FSB 1 Basics

So you want to play FreeStyle Street Basketball (FSB). There are a couple of things you will need to know before you actually become “decent” at playing the game and be helpful to your teammates. FSB is really a big team game. One person cannot hope to win without reliable teammates. By the way, the majority of the things on this site are geared towards 3on3 gameplay. I really don’t believe in 1v1 or 2v2… I think the best experience is through 3v3.

SKILLS

While each position in FSB has their skills and freestyles, there are a few that you will ALWAYS need to have equipped:

Through Pass: NEVER TAKE THIS SKILL OFF! This skill should be permanently stuck on every character you have. It’s the building block for so many other things in the game…

Face Up: I don’t know why some people take this skill off then get knocked down left and right because of screens. Not only is it useful to get by screens but it is also useful to defend against jukes (anything other than Back Roll Turn Dribble 2).

     Face Up 2: You need the original face up skill in order to use this move. This skill is especially useful when you play against teams that like to use multiple screens.

Screen: I believe in screening to get a teammate open. I believe in the correct form of a screen and not cheating moving screens…

ROTATING

One of the biggest mistakes new FSB players tend to make is, for some reason, on defense they prefer either cover their own position or the person that starts across from them. This mistake can lead to mismatches or end up leaving shooter wide open. The correct thing you are supposed to do is to cover the person that is closest to you that is not the rebounder. That means a Guard can cover a Forward or vice versa. Please refer to the diagram below:

STEALING

Constantly spamming steal is not called playing defense. Stealing should only be done at certain time and not regularly as it can give your opponent an opportunity and time to break free from you for an open shot. When it is the right time for you to attempt a steal, you only need to press the button once or twice. Anything more than that and you are just spamming “S”. There are a few situations where you should try to strip the ball from the other player:

• After your opponent does a juke

• After a pump fake from the other player

• If someone holds the ball for more than 5 secs

• When someone does a back down motion

Be careful when you steal even after these circumstances because like I said before, one bad steal and you are giving up points.

*** The following are just my opinions on the game, you might or might not agree with them ***

One main scorer: I believe each team should have only one scorer and the other two people are there to support him/her. Any more than that and there won’t be enough shots to go around and the offense becomes cluttered and disorganized. The main scorer, if good enough, will create shots for his/her teammates.

Rebounder/PG/Scorer: This is the setup I prefer to have for my team. A rebounder is always needed; it doesn’t matter if it’s a PF or a C. Just as long as his/her main job is to get the rebound and play defense in the paint. A point guard is also essential because he/she will be the main one running the offense and distributing the ball. That just leaves the scorer. This is where your team has the freedom to do what it wants. I prefer playing with a small forward as my scorer but some might want otherwise: SG, PF, PG, or even another center. Just be sure everyone understands their role on the team, who does what.

Defending against dribbles: this is one of the most frustrating things in FSB. I have yet to find a 100% sure way to defend against A-spammers… I mean dribblers. So I’m just going to tell you what I usually do, however, keep in mind that no matter what you do “back roll turn dribble 2” will always go through. What I do is I follow the ball handler around, just plainly using the arrow keys without using any skills. I do regularly try to bump into them though; this way it makes it harder for them to move around or to start dribbling. As soon as I see them start them dribbling animation, I quickly press and hold W to start face up and walk into them using face up. If you time it right you catch them doing a juke that is not BRTD2 and they will lose the ball. Another thing you can do is to just back away when you see someone start doing the dribble animation. Back away then run back to them once they are done with the dribble. The bad thing about this method is if the other character is faster than you, they may be able to get off a clean shot before you make it back to guard them. Backing off also leaves you vulnerable to the back dribble juke and you risk the chance of the other players just shooting the ball without needing to do anything because they correctly predicted your movements.