... Smith rotates to Rose, who passes to Deng on left block. Horford tries to intercept the pass (starting his animation after Deng has already caught the ball), Williams rotates to Deng, and Deng passes to Noah who is now open on the left block for another "easy" layup. (CHI: 2-3 FG)

9:20 - Bibby at top of key, tries some dribble moves on Rose to no avail. Smith sets a screen at top of key, which Bibby uses. Bibby gives back to Smith at top of key, who tries to isolate on Boozer. Boozer sticks with him, and Smith dumps it to Horford in the post w/ the clock running down. Horford takes a highly contested shot that barely grazes front of the rim (ATL: 2-4 FG)

8:56 - Boozer rebounds and gives to Rose. Rose brings ball to top. Gives to Brewer on left elbow who fakes a couple open threes. Bibby rotates over. Brewer drives right on Bibby, which draws Joe Johnson's attention (currently guarding Rose). Another bounce pass between the legs to Rose, who pulls up but then passes out of what would have been a well-contested jumper. Deng gets pass on right 3pt elbow, drives, and gives back to Rose on wing. Rose gives back to Deng at right FT elbow, dribbles, and resets to Rose on the right 3pt elbow. Clock is running down now, so Rose uses a dribble move on Johnson, gets free, and pulls up for an uncontested mid-range shot which goes in. (CHI: 3-5 FG)

8:30 - Bibby brings up to top, cant free himself of Rose. Run the screen play with Smith again, who isos on Boozer. Smith drives to the basket, and has a step this time which forces Rose to rotate over. Smith kicks to Bibby for an open 3pt that swishes. (ATL: 3-5 FG, 1-1 3PT)

8:18 - Rose dumps into Deng who immediately resets. They re-post Deng who makes a couple ball fakes but is called for 3 seconds. (CHI TURNOVER: 2)

ATL SUBS - Bibby > Teague
CHI SUBS - Brewer > Bogans

8:08 - Teague brings up who tries to take Rose off dribble, doesn't have any better success than Bibby, but then suddenly makes a quick cross and is driving towards the paint. Bogans rotates over, and as Teague goes up for a runner he passes out to Johnson on the left wing. Johnson, as with most NBA 2K players, can't navigate the 3pt line and instead settles for a deep two. (ATL 4-6 FG)

7:54 - Rose brings up, Noah sets a pick. Rose goes left, and pulls up for mid-range jumper on left elbow, which misses. (CHI: 3-6 FG)

7:37 - Smith rebounds and passes to Johnson who is Isoing all the way up court on Bogans to get towards the paint. Johnson passes to Horford on right block, who passes to Smith cutting towards basket. Smith passes back to Johnson running toward left 3pt elbow. Johnson this time navigates the 3pt line but his shot animation brings him back over the line for yet another long 2pter. (ATL: 5-7 FG)

7:11 - Rose brings up, and waits with the ball at top of key until there's about 11 seconds left on the shot clock. Reason? Waiting for the off-ball movement (a Boozer pick) to materialize. As with before, Rose is doubled, and instead of giving it to Boozer who has an open path to basket (you'd think 2K would understand the concept of "pick and ROLL", but I digress), he gives it to Noah on the left 3pt elbow. Noah holds the ball and gives back to Boozer, now 20 feet from basket with the clock running down. Boozer resets to Rose behind the 3pt line, who pulls up for a contested shot that obviously misses. (CHI: 3-7 FG, 0-2 3PT)

7:06 - Deng grabs the offensive board over three Hawks and resets to Bogans on the right 3pt wing, who misses the shot. (CHI: 3-8 FG, 0-2 3PT)

7:04 - Deng grabs another offensive board (two players went to contest Bogans shot). Deng takes this one up himself and scores uncontested. (CHI: 4-9 FG)

6:53 - Teague brings up and drives left past Rose. He's met by Bogans, and Rose contests his driving layup that misses. (ATL: 5-8 FG)

6:39 - Rose rebounds and outlets to Deng at halfcourt. Deng waits for offense to set and - dumps to Boozer in post. Boozer backs down Williams and scores with a hook. (CHI: 5-10 FG)

6:18 - Johnson brings up on left, passes to Teague at top of key. Teague holds ball and waits for Johnson to come off a screen on the right side. Johnson catches. Triple Threats 2x on Bogans. Drives in on Bogans, essentially spins into a double team that is fortunately called a blocking foul on Joakim Noah (probably a charge w/ altered charge settings). (CHI FOUL: 1)

6:14 - Johnson catches inbound, faces up, and triple threats Bogans. Johnson goes left while Bogans goes right, forcing Noah to rotate over. Johnson passes to Horford for an open layup. (ATL: 6-9 FG)

