Ladies and gentlemen, let me indulge you with my defensive tips for SuperMax & how stop the ultra 5-out cheesers. For what it’s worth, I win about 80% of my games (in SM); so if your win record is below that, I can likely be of help.
First and foremost, you need to design your team appropriately. If all 5 players on your team can’t shoot the 3, or can’t defend multiple positions, you are at a SERIOUS disadvantage. Ideally, all 5 of your players should be able to consistently nail the wide-open 3 & also defend 4-5 positions (this is why height is so important; especially for Wing players). What this translates to, is that every single person whose not running a full-blown God-squad, should at least have Ruby/Amy PG13/KD and Diamond LBJ. AD, KP, Boogie, etc. are all choice bigs.
Once you’ve done this, place your best perimeter defender on your opponent’s most utilized player (for me, this is without question, my Diamond Kareem). Then, depending on his play style, change your on-ball defense to either moderate or gap. If it’s an elite player that can drive and shoot, do not place your on-ball D on tight or Smother. Because defense is fucking broken this year; you’ll just be giving your opponent easy blow-by animations. I usually start with moderate, and then switch to gap if they’re extremely drive-heavy.
Anyways, from here on out, all you need to do is try and predict when they’re going to drive &/or shoot. The more space there is between the defender and the ball-handler, harder it is to drive past him. Because the online meta is “either wide-open dunk or 3-pointer off the catch”, you have to do everything in your power to prevent this. I’d much rather go against a rain of lightly contested, 35 ft 3s from Diamond T-Mac/PD-Harden, vice wide-open corner 3s from my opponent’s Amy PG13s and PorzinGod’s. Let them try and beat you with badges/stats; not an unguardabke offensive set.
By playing gap defense, you’re forcing them to switch to ISO/hero-ball (“MyPARK”) type shit; while it can be extremely effective (especially with OP Cards that MyTEAM is now chalked full with), it’s still not as effective as a properly executed 5-Out offense (which essentially always guarantees either a dunk or a wide-open 3-pointer, off the pass- receiving the benefit of most players’ Dimer AND Catch and Shoot buffs).
Please, for the love of God, do not play a zone defense. This shit only works (sometimes) against 1-dimensional cheesers. Once you get in the Diamond tier, most of the players you face will be able to expose a zone-defense pretty easily. If every one can shoot the ball, all it takes is 2-3 simple passes, to poke massive holes through the Swiss cheese defense that is 2K’s 3-2 & 2-3 Zone.
If you’re having a hard time stopping the P-N-R/P-N-P or a play that your opponent is spamming every possession, I find that a switch-all defensive set work best (and this is where your lineup composition becomes even more important, as to not give-up glaring mismatches that your opponent can expose). Unless you have an insanely retarded defensive lineup like mine (Diamond Hakeem, Magic, Kareem, MJ, LBJ, PD Garnett, etc.), you’ll still likely give up some mismatches; this is Ok. Forcing your opponent to try and convert over their mismatches, is still far more effective than letting your opponent get the wide-open drive or shot, based on whether you went over or under the screen. A tall perimeter player (Magic, KD, PG13, Giannis, etc.) will be able to adequately contest dominant/huge center’s post moves. Likewise, defensively versatile centers with high lateral quickness, can switch onto guards and defend them no problem (Kareem, Hakeem, KAT, etc. become that much more valuable).
Set your PoEs to “some crash, others run” (what this does is cause only your PF and Centee to crash the glass, while your 3 wing player’s leak-out). You’re basically still going to get just as many rebounds, compared to “crash the glass”, but you’re also going to be in really good position for easy transition buckets from from SG and SF, who you can outlet pass to immediately after the rebound.
Put “play physical” on as well. This leads to more fouls, but also a shit ton more turnovers (& overall “pressure”; which is intangibly invaluable)
My defensive philosophy is as such: "force your opponent to do what they’re not used to, adapt to what they like to spam & start getting more aggressive with your predictions, & then reap the benefits that your properly executed defense nets you. All it takes is for me to clamp the fuck out of someone for 2-3 possessions, go up by 5-6+ point, and then watch then start getting angry/flustered, and forcing terrible full-court passes, while my momentum continues. Defense can turn the tide so quickly & demoralize your opponent. Let this be an integral part of your game.
without ANY competition.