I HATE slowdown.  It gives crappy teams that have a small chance of winning a much larger shot at the upset.  How can you combat  the slowdown?  If you know it's coming, do you not run the uptempo, or even play the slowdown also? I've gotten beat with the slowdown quite a bit in games that I am favored.  I'm getting kinda ticked.  Can someone please set me straight here?

Unless I missed an engine change:

Tempo has no effect on the opposing team...i.e.  if you run uptempo, it doesn't affect your opponent's stamina.  However, your team will fatigue more readily.  Tempo dictates how long you hold the ball before attempting a shot.
 Crappy teams run slowdown because it reduces the # of possessions, giving them a better chance to win. It doesn't help a lot. A much better team will win most of the time.
I don't know of a magic way to combat it.

The effect of the slowdown has been greatly diminished in the current release. Which team of yours is being affected?

I have no issues with teams running the slowdown to combat a talent discrepancy.  I ran it against teams during my NT run since I only had 9 scholly players, and only 8 worth anything.  Since you can only have 5 on the court at any given point, I had much better odds matching my best 5 vs their best 5, especially when they're running a deep depth chart. 

There isn't a magic bullet, nor should there be, to beat the slowdown.  My advice would be to increase the minutes of your best players. 

Obviously, slowdown helps a less-talented team reduce possessions, increasing the chance of an upset; but, the more talented team will still win a decent majority of the time, assuming proper gameplanning.

Posted by alblack56 on 11/12/2010 4:17:00 AM (view original):
Unless I missed an engine change:

Tempo has no effect on the opposing team...i.e.  if you run uptempo, it doesn't affect your opponent's stamina.  However, your team will fatigue more readily.  Tempo dictates how long you hold the ball before attempting a shot.
 Crappy teams run slowdown because it reduces the # of possessions, giving them a better chance to win. It doesn't help a lot. A much better team will win most of the time.
I don't know of a magic way to combat it.

hmmm .. I would think that since TeamA is holding the ball more between shots, both teams would have their stamina decrease more slowly.  If there are less trips up and down the floor and less shots then there should be less running and less fatigue, right?

That should mean that your starters and his starters should get more playing time.  (At least that is what I would expect).

If your starting 5 are better than his starting 5, then you should win most of the time.

I like using slowdown when I am a major underdog. Every now and then I can pull off the upset. I also use it a lot against strong M2M teams to cut down on fouls and TO's especially on the road. I have also had it used successfully against me. When I suspect someone will use it against me, I try to make sure my better percentage shooters get the distro and see that they get plenty of playing time.

I really don't think slowdown increases weaker team's chances of winning all that much in the new engine. I do think it's a great strategy to use in certain situations however, for example when there is a huge dropoff between your starters and backups you will want to go slowdown so you maximize your starters minutes without compromising their fatigue.

The slowdown helps create upsets in real life, so why shouldn't it here? Remember too that it can create upsets both ways. If there are fewer possessions in the game, it also increases your chances of losing to a team you're favored over. Just like in real life, it's a strategy that has to be administered very artffully in order to end up being really beneficial, but like any strategy, it can obviously work if done correctly.

Posted by alblack56 on 11/12/2010 4:17:00 AM (view original):
Unless I missed an engine change:

Tempo has no effect on the opposing team...i.e.  if you run uptempo, it doesn't affect your opponent's stamina.  However, your team will fatigue more readily.  Tempo dictates how long you hold the ball before attempting a shot.
 Crappy teams run slowdown because it reduces the # of possessions, giving them a better chance to win. It doesn't help a lot. A much better team will win most of the time.
I don't know of a magic way to combat it.

""Tempo has no effect on the opposing team...i.e.  if you run uptempo, it doesn't affect your opponent's stamina.  However, your team will fatigue more readily.  Tempo dictates how long you hold the ball before attempting a shot."

Fatigue is influenced by tempo for both offense and defense, I'm pretty sure that info is incorrect.

I am fairly positive it's incorrect. I see people on these forums all the time talk about running up tempo to tire the other team out if they have low stamina.

it is wrong.  If I run uptempo and you run slowdown, the end result fatigue wise is about the same as if both played normal.

It may be about the same thing, but I think it is more useful to think of this as how deep you go into the bench - what % of your mins are played by your bench - and likewise for your opponent.

I play a lot of Slowdown on one of my teams because I want to get my starters more minutes.  When I play slowdown, the opponent's starters normally play 2-3 minutes per game more than their average minutes ... and the backups are 2-3 minutes less minutes (on average).

Of course, I don't look at guys who get into foul trouble, etc.

I am pretty sure that your tempo affects both you and your opponent.