5:49 - Rose brings up, gives to Deng on right 3pt elbow. Deng waits a few seconds for play to materialize. Seems like a botched play as it seemed Deng was supposed to hit Boozer on a basket cut or use him as a screen but never got an opportunity. Deng dribbles a bit and gives to Boozer now posting up on right block. Smith is guarding and Horford watching. Boozer takes a contested hook that misses. (CHI: 5-11 FG)

5:31 - Teague rebounds, passes up to Williams (fastbreak). Williams hits Johnson around FT line, but Johnson opts not to take Deng off dribble and resets to Teague. Teague re-posts Johnson who posts Deng for an easy basket. (ATL 7-10 FG)

TIMEOUT CHI - Hawks up 15-12 and Johnson now has 10 pts on 5-6 shooting.
ATL SUBS - Williams > Evans
CHI SUBS - Bogans > Brewer

5:19 - Rose brings up, drives by Teague. Gives to Boozer in low-post. Boozer makes a move, and passes to Noah (Horford watching). Noah once again drops in a hook. (CHI: 6-12 FG)

5:10 - Teague brings up, pass to Horford intercepted by Deng. (ATL TURNOVER: 2)

4:57 - Deng gives to Rose. Passes to Deng on left 3pt elbow. Boozer is posting but then stops as Deng drives on Evans. Deng pulls up for mid-range on wing that misses. (CHI: 6-13 FG)

4:56 - Noah grabs offensive board. Goes up for a layup and is fouled by Smith, and one. (CHI: 7-14 FG, 1-1 FT, ATL: 2 FOULS)

4:44 - Teague brings up, gives to Johnson in mid-psot. Takes a fadeaway jumper on Brewer that misses. (ATL: 7-11 FG)

4:38 - Smith grabs offensive board and resets to Teague. Teague drives by Rose, Noah rotates, and Teague passes to Horford for an uncontested layup. (ATL: 8-12 FG)

4:28 - Rose brings up. Noah sets a pick, and Rose attempts an alleyoop to Boozer that gets intercepted by Horford (CHI TURNOVER: 3)

4:23 - Horford hands off to Evans who throws a fullcourt pass to sprinting Teague. Rose misses the intercept and Teague throws down a dunk. (ATL: 9-13 FG)

4:14 - Rose brings up. The defense is really a mess w/ their matchups right now, ans one of my biggest critiques of 2K defense is that defenders will wait in a specific spot for the offensive player to show up, which screws the team over if the player never gets to that spot. Josh Smith is standing by himself on right wing waiting for Brewer to show up. Brewer never shows up to the wing, as Rose passes to him and due to Smith's placement, Brewer now has a wide-open lane to the basket for an emphatic dunk. While this is really poor defense by the CPU, it at least makes for an emotional response to the previous play. (CHI: 8-15 FG)

Video of the above two plays
http://community.2ksports.com/community/media/viewer.cfm?mediaid=2465659
http://community.2ksports.com/community/media/viewer.cfm?mediaid=2465677

3:56 - Johnson brings ball up. Smith sets a pick and the Bulls try to double Johnson but he fights off the double, drives towards the basket, and pulls up for a 15 footer that misses. (ATL: 9-14 FG)

3:47 - Boozer rebounds, gives to Rose. Boozer comes up court but Smith never picks him up (he is watching Rose). Rose hits Boozer for a layup. (CHI: 9-16 FG)

3:34 - Teague brings up, passes to Johnson on left 3pt elbow. Smith sets pick, but Brewer swipes before Johnson can use it and ball goes out of bounds. Both Johnson and Brewer get charged for a turnover on this play even though possession never changed. Weird. Hawks ball. Shotclock resets and I guess Brewer got credit for a steal somehow. (ATL TURNOVER: 3, CHI TURNOVER: 4)

3:10 - Johnson receives inbound, passes to Evans on wing. Evans holds the ball has the CPU officially seems confused. Horford is trying to post, and Teague used this as a screen, and then comes back towards Evans. There are three Hawks in a small triangle, and since there are 3 Bulls defenders the whole area is very crowded (compounded by the fact that Mo Evans has the ball, and not a playmaker like Johnson). Teague is literally walking away from Evans and back towards him. Evans finally hands off to Teague w/ 7 seconds left on the clock, who dribbles around for a bit, gets a step on Rose, and fires up a FT line jumper that misses. (ATL: 9-15 FG)

3:02 - Boozer rebounds, gives to Brewer on a mini-break. Brewer drives left and tries to hit Rose who is standing underneath the basket (tell-tale sign of "CPU THINKS ITS A FAST BREAK"). Horford blocks the pass and Evans picks it up. (CHI TURNOVER: 5)

