Monday Tip-Off: Matching MJ in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER
We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some reflections on matching MJ in Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER.
Obviously, simply saying that I’m reflecting on matching MJ is a huge spoiler for how Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER turned out! Of course, I’ve already revealed that via my story topic, and a highlight reel of the 2019 NBA Finals. To that end, this column isn’t intended to keep everyone in suspense about the results, but rather to share my thoughts as I continue to play through a full MyCAREER in NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4. Although I did take a break to play some other games that captured my attention, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I returned to complete my latest season.
While Year 6 did bear some similarities to the Drive for Five in my fifth season, in other ways it once again proved to be a unique journey with its own ups and downs. From vying for statistical feats, to players getting injured, to contending with different matchups in a league that’s seen a variety of changes over the course of six seasons, I was definitely as invested in Year 6 as any prior campaign. Even though the cutscenes didn’t exactly reflect it, I actually felt like a veteran who’s been around the block a few times; a feeling that I enjoyed as it made the year special. And so, on top of matching MJ with six titles, here’s how Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER went down.
Entering Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, I’d already ticked several goals off the list. I’ve ensured a future induction into the Hall of Fame, established new assists records, broken the single game scoring record, averaged a triple-double four out of my five seasons, led the Philadelphia 76ers to 70 and 80-win campaigns, and captured five championships in a row. In this unrealistic virtual reality, my avatar has already built a strong case for being the GOAT! However, in addition to long-term goals such as challenging the all-time scoring record and placing a ring on every digit, there was a mark I wanted to shoot for in 2019: finally going undefeated in the regular season.
I was locked in on that goal after going 81-1 in each of the previous two years. It’s hardly a win-loss record to be ashamed of, but those two losses were both the result of carelessness. One of them came at the hands of rival Jackson Ellis and the Detroit Pistons, which frustrating as it was, did make for a good story. Still, I was determined not to repeat that mistake and let any games slip, and as a result, we were undefeated at the end of February. There was a close call against the Phoenix Suns on the 9th, a game in which we still trailed by more than 20 points in the fourth quarter. Thanks to a furious rally and my 76-point outburst, we won 126-120 to keep the streak alive.
The streak reached 65 before it was finally snapped by the Memphis Grizzlies. Once again I only had myself to blame, as I messed around too much through the first three quarters and didn’t get serious until they had all the momentum, and a late lead that I just couldn’t cut into as the clock dwindled into the final minute. It was disheartening to have made it so far into the season without a loss, only to blow the streak on such a winnable game. At the same time, it was undeniably poetic: underestimating a lottery-bound team and expecting to cruise to victory after flipping the switch in the fourth, only to suffer an embarrassing loss. We see that happen a lot in the real NBA, too!
In a way, the winning streak coming to an end did take some pressure off during the latter third of the season. Nevertheless, I aimed to go undefeated the rest of the way, and finished with an 81-1 record for the third consecutive year. Sadly, I wasn’t quite as lucky when it came to the season’s other subplot, namely Terry Hanson’s continued relegation to the bench. With Michael Carter-Williams still starting at point guard and shifting me over to shooting guard in the process, I was hoping that Carmelo Anthony would make good on his threat to walk in the 2018 offseason. Surprisingly he didn’t, and thus Top Floor Terry remained a reserve, playing in around 13 minutes per game.
Thanks to some weird rotation logic, a majority of those 13 minutes somehow didn’t overlap with the 41 that my avatar played. As such, I wasn’t able to play with Terry anywhere near as much as I would’ve liked. When I did, I was often slotted in at the two, which meant I couldn’t call plays for him. I did my best to feed him when we were on the floor together, so that he could at least pad his scoring average as much as possible in his limited minutes. Hanson did start a number of games when Melo and MCW were out of action with minor injuries here and there, and I made the most of those opportunities to help him put up numbers, and toss him lobs for highlight plays.
A couple of times I tried to get Melo or MCW traded, but as with previous attempts, they didn’t show up as options when I brought up not getting along with a teammate in my random meetings with the owner. And so, I resolved to make the most of my minutes alongside Top Floor Terry, scarce as they were. Meanwhile, Nerlens Noel was named an All-Star alongside my avatar, and was on the receiving end of many alley-oops from both MCW and myself. Jarrett Jack announced that he would retire at the end of the year, potentially freeing up the Sixth Man role if Melo stuck around as the starter. Again, the rotation logic was hardly ideal, but I managed to make it work.
After leading the league in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks in each of the past four seasons, I consciously pulled back on my stat-padding habits at the start of the 2019 campaign. This resulted in Kevin Durant racing out to an early lead in the scoring race, though I still comfortably led the league in assists. It was a different challenge to defer more to my teammates and not chase big numbers, especially after averaging 42.4 ppg the previous year. I did end up leading the league in scoring as well as assists, steals, and minutes again, but I didn’t finish top in rebounds or blocks. Indeed, I fell short of averaging a triple-double for the first time since my rookie year.
This led to a subplot in my story topic that my player was beginning to feel the effects of five consecutive years of deep Playoff runs. I believe this ended up subconsciously affecting the way I played, as there were times when I felt like I was struggling to get buckets that had come very easily in previous seasons; either that, or there’s a hidden aging mechanic in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER! Either way, it became fun to role-play as a star that was feeling some lingering fatigue from playing a lot of basketball the past five years, including stretches where I had to carry an undermanned 76ers squad. My numbers were still great across the board, but generally fell short of my 2018 stats.
