BuzzerBeater Forums

Hi comrades!
I've progressed to the second round of PO, but now i look for some valueable advice. It's never bad to get a wise advice, is it? Just unwilling to create a new topic.
There's my team. (166271)
My team is well balanced but my best aspect for the slight is outside defence as I caught great defensive guy (5672083) with OD 14 just before the deadline. Rest of my guards and main SF have OD = 9. Under the rim I've got one good defender with ID = 10 but my other two bigmen are more of attacking options with ID=7 and 8. And my rival is more dangerous inside, he has strong PF and likes to play LI but can also surprise with Motion or anything else.
I don't really care about his outside but should i choose 2-3 zone? Usually we play man mark to cover the best scorers individually. Will my pitbull SG not lose his target? We're always forcing the opponents for lots of turnovers, will we do it with 2-3?
Also he surprisingly started to play Full Court Pressure 7-8 games ago and still keeps it. I don't think it's a good idea as some people say it doesn't work. Especially since I have reasonable ball rally. 4 of 5 my starters have no troubles with Passing (7+ for everyone) but the last has PASS=1, HND=6. Should I replace him with guy who has PASS=8, HND=2 (just a very little worse in some other skills)?
Last time i visited his place we were beaten by 2 at the last second, i was playing TIE vs normal and tactics were Normal/Normal vs LI/FCP. So I guess he'll use the same again this time. Now location is my arena. I'll be playing TIE meanwhile my enth. has increased (it's 12 after the 1/4 game so will be 9-10 in the match day) and his one is near the standard mark of 5. It's up to game shape changes on Friday, we must not get down but their leader will be ok too cause they've got nice minutes this week.
Please tell me what you think! Any ideas of my defense, offense, win chances and etc.?

OK, in a similar vein (since we seem to be open to advice on playoff strategy in general....)

My team (22891) is #2 seed [15-7, WR 34424], scheduled to play @ #1 seed [19-3, WR 30200] next.

Regular season (~ 3 wks ago): my team won by 12 (46157891). What's different this time is (a) it's playoffs (obviously), (b) it's at HIS place this time; (c) I assume we had equivalent Enthusiasm then since it appears he played Normal all season and so did I up to the first game. Currently I've got Enthusiasm 11 (guessing it will be 8 by game time) so that's better for me; (d) added two additional players to my squad, salary ~ $10k and $12k so that's also an improvement for my squad [sorry, don't want to post more specific attributes in case my opponent is reading, but they're definitely better than the $3000 - $4000 players they replaced].

I think I have a realistic shot at winning this game, but if I am able to advance, the team from the other Conference is going to be Killer, no matter which one wins. I'd like to have the Enthusiasm edge in that case.

So, my question is.....do I play "Playoff Normal" to try to continue to build Enthusiasm, or "Playoff Crunch Time" to make sure to seal the deal this round? Does the improved Enthusiasm and additional players overcome the negative effect of switching from my Home Court to his?

Thanks for your opinions!

Thanks Manon!

I appreciate the info both about strategy and my (admittedly remedial) Forum skills! I rarely visit blogs or Bulletin Boards so I pretty much have ignored the 10 shortcuts you mentioned (except for bold, italics, &underline--even I figured those out!). What for other people is standard convention is sometimes new to me (like, for instance, how to create a logo and banner!)!

Follow-up question:

When a team does NOT play TIE, but plays "Normal" instead, what is the effect on Enthusiasm if it started above the "Ready (5)" level? It seems like TIE bumps your Enthusiasm by 3, and then it deteriorates by 1 each day until the next game. Is there maybe a smaller bump right after the game if you play "Normal" (after having bumped up your Enthusiasm by playing a series of games with TIE) or does it stay level or does it decline even before the usual daily drop?

Thanks again, guys!

Last edited by Knightman at 8/8/2012 4:38:18 PM