2:55 - Evans gets steal and passes to Teague at halfcourt, who passes to Johnson at 3pt line as Hawks have their own break now. Johnson is met by Boozer about 10 feet from basket which makes him stagger, and he resets to Evans up top who puts up a three that Brewer is late to contest (he ran under the basket since Johnson was his man, even though Boozer picked him up). (ATL: 10-16 FG, 2-2 3PT)

TIMEOUT CHI - now 22 Hawks 21 Bulls
ATL SUBS - Teague > Bibby, Smith > Willliams, Horford > Pachulia
CHI SUBS - Rose > Watson, Boozer > Gibson

2:41 - Watson brings up. Noah sets pick, Zaza goes over to double, but all he does is get in Bibby's way, compounding the problem by reaching for a steal when Bibby is already behind him. Watson esssentially uses Zaza as a second screen on Bibby, and pulls up for a 22 foot 2pter (yet another shot that should have been a three). He swishes the shot, although I'd have much rather hit Noah (who was really wide open under the basket by now you can imagine). (CHI: 10-17)

2:26 - Bibby brings up, gives to Williams on left elbow. Willliams triple threats twice on Gibson, and pulls up for long jumper that misses. (ATL: 10-16 FG)

2:03 - Noan rebounds, gives to Deng. Deng gives to Watson at top of key, who brings to right elbow. Watson uses some type of cross (very quick change of direction) to lose Johnson at FT line, and passes to Gibson on the left block. Gibson posts up Bibby and misses the shot (help from Williams) (CHI: 10-18 FG)

2:00 - Williams rebounds, hands to Bibby, who throws to fastbreaking Johnson. Johnson hits fastbreaking Evans for an and one layup. (ATL: 11-17 FG, 1-1 FT, CHI FOULS: 2)

1:36 - Watson brings up, passes to Gibson on left elbow. Gibson hands off to Brewer on left wing, and then sets pick for him, though it's too crowded for Brewer to take advantage. Brewer resets to Deng up top. Deng gives it back to Brewer, who misses a contested 20 footer with the clock running down. (CHI: 10-19 FG)

1:11 - -Bibby rebounds, hands to Evans (who is heating up now). Evans heads to left 3pt elbow and passes to Pachulia on left FT elbow. Pachulia stands with his back to the basket for about 3 seconds and gives it up to Williams on the other elbow. Williams resets to Bibby up top. Bibby gives to Pachulia at the left elbow again where he tries to work on Noah to no avail. The clock is running down, and Pachulia hits Williams on the right elbow again for a contested forced shot before the clock expires. (ATL: 11-18 FG)

1:03 - Gibson rebounds, gives to Watson for a mini-break. Watson pushes to Deng, who hits Brewer in transition for a turnaround hook. (CHI: 11-20 FG)

0:38 - Bibby brings up and passes to Williams on left wing. Williams fakes twice but is unable to lose Gibson. He isos his way down left wing, kicks to Pachulia on left elbow, who swings to Evans on far right 3pt elbow. Evans is Isoing now, moves down right wing, kicks to Williams with the clock running down again, and forces up another contested elbow shot. (ATL: 11-19 FG)

0:25 - Brewer rebounds, hands to Watson who brings it up. Noah sets screen, Noah's man goes over to apply a double. Watson goes left again, losing his man somewhat and pulls up from the left block for an 8 foot jumper that goes in. (CHI: 12-21 FG)

0:06 - Bibby brings up, passes to Johnson. Johnson Isos on Brewer, drives to basket, and is met by Gibson. Johnson passes to Williams, but Brewer has already rotated over. Gibson also manages to rotate over and Williams resets to Bibby. Bibby drives right and misses a 15 footer on the elbow. (ATL: 11-20 FG)

0:00 - Noah rebounds, passes to Watson, who launches up a halfcourt shot with about 2 seconds left on the clock. It misses. (CHI: 12-22 FG, 0-3 3PT)

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To summarize, the Hawks ran mostly Isolation plays involving Joe Johnson (or another Hawk), followed by screen plays involving Smith. The Bulls on the other hand ran a lot of pick and rolls. Both teams had their fair share of fastbreak opportunities (the main reason they shot over 50%). Both teams had moments of excellent defense followed by some real blunders in judgement typical of the 2K AI. There were post ups, drive and kicks, and no cheap screen plays or cheese dunks. There were moments of indecision by the CPU, but that is hardly untypical of a real NBA game. All in all, this was a very realistic replication of what real basketball is supposed to be.