To that point, even though my style of play remained largely the same, Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER still felt different to the previous campaigns. There wasn’t the same drive to top the league in all five major statistical categories. If not for KD slumping and a stretch where I needed to score more to keep winning, I might’ve lost the scoring race, or it would’ve likely at least been closer. We were winning and I was still enjoying myself, so I didn’t mind being more passive early on. Whenever Terry Hanson did get to start and play decent minutes, it was fun deferring to him. Again, feeling more challenged on offense seemed only appropriate given the circumstances.
When you play MyCAREER, it’s very easy to get stuck in a bubble, focusing only on winning the next game, your team’s place in the standings, and your individual stats. I’ve made it a point to pay more attention to the rest of the league, especially as the Playoffs are approaching and seeds are being decided. Although I care about the path I’ll likely have to the NBA Finals, I tend to focus on the teams that are the most likely to come out of the West. My Finals opponents during the first five seasons of NBA 2K14 MyCAREER were all underdogs, so I was hoping that Year 6 would produce a tougher, higher-seeded opponent that would be far more likely to contend for a title.
The Oklahoma City Thunder emerged as the frontrunners, thanks in no small part to Durant’s early scoring barrage. The Minnesota Timberwolves also had a fine season, and while the Los Angeles Lakers were several games back as they finished with the third seed, a showdown with LeBron James was certainly an appealing prospect too! However, once again the postseason belonged to the underdogs. The eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors took down the Thunder in six games, and the Portland Trail Blazers came back from 3-1 down to oust the Lakers. The San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets also scored upsets over the Timberwolves and New Orleans Pelicans.
With every lower seed advancing from the first round, I wasn’t expecting an epic NBA Finals matchup. The Warriors and Trail Blazers both made it through to the Western Conference Finals, where Golden State triumphed. I probably would’ve been more excited if I hadn’t faced a series of underdogs by that point, but it was nice that the Warriors – who haven’t been nearly as successful in this reality – finally broke through, and as the eighth seed no less. Stephen Curry isn’t as decorated as his real life counterpart, so that was another fun subplot heading into the Finals. Also, while I’d beaten the Warriors twice in the regular season, they did give me some trouble.
As such, even though I swept the NBA Finals for an undefeated run through the 2019 Playoffs, the Warriors did have me on the ropes at times. They jumped out to an early lead in Game 1, and it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that I was able to finally, firmly take control. We blew them out in Game 3, but in Game 2 and the deciding Game 4, they kept pace with us throughout until we finally pulled away in the second half. Curry scored 40 points to my 45 in the championship-clinching game, keeping things interesting and making sure that I didn’t get too comfortable. However, a 118-101 victory secured my sixth ring, in turn matching MJ in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER!
It’s always special when you win a virtual NBA championship after playing an entire 82-game season plus Playoffs on 12 minute quarters. People can talk about how it’s more challenging to play against other gamers in the competitive scene, and that’s a fair point, but that doesn’t mean that facing the CPU isn’t fun. Obviously it can be a tough opponent – and it certainly made me earn a few wins during Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER – but that’s not all there is to the experience. There’s putting up stats, chasing records, and self-imposed challenges. There’s satisfaction in creating a virtual history that you can look back on, and seeing a season through to the end.
Sharing my highlights throughout the season also made Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER even more special. At Dee’s suggestion, I compiled highlight reels every ten games or so, and uploaded them to the NLSC YouTube channel. This proved to be an effective way of sharing highlights that may not be unique or spectacular enough to be featured in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, but are still fun to watch. It was also a way of spotlighting great plays by my CPU teammates. Even though my avatar is undoubtedly the star of the show, my CPU teammates can and will make a ton of great plays without my involvement, so I definitely wanted to show them off as well.
Indeed, the intelligence and assertiveness of CPU teammates is a major reason why I’ve remained hooked on NBA 2K14 MyCAREER. The AI isn’t as competent in many of the subsequent games, whether it’s pulling off an amazing highlight or simply just completing a basic play. I’ve seen Terry Hanson perform crafty double spins to split defenders, Carmelo Anthony size up his man before powering his way to the basket, and Michael Carter-Williams break ankles and make some fancy passes of his own. Throw in the excellent animations and other benefits of the old Eco-Motion engine, and NBA 2K14 still feels great on the sticks, and truly alive on the virtual hardwood.
I expect that I’ll continue to produce periodic highlight reels going forward. It was fun to create some extra content based on what I’m playing, and the reels are a convenient way of going back and reliving the memories. It’s the same reason that I’ve maintained a story topic about my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER. I was a little late in getting it started as I once thought that finally playing through the first season would be my farewell to MyCAREER, but that clearly wasn’t the case! I’m glad that I’m no longer committed to joylessly grinding away in the latest NBA 2K. As I’ve said before, it turns out that I wasn’t completely sick of MyCAREER, but rather the approach to it in newer games!
Having completed Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER and matched MJ in rings, I’ve gone much further than I have in any previous career or franchise where I haven’t simulated any games. I originally planned to play as long as it took to qualify for the Hall of Fame, and then simulate the remaining years to catch up to today. However, I just can’t bring myself to do that now! I’ve grown far too keen on the idea of playing the mode through to the current season while being responsible for every win and stat, and truly experiencing a lengthy career on the virtual hardwood. I’m closing in on the all-time steals record, and I’d love to take a run at the assists and scoring records, too.
I’ll need to prioritise NBA 2K14 MyCAREER a little more than I have recently to stand a chance of catching up anytime soon, but the fact that I’ve finished Year 6 is a testament to my enthusiasm for the mode. Entering Year 7, there are some interesting scenarios involving my Philadelphia 76ers and other teams, but those are stories for another time. For now, I’m thrilled to have finished another season and the story that it ended up telling. Thanks to a combination of deliberate and subconscious choices that affected my play, the dice rolls that determined injuries and results, and a plethora of spectacular highlights, it was another wild ride from start to finish. Bring on Year 7!
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