Tag Archives: Chicago Bulls

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at my Franchise game with the Minnesota Timberwolves in NBA Live 2003.

I’ve had a number of memorable franchise and career mode games over the years. My Dynasty games with the Chicago Bulls in NBA Live 2004 and NBA Live 06 are among my all-time favourite basketball gaming experiences. Likewise, I had a blast with MyCAREER in NBA 2K13, NBA 2K17, and NBA 2K19, and I’m still playing through the mode in NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4. At the same time, I’ve had some games where I haven’t achieved completion or closure, such as my 1998 season in NBA Live 96 PC, and my Sacramento Kings Franchise in NBA Live 2002.

My Franchise with the Minnesota Timberwolves in NBA Live 2003 PC is another example of a “failed” game. Of course, labelling such games as “failures” probably isn’t the right way of looking at things. I’d actually like to delve into that topic in more depth sometime, but my Timberwolves Franchise does stand as an example of how completion is what we make it. Or, to put it another way, as long as it was fun while it lasted, it’s ultimately neither a failure nor wasted time. That Franchise was certainly memorable for me even if it wasn’t successful, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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If you’ve subscribed to the NLSC YouTube channel, then you may have already seen this week’s instalment of the NBA 2K14 Retro Series. If not, you’re in for a radical treat, as it’s a re-creation of Game 4 of the 1991 NBA Finals between Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers!

Why Game 4 of the 1991 NBA Finals in particular? Well, I originally intended it to be the title-clinching Game 5, but I neglected to make some necessary adjustments to the Lakers’ lineup to accurately portray that contest. Obviously, these highlights would still work as a re-imagining of a non-specific clash from that Finals series, but I decided to make it Game 4 as it lines up with MJ doing it all at the offensive end in that game, from pouring in buckets to racking up assists. Indeed, he dished out more assists than Magic in Game 4, and his final line of 29 points and 12 assists is very close to the actual box score. Check it out!

As always, there’ll be more fun on the way very soon, so be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content! Remember that Dee and I are also open to suggestions for games that you’d like to see us play, so feel free to hit us up. Also be sure to submit your best plays to Dee to be featured in the weekly Top 10 countdown!

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at the transitional rosters of the 1999 lockout season, as captured in NBA Live 99 PC.

It’s been 25 years since a lockout led to NBA games being cancelled for the first time, with the threat of an entire season being lost. I’ll admit that I wasn’t paying attention to the looming labour crisis as a teenage Chicago Bulls fan in 1998. I was focused on following the action, hoping that Michael Jordan would win another scoring title and the Bulls would end the year as champions once more. The rumours that concerned me were that it would be The Last Dance, which it obviously was. Furthermore, the magazines I was reading weren’t really covering it, and NBA Action definitely wasn’t!

Fortunately, the season was saved when ultimatums were issued – though, it wouldn’t be the last labour dispute – and the 1999 lockout ended on January 20th, 1999. On top of shortening the 1999 campaign to 50 games, it also meant that video games such as NBA Live had to launch with final 1998 season rosters. Fortunately for PC gamers, EA Sports released an official patch that not only fixed a few bugs, but updated the game for the new season. As such, NBA Live 99 PC in its updated state does preserve the rosters from a weird, yet memorable season. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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It’s time for the next instalment of the NBA 2K14 Retro Series! This time we’re flashing back to the 2005 season, with a showdown between a young Chicago Bulls team, and the 7 Seconds Or Less Phoenix Suns. And yes, the fact that that’s a retro matchup is a reminder of how quickly time flies!

Needless to say, as a Chicago Bulls fan, my fondest memories of the team are from the championship years of the 90s. However, I also have a great appreciation for those Baby Bulls squads that were beginning to grow up, and it was particularly exciting to see the team become relevant again in 2005. Meanwhile, Steve Nash’s return to Phoenix that same season helped make them a team to watch for years to come. It’s possible to re-create the 2005 Bulls and Suns in NBA 2K14 – minus a couple of players, of course – so I knew it’d make for a fun matchup for the NBA 2K14 Retro Series. Watch how it went down!

Since we’re firmly in the DVD era by this point, I haven’t added any retro filters to these highlights. However, keep your eyes peeled for another classic commercial! There are more instalments coming in the Retro Series, including old school showdowns, so stay tuned. In the meantime, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, and feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m reflecting on some throwback stints, as portrayed by the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06.

Tinkering with the rosters to set up fun scenarios and minimalist modding projects has become a staple of my retro basketball gaming. I enjoy the challenge of seeing what can be done with the assets I have at my disposal, and it’s gratifying whenever I’m able to cobble together something that I can at least get a game or two out of. Some attempts are more successful than others as far as creating playable scenarios, but if nothing else, I’ll get some interesting screenshots out of my endeavours. That’s what happened while I was on my extended retro kick with NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360.

