Derrick Coleman is Massively OP
The rosters in NBA Street Vol. 2 are based on the 2002-2003 NBA season. That year, Derrick Coleman, nearing the end of his career, averaged 9.4 points per game. He was a serviceable role player on an above-average Philadelphia 76ers team that was built around the dynamic Allen Iverson.
That same Allen Iverson stars for the 76ers in NBA Street and he has the skill-set to shine on the asphalt: speed, agility, explosiveness, a killer crossover and a nice headband. Yet it has been his older, slower, less dexterous teammate who has been making my life miserable in perhaps the greatest NBA game ever made.
An ankle-shattering crossover, then a step-back 3-pointer. A between-the-legs, 360 windmill dunk on my entire team. A block at one end followed by a tomahawk jam at the other, where his knees grazed the top of the backboard. Time and time again, Derrick Coleman has delivered well above reasonable expectation and foiled my attempts to beat the Sixers.
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I've currently got the PlayStation 2 hooked up and I'm making my way through a handful of games, the best of which is NBA Street Vol. 2. I greatly enjoyed the first instalment back in the day, but I completely missed the sequels, so I'm making amends now. I'm currently chipping away at the NBA Challenge mode, where you visit different parts of the US - would not recommend doing that in real life right now - playing select groups of NBA teams before facing a lineup of local legends and all-timers. I started off on easy, so I could get back into the swing of things, playing as my Phoenix Suns, featuring Stephon Marbury, Shawn Marion and Amar'e Stoudemire. After a while, on easy, the winning got a little too automatic, shots too easily blocked and alley oops caught twenty feet in the air with 100% accuracy. So, for the next round, I upped the difficulty to medium and switched teams to the New York Knicks, with a threesome of Sprewell, Houston and McDyess. The jump in difficulty was significant, but after a few attempts, I was able to beat most teams. That was until I hit the 76ers.
I just could not hang with them. Iverson was wreaking havoc, but that was to be expected. Keith Van Horn was doing things that Keith Van Horn should not be doing, like hanging off the ring by his forearm and just jumping high in general, but I could mostly keep him in check. Coleman, however, was owning me. He was scoring at will and destroying us defensively, never biting on pump fakes and blocking anything within his orbit. At one point, I thought he'd actually killed Allan Houston, having rejected ball and player into the chain-link fence. I was worried I might have to dust off Shandon Anderson for the next game, but fortunately fatalities were toggled off.
After several failed attempts, I did the reasonable thing and switched the difficulty back down to easy. And with that I beat the 76ers. I've since started a new round, this time with the Dallas Mavericks - Nash, Finley, Nowitzki or Van Exel - and switched the difficulty back to medium. It's still hard as nails and most teams require 3-4 attempts, but at least Coleman's out of the way.
Were games more difficult back in the day or am I just worse at them? The answer is yes.
Derrick Coleman's GOAT-like antics remind me of Shaquille O'Neal in NBA Live '97. As in real life, he could bulldoze anyone in the post, but he was also more than capable of draining three-pointers, something that the real version most certainly was not. I can still recall arguments with my brother whenever he picked the Lakers for a head-to-head, as I protested Shaq's unrealistic touch from behind the arc, which awarded a truly unfair advantage when paired with his ability to brutalise my 4-guard-lineup Phoenix Suns down low. Dozens of two-player battles were abandoned well short of full time due to our persistent arguing, mostly about Shaq.
Coleman aside, I'm falling in love with NBA Street Vol. 2. It gets everything right, much as the first game did, but also has the extra trimmings that elevate it from very-good to exceptional. Take, for example, the introductory screens. The pre-intro screen, a shot of NBA legal waffle, features the opening chords from Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth's T.R.O.Y. It fades out into silence as the intro movie loads, which you'll skip, and then a blissful sax kicks in at the title screen, just like it does on the actual record. Guitar, pause, sax; I reminisce, I reminisce. A perfect touch, beautifully implemented. I'm bopping before I've even set foot on the court for my Coleman-induced nightmare.
Bobbito Garcia on MC duties is the finishing touch. DJ, hip-hop luminary and renowned streetballer, Bobbito, aka DJ Cucumber Slice and Kool Bob Love, can make any old nonsense sound like the musings of a word-genius. He brings an unparalleled energy to each game, and the sheer volume of soundbytes is such that you rarely hear the same raving more than once per game.
"You're like a broken teacup. You got no handle!"
"You better pull your socks back up because he just shook the elastic out of them!"Bobbito can make anything sound profound. Or at the very least, exciting.
Once I've had my fill of Vol. 2, which is unlikely to be any time soon, the PS2 will go back into its box where it'll stay for several months or more. But my NBA Street experience needn't end there, as I have an unplayed copy of Vol. 3 on GameCube that I'd like to get to as soon as possible.
Here's hoping they nerfed Derrick Coleman.
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