In real life basketball, many games are decided by just a few points. It’s often the case that if a team had shot better from the line, they would have won. Depending on your style of play in NBA 2K12, free throws can often be just as important. I know when I first started playing NBA 2K basketball, the first few games I had a chance to win I lost because I couldn’t ice the game. This was because I didn’t know my players free throw releases. Once I lost, I knew I had to do one thing – learn how to practice my free throws in NBA 2K12.
[catalyst_hook_box name=”googleinpost”]So after I decided to make the Indiana Pacers the team I wanted to master, I knew one of the first things I would need to do besides master their shot releases was to master their free throw shot releases.
The best way to do that is to go into free throw practice mode and start shooting free throws with all the players on your roster. Once you are in there, it’s a good idea to have a game plan in mind to get the most out of your practice session.
The first thing that you need to know once you get into the gym to practice your free throws is that you will be at the line already with an info box underneath you that has the player’s information that you are shooting with. Next to that, you will find four release points. Those are too early, slightly early, perfect and late. To the right, you will see your free throws made, free throws attempted and your percentage of made free throws. These tools help you keep track of your progress.
Each player on your team will have a different release. You’ll need to learn the timing of when to release the shot for each player. What you will want to do is take a few shots. As you take these shots, the game will tell you whether you were early, perfect or late. Pay close attention to this feedback and adjust your release accordingly.
Some players have releases that are easy to master because their “window” of perfect release is big. With some players, they have smaller windows of perfect release and it’s harder to nail it. It will take some practice to get their releases perfectly.
Here are a couple of tips to help you. While I don’t use it, you will notice that the circle under your player will flash blue right at the point of the perfect release. I tend to watch their hands. When their hands stop their backward motion and begin to move towards the basket, somewhere in there will be your perfect release.
Once you get the hang of finding a players perfect release, here are three drills that I use to improve my free throws in NBA 2K12. I recommend doing them at least once a week.
DRILL #1 – Shoot 50 shots with each player and record your percentage.
I like to go in and shoot with every player on my roster. I think 50 is a good number. With 12 players on your roster this means you will shoot about 600 free throws. This will take you about an hour. My goal with each player is two fold. The first is to hit as many out of 50 as I can. The second is to get as high a percentage of perfect releases as I can. I think it’s also a good idea to record these practice sessions so you can see if you are improving or not.
Here’s a spreadsheet that shows my practice sessions so you can see how I record my results.
DRILL #2 – Shoot with each player until you hit 10 consecutive free throws in a row
The next drill I do sometimes is to shoot with each player on my team until I hit 10 in a row. This is extra tough with some players but it really makes you take the time to find each player’s perfect release. With some players, you will nail the 10 right away but with others it’s going to be a challenge.
I shoot all10 free throws even if I don’t hit all ten. I then go to the menu and reset the counter. Then I start another ten. Even if I miss one of the first few, I still shoot all ten. Then I reset. I repeat this until I get 10 in a row with each player.
DRILL #3 – Shoot as many consecutive free throws as you can with each player
Another thing I like to do is see how many free throws I can make in a row with each player. I shoot until I hit and then shoot until I miss. If I miss the first shot, I will reset the counter. Then shoot again. If I hit that shot I will keep shooting until I miss a shot.
If you do these things, you will quickly find that you can shoot a very high percentage from the line. I shoot over 80 percent from the line as a team with my Pacers after just two sessions.
Here’s a video of one of my practice sessions.