While exploring the idea of a makeshift classic teams roster – something that fell apart thanks to a roster editing glitch that can happen way too easily – I ended up placing a number of players on their former teams, and taking some screenshots. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with those screens, but I didn’t want my efforts to go to waste, and figured that they’d come in handy for an article somewhere down the line. I may find further use for them yet, but for now, here are some throwback stints that I set up in the Xbox 360 version of NBA Live 06. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #501 of the NLSC Podcast!

The 2024 NBA season has tipped off, and this year, we’ve resolved to follow it with more enthusiasm from the very start! To that end, we’re sharing our thoughts as the new campaign gets underway, from our early picks for contenders and pretenders to what we expect from our favourite teams, namely the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics. We also react to Victor Wembanyama’s first few official NBA games, and discuss other players we’re keeping an eye on. Also, since it’s Halloween, we reflect on some spooky moments on the virtual hardwood, including an overlooked horror-themed hoops game released for the Sega Master System.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:02:35 — 43.3MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

With the focus being placed on the PlayStation 5/Xbox Series X|S release, we didn’t learn much about the PC version of NBA 2K24 during the preview season. As it turns out, there was some good news, as the game has native mod support this year. It’s also quite solid on the sticks, as you’ll hear Dee and I discuss in the next episode of the NLSC Podcast.

Before that drops however, we can show you what the gameplay in NBA 2K24 PC is like! Dee has uploaded two highlight reels to our YouTube channel, with the first coming from a game he played against the CPU, using his Boston Celtics to take on the New York Knicks. It spotlights the footplanting and player movement – two positive attributes that we discuss on the show – as well as a variety of highlight plays.

The second video is from a Play With Friends Online game between me and Dee. In this head-to-head showdown, I took control of the Chicago Bulls, while Dee used the Charlotte Hornets, setting up a battle between Lonzo Ball and LaMelo Ball. The Big Baller Brothers had their moments, but Zach LaVine ended up stealing the show in what was a fun battle from start to finish!

You can check out both highlight reels below. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, and as always, let us know what you’d like to see us play. There’ll obviously be more NBA 2K24 videos moving forward, but we’ll still be dipping into our collection to play old favourites as well, so please feel free to hit us up with any suggestions.

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As we discussed in Episode #487 of the NLSC Podcast, over the weekend Dee and I connected on Parsec to play a couple of games of NBA Action 98, with Dee compiling and uploading the highlights. In case you haven’t seen them yet…here they are!

The game was a re-creation of the epic 1998 Eastern Conference Finals showdown between the Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers. As was the case at the time, Michael Jordan is absent, but in his place is #98, 1 Guard. As you’ll see, 1 Guard shares MJ’s legendary talents, pouring in the points in a variety of ways as we picked up the victory. You’ll also see Dennis Rodman sporting his colourful hair, Scottie Pippen doing his thing, and Virtual Hardwood Legend, Scott Burrell. On the other side, Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, and Dale Davis were doing everything they could to stand in the way of the win. Check it out!

NBA Action 98 is just one of many games that we’ve posted highlights from over on the NLSC YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe for more basketball gaming content! Once again, Dee and I both have extensive basketball video game collections, so feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play.

Thanks to a combination of Parsec and the Xbox App, Dee and I have further expanded the range of basketball video games that we can connect on to play.  This past weekend, Dee hosted a session of NBA 2K14 for Xbox One, and put together the highlights for our YouTube channel.

The reel is from a co-op game in which we took on the Orlando Magic with the Chicago Bulls. As you can see, our aim was to emulate the style of play of the 2014 Bulls, and use the players to their real strengths, while obviously having a blast and producing highlights. You’ll see Derrick Rose doing D-Rose things, Joakim Noah contributing everywhere with great energy, and a young Jimmy Butler demonstrating flashes of brilliance. As sim gamers, we pride ourselves in playing a realistic style, and assembling highlight reels that are fun to watch. Check it out!

We discussed our game of NBA 2K14 and our satisfaction with the highlights it produced in this week’s NLSC Podcast, which will be out soon. Stay tuned for that, and in the meantime, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content! As always, feel free to hit us up with suggestions of any games that you’d like to see us play, and we’ll do our best to get them into the rotation.

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at Ben Wallace and his short stint with the Chicago Bulls, and how I associate it with NBA Live 07.

I had to check the archives to see if I’ve ever listed my favourite players in any of my articles. The closest I’ve come was naming my All-Time Starting Five in The Friday Five back in 2014, though I’m not sure I’d still choose that lineup today! One of those players definitely isn’t a favourite of mine, while another one is rapidly becoming a former favourite (seriously, Pip: stop it, get some help!). In any event, while my favourites have come up on the NLSC Podcast and I’ve alluded to them in various articles over the years, I haven’t yet dedicated an entire feature to discussing them.

By the same token, I haven’t ever discussed my least favourite players, except in passing. One name that you may have heard me mention on our podcast is Ben Wallace. Although I acknowledge his talent and importance as a member of the 2004 Detroit Pistons, I’m absolutely not a fan of Big Ben. That’s not to cast aspersions on him personally, as I obviously don’t know him. We all have our sporting villains though, and ironically, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year was solidified as one of mine after playing for my favourite team. It’s a stint that’s represented in one of my all-time least favourite games, NBA Live 07. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at my 1998 season roster mod for NBA Live 96 PC.

