Recently, I’ve decided to try out the Park – a Mode I’m not very fond of. The Park is where players gravitate toward when they can’t win in the Pro-Am or Rec. While there are 2K events happening, you’ll often find “Park-heads” on the one court outside the event playing. If you aren’t used to the Park, it’s more fast-paced, the difficulty is a lot easier, and the cheese is impossible to contain. Are you worried about not being competitive in the Park? Here’s how to survive.
Your Lineup Matters
There are levels to playing the Park. I’ve experienced it with my 53-60 Park record. If you don’t have shooters and playmakers on the court, it’ll be hard to win. Even if you have a shooter, a defender, and a quick big (6’11″ or shorter) you can manage to pull a victory out. Most people think the Park is a breeze and go in thinking they can play with anyone. Next thing you know you end up like me and have a negative record. Now, I know why I end up making eight builds in 2K.
Everything is different
Being someone who’s addicted to Rec and Pro-Am, I was instantly thrown off by how different the Park was and started to realize a few things. The side-to-side cheese, speed boosts, and steal success are very relevant in the Park. You even think to put the ball on the ground in front of your defender, or it’ll be gone before you can blink.
On top of that, it’s important to not hold “LT” when defending because it hurts you when trying to stay with your man. In other words, if you don’t want that side-to-side cheese then stop hounding that “LT” button on the controller.
The difficulty is set to “Pro,” which means the way you play in your career is the way you’ll play in Park. A
Gameplay
Don’t think for a second that the Park requires no skill because it does. It requires basic basketball knowledge. The ball moves quicker than the individual, so if you ball hog or dribble on the court from side-to-side to get yourself open, you’ll end up with no one to play with.
Make the extra pass, because if you don’t, the game will change in a matter of seconds. For example, on a fast break, a teammate pulled up from three at the hash and missed it. Then he didn’t get back on defense. Suddenly, we were down by two instead of up by four. That’s how quick the Park is, one wrong move and you’ll lose.
Utilize screens, wrap around, fade to the corner, and don’t be stagnant. Shooters will shoot themselves blind if you let them. Ball handlers will turn into James Harden and turn the ball over. If you don’t play team defense you’ll lose.
The Park is a very fragile place to some people because either you love it or you hate to the point where you never look at the courts when you load up into the neighborhood.
How are you doing in the Park? Are you surviving? DM me @JMan_Persources on Instagram or @JMan_PerSources on Twitter.