Most of us grew up playing Live and are probably just getting into the 2K basketball series. Live will let you drive the ball in easily, or shoot threes with men in your face pretty easily. Now getting a players stroke down, or doing a few dribble moves will not work. If you try this style of play you will almost always get blown out. To win in 2K8 you have to set up plays, pass the ball around and take smart shots. You run plays by pressing the D-Pad to the right and picking a play from the menu that pops up. If you find a play that works, keep running it. A lot of people have found that the "Beluba Screen" which brings both your SG and SF to the perimeter elbow works because it gets the SG and SF off their defenders for an open 3. Another play that has seemed to work is the pick and roll. The P&R creates a mis-match for your PF or C(whoever sets the pick) and he will drive after you use the pick and with a good pass it makes for an easy bucket, foul or an "AND 1" play.