It’s overwhelming to think that the NLSC has been around for more than a quarter of a century! Our founders tipped things off in 1996, I took over in 2001, and we’re still around all these years later. Through all the ups and downs, moving to different hosts, and putting up with some nonsense along the way, we’ve managed to outlast a ton of websites. We’ve also outlasted more than a couple of basketball video game series (and indeed, video game studios and publishers). Unfortunately we’ve lost some mods and resources along the way, but we’ve still got some fun stuff from the early days.

To that end, our archives have preserved some of my earliest roster mods for NBA Live 96 PC. Upon discovering the NLSC in 1997 and all of the work that people in the community were doing, I was inspired to try my hand at some modding as well. I released that work through my own site – the NBA Live Domain – and felt immense pride when our founders added it to the database of mods on the NLSC. How do I feel about those mods today? It’s been a while since I’ve played with or taken a long look at them, so I thought I’d start by revisiting my 1998 roster for NBA Live 96, which I actually co-credited to my cousin Clinton. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m reflecting on it being 25 years since the Chicago Bulls’ sixth championship, aka The Last Dance.

I admire fans who continue to support teams that haven’t won a championship, or even had the opportunity to compete for one by making it through to the NBA Finals. As rough as it’s been to be a Chicago Bulls fan in the 21st century, I’m comforted by the memories of watching their incredible run in the 90s. That’s not to say that I don’t want to see them get back there, but I had it pretty good growing up as a Bulls fan; far better than fans of most other teams! As such, with so many bandwagoners, and fans that follow players rather than teams, I respect loyalty to clubs despite tough times.

Of course, those memories of the glory days are getting further into the past! To put it into perspective, there were fewer years between Bill Russell’s last championship and Michael Jordan’s first, than there are between MJ’s first ring and today. Sure, that’s just how the passage of time works, but it doesn’t make it any less wild to get your head around! As the 2000s became the 2010s, and the 2010s became the 2020s, every Bulls title began passing milestones that would’ve felt like such a long time ago to a kid like me in the 90s. As an adult in 2023, it seems like it was only yesterday! And now, The Last Dance is a quarter of a century old. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Following our session with NBA Live 15, Dee went back a year to NBA Live 14, and put together some highlights from the game! Dee took control of the Chicago Bulls – moving an injured Derrick Rose back into the starting five – and faced Charlotte, who were in their last season as the Bobcats.

With some rough animations and other gameplay quirks, it isn’t easy to create highlights in NBA Live 14. However, Dee did a superb job of making the game look better than anyone else I’ve seen play it! From nifty midrange floaters and shots from Derrick Rose, to Jimmy Butler’s snatch-back into a jumper, to Carlos Boozer finishing strong around the rim, he pulled off some great plays. The CPU had some fine highlights of its own, and overall, Dee was able to spotlight the stronger points of an admittedly troubled release. See for yourself!

Dee and I will be discussing NBA Live 14 in this week’s NLSC Podcast, which drops this evening Australian time/tomorrow morning US time. In the meantime, you can listen to us revisit NBA Live 15 in last week’s episode. Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content, and don’t forget to hit us up with any suggestions for games that you’d like to see us play!

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five teams that were fun to use in video games, despite being unsuccessful in real life.

Unless you’re a diehard fan of them – or looking for a challenge – you’re probably not going to choose to play with a bad team in a video game. Mediocre teams can be more enjoyable as long as they have some talent at their disposal, but they’re generally not our first choice either. We tend to gravitate towards the teams with the top stars and talent, with whom we can win games and make spectacular plays. They’re far more appealing choices in franchise modes as well, since their deeper lineups facilitate a wider variety of trades, without having to completely gut the rotation.

Of course, many unsuccessful teams throughout the years have been much better on paper. Injuries may have derailed their season, or their players might’ve been a poor fit with no chemistry. Some years the competition is particularly tough, or they’re a young team that’s still developing. Whatever the case, these teams are actually fun and interesting to play with in video games, despite their lack of success in real life. In the hands of gamers, they can overachieve well beyond the most optimistic predictions. Here are five unsuccessful teams – which for the purposes of this list, means missing the Playoffs – that were exciting and intriguing options to play with in video games.

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #475 of the NLSC Podcast!

How does our enthusiasm for real basketball and the NBA motivate us to play video games? This week, we’re joining the community in reminiscing about the games and other circumstances that made us want to pick up a controller and hit the virtual hardwood! We also reflect on the very enjoyable but underrated AND1 Streetball for PlayStation 2, and marvel at the attention to detail on the women’s teams in NCAA March Madness 99, following a session with both games. There’s also been some great news for NBA 2K23 modding, while a play from last week’s Top 10 inspires a brief look back at the wide variety of instant replay angles in NBA Live 2000 PC.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:10:07 — 48.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!