NBA JAM: On Fire Edition

As mentioned above, you have to play each team at least 4 times. First, through the bronze, silver, and gold matches, then, once you complete bronze-gold in a region, the platinum medal will appear where you have to play "jambots". These guys are severely cheap mofos that will have you rolling your eyes on more than one occassion.

Here is what I did/who i used to get this. I needed someone high in steals (like 9 or 10) and someone who was high in dunks/blocks. There are quite a lot of combos that will meet these requirements, but my two favorites are stockton/malone in Utah and Clinton and Obama on the Democrats.

Stockton/Malone: Stockton has either a 9 or 10 in steal and a 10 in pass. he also has a 7 in 3 pters. Malone has a 10 or 9 in the block and dunk categories and also has an 8 or 9 in 2pters.
My recommended strategy is to first try to steal with Stockton and then use malone when they try to dunk it. On offense use the pick/push to free stockton for a 3pter.

I used these two exclusively until i started losing here and there. Which leads me to my next and best choice:

Clinton/Obama:Clinton is much like stockton except he has a higher block percentage. He has a 7 in steals (good enough to steal on most people), but most importantly he has an 8 in 2 pters and and 9 in 3pters. Obama has a 9 in block and a 10 in dunk. he can also steal on most people and has an 8 for 2pters and a 7 for 3pters. So either one can hit from long range (VERY IMPORTANT), and Clinton has a good enough pass to alley-oop to Obama. Obama is your shot blocker. Plus, there's just some great satisfaction seeing a former POTUS and our current one dunking ferociously on your oppoenents. This was an added bonus for me.

Offensive tactic: As I said these jambots are cheap cheap cheap. Unfortunately Clinton/Stockton is not very strong so when you start with the ball you have to run away from them and use a push/pick option. then have Clinton/Stockton run around and towards your hoop. Your big should be trailing and you should send him for an alley oop or to pick/push the other opponent. Then you either fire a 3pter or pass it to your dunker for the alley-oop.

Rinse and repeat. And always try to get someone on fire BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF A BASKET. Trust me, it's better to get the 2pter than to try to line up someone to go on fire. Also, it's ok to take long 2s. Both of these teams have a high percentage inside the arc (unless you're fading away). Run a bunch of pick/push so that the jambots don't block you.

You will have to play at least 120 times and playing the jambots can get a little boring. However, if you can handle the jambots, then the beastie boys are not even worth discussing. You should have no problem with them. They appear after you've obtained all platinum medals in all regions.

Obviously there are other teams you can pick...but these are the main two that i used. Please leave a comment as to the ones that you like.

fyi, you can purchase stockton/malone in the jam store once you get a silver medal in utah and the Democrats I believe are 5000 or 10000 credits. To pick them you'll need to hit RB to see all the "hidden" teams that you've earned/purchased.

EDIT 6/4: I must say that while playing online my Obama/Clinton Combo has been beaten more than I would like (still a winning record). Larry bird and ray allen, however, have been unbeatable. You can even use rajon rondo to steal the ball for you and larry legend will take care of the rest. that's the combo that I'm using now to get the "Arena Vet" chevo.

Boston Celtics. Use Ray Allen and unlock Larry Bird ASAP so you can dominate with 3-pointers -- both players are a 10. Keep pressing LB to get your teammate to push over the guy guarding you, then drain the 3. Even if the opposition dunks on you every time at the other end, you'll still outscore them consistently (even better if you can start to stop them once in a while on D).

Works the whole way through, although there are some game challenges that obviously favour dunking. Consider the Orlando Magic there -- Howard and Shaq.

Alright so here's an updated solution for those who are playing this now/still playing this.

When I tried using the 2 solutions posted for this achievement, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen weren't on the Celtics for me and Dwight Howard was on the Lakers. So obviously they updated the rosters. Because of that I had to change the strategy a little bit.

For all Bronze games:
I used the Miami Heat with Lebron James and Dwayne Wade. You can use whatever team you're comfortable with as the AI on these games don't pose that much of a challenge.

For all Silver games:
I used the Los Angeles Lakers with Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard. I used Kobe for his proficiency in 2's and 3's and Howard because he's very good at blocking dunks and shots. The AI will be a little more difficult so be wary.

