I wrote this garbled post early this year after wanting to like NBA LIVE 08 but struggling to get past it's little game play hangups. EA dropped the demo last week which I downloaded to see if and what they fixed.

Here's a quick rundown on my gripes from the last game and how they look in 09...

Blocks and rebounds: Blocking is a lot more realistic now, you are rewarded for playing good defense but only in context of what's happening all around you. No ridiculous volleyball-style spikes anymore and the blocked player's body get's shifted around depending on the block. Pretty nice.