How to play
Basketball Legends plays like a broadcast basketball game: you control one player at a time, and the rest of your team runs plays around you. You can change every binding in Settings, and a controller works as soon as you press a button.
Offense
| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Move | W A S D | Left stick |
| Sprint | Shift | RT / R2 |
| Shoot (hold, then release) | Space or J | X / □ |
| Pass to the teammate you point at | K | A / ✕ |
| Icon pass to a specific teammate | Tab + 1-5 | LB + face button |
| Lob or alley-oop | L | Y / △ |
| Bounce pass | O | B / ○ |
| Crossover | ← / → | Right stick left/right |
| Stepback (hold Shift: hesitation) | ↓ | Right stick down |
| Spin move | ↑ | Right stick up |
| Pump fake | U | Right stick click |
| Post up (hold) | C | LT / L2 |
| Call pick and roll | V | RB / R1 |
| Call for the ball (off the ball) | K | A / ✕ |
The shot meter
Hold the shoot button to rise into your shot and release it at the top of your jump. The bar on the right fills while you hold; the green band is the ideal release. A perfect release raises your chance a lot, a slightly early or late one barely changes it, and a badly mistimed one is far less likely to go in. Better shooters get a wider green window. You can turn the meter off in Settings to use rating-based shooting, or choose tap-to-shoot under Accessibility.
Where you shoot from matters: open catch-and-shoot threes and shots at the rim are the most efficient. Contested shots, shots off a hard dribble and shots late in a long stretch of minutes (fatigue) are harder.
Defense
| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Steal | K | X / □ |
| Block, contest or rebound | Space or J | Y / △ |
| Intense defense stance (hold) | C | LT / L2 |
| Switch to the defender nearest the ball | Q | A / ✕ |
| Take a charge | F | B / ○ |
Stay between your man and the basket. Reaching for steals from behind or from too far away risks a foul. Jump at the right moment to block: too early and the shooter waits you out. A pump fake can get an eager defender off his feet.
Game controls
Press Esc (or Menu) to pause. From the pause menu you can see the box score and play-by-play, make substitutions, call a timeout, change the camera, simulate the rest of the game or restart. T calls a timeout when your team has the ball, and Y cycles through the cameras.
League rules
- Pro: four 12-minute quarters, 24-second shot clock (resets to 14 on an offensive rebound off the rim), 23 ft 9 in three-point line, six fouls to foul out, bonus on the fifth team foul per quarter.
- College: two 20-minute halves, 30-second shot clock (20 on offensive rebounds), 22 ft 1¾ in three-point line, five fouls, one-and-one from the seventh team foul and two shots from the tenth.
- Arizona high school: four 8-minute quarters, 35-second shot clock, 19 ft 9 in three-point line, five fouls, bonus on the fifth team foul per quarter.
Quick Play lets you shorten periods. Stats scale with the time played.