For all Gold and Jambot games:
I used the Boston Celtics with Kevin Garnett and Larry Bird. Larry Bird is godlike with 3 pointers and KG is good at pushing people over. My strategy with these games was to use LB as much as possible when you have the ball to push over the AI and make a clear lane for a 3 or a dunk/layup. However, there will be times where the game won't listen and your AI teammate will not be in the best position or go for an alley-oop (-_-).
You could also use Dwight Howard and Kobe here if you're comfortable with them but the AI plays so cheap at this level. They will be constantly shoving and stealing the ball from you.

For the Beastie Boys game:
This will be available once you beat all Bronze, Silver, Gold and Jambot games. This game is no joke. It's definitely at a Jambot game level so the AI will still be cheating you out of good shots. If you keep using LB to push people over though, you should be ok but this game may take you a couple tries. (I used the Celtics for this game and thankfully it took me one try :) )

Other tips:
Go for whatever score you can get. Don't constantly go for 3's. If you have a lane for a layup and you're not confident in making a 3, go for the layup.

This is just the strategy I used. If you feel better using other teams, you're more than welcome to try. This was just my key to success and I hope it helps you guys out. :)

If you vote negative, please let me know why so I can help change the solution for everyone. :)

This solution will be a mix of stuff I learned here, on the web, and my tips. I'll start with gold challenges, cuz if you can't complete silver you just need to practice some more.
GOLD:
I started with the Bird/Allen (Rainmakers) combo on the challenges where dunks weren't rewarded with extra points. Just rain 3s as often as possible, but don't pass up open lay-ups or dunks, points is points.
This worked well for awhile but then suddenly Bird lost his consistency, prob my fault, and was getting blocked a lot. I switched to the Heat, James and Allen, this still gave me 3 pointers with Allen and James shoving, D, and alley oop if the D rotated to Allen. This duo carried me relatively easily thru all non-dunk challenges.
Dunk heavy challenges I went with Howard/Griffith (Dunk Champs), alley- oop all game and try to play some D, you should be fine. I never scored an OTT dunk and only had 1 or 2 scored against me, so don't worry to much about those (10pts)
Mini-men challenge I used dunk Champs, those mini men can jump and block 3s like nobody's business.
Some general game tips:
Diagonal up or down before you inbound to gain some space.
Shove, shove, shove, you want that first defender on the ground to create a 2 on 1 in your favor. Then depending on what the 2nd guy does, either a 3 pointer with Allen or alley- oop to LeBron.
I played thru the challenges from West to East and they seemed to get easier as I went East, could be I just got better, but it was a noticeable difference.
Also there was definitely a difficulty spike on the final gold challenge in each section. I recommend scanning all the challenges and picking the one you consider the easiest and save it for last, every little advantage helps.
PLATINUM:
Don't let the rumors and horror stories faze you, this is actually easier than Gold
Jambots- totally got this from flyer240- use New Orleans and play with Rivers/Bogues then at halftime I switched to Anderson(3 pt machine)/Mourning( D and shoving), the Jambots stay as lowly Rivers/ Bogues.
On these challenges I shut off tag mode and played as Rivers then Anderson and just shot 3s, the beauty of this is those two players have the same jump shot and virtually the same hot spot, so there is no adjustment your guy just gets dramatically better at sinking 3s. Once I got this down, maybe 2 games, I never lost to the Jambots again, even on more than one occasion being down by 10 at the half, don't panic or restart, you will catch them in the second half.
BEASTIE BOYS:
Cheap, cheap, cheap.
Took me 4 tries, figuring out who to use, ending up being the Allen/LeBron. Very frustrating Beastie Boys are blocking machines, and they get better as the game goes. Not much advice, other than stick to it, you've come too far to quit.
GENERAL:
Expect to be frustrated, rubber band AI , you're not gonna get many loose balls, and suddenly you won't be able to sink anything.
IF I CAN DO IT YOU CAN

Others have gone over this but I'll reiterate.

You must go through the bronze, silver and gold difficulty in one region to unlock the platinum challenge. Most gold challenges will have some type of tweak to the scoring or gameplay. One shot on fire, 4 points for put backs, 5 points for over the top dunks, 1 point for all shots except dunks or something like that. The platinum challenges will only be jambots and no special rules.

Below is my method of what is working best for me. You could try a different combo to fit your play style but I highly recommend my route.


Garnet and bird combo for me. I haven't lost once in any medal. If you pay attention, you'll know when the jambots are going to try and steal or push you. I'm not sure if it's the same for everyone but they get cheap shots or try and steal towards the end of each half, when you get a certain lead on them and if you gain about 10 points in a row and not letting them score. Use there strategy against them. Steal and shove, when they in bound try