NBA 2K26 Patch Update Rhythm Shooting vs Button video

What is good everyone and welcome to the NBA 2K Lab channel. In this video, we'll be taking a look at the rhythm shooting nerf in patch 2 of NBA 2K26. If you haven't seen our last video on the nerf fades, definitely go check that one out to get the full context of how shooting has changed. But not too long ago, we dropped a video on button versus stick shooting in which I showed you this heat map of every make percentage throughout the rhythm green window. And just a quick overview, on the y-axis we have the push timing for when you start your rhythm shot. And then on the X-axis, we have the tempo, which is how long the stick went from the push to the end of the stick throw. Each combination has their own make percentage. And as you can see here in pre- patch, there's a lot of darker green squares, which indicate a high770s, low80s make percentage. Even outside of those zones, there was still a solid chance for the shot to be a green, making rhythm shooting in pre- patch very forgiving. But in the patch notes, it was said that rhythm timing windows for tempo and timing were tightened. And looking at this heat map, you can see it right away. Looking at the pre- patch and post-patch heat map side by side, you can definitely notice far less green squares and a lot more red and orange squares, which indicate a make rate of 40% or below. Postpatch also looks to be punishing users with a later push timing as well. And when they said they tightened the rhythm windows, they weren't lying. So, after compiling all the percentages from pre and postpatch data, here's the difference in make percentage for each combination of timing and tempo. Overall, rhythm shooting saw a 14% decrease in average make percentage. We also reran the same scenario with the button and the button remained largely unchanged, if not the exact same. Now, when considering the big nerf to three-point fades and also the nerf to rhythm shooting, you can see how tempo fades have taken the biggest hit out of everything. Although, it seems mid-range fades and even tempo in the mid-range is still very effective. But after this nerf to rhythm shooting, the two inputs appear to be on a more even playing field, leaving it up to preference as to which one you should be using. But that is all we have for part two of button versus stick shooting. And I want to hear your thoughts down below. Was the patch too much or was it just right? I thank you all for watching. It's been Spill and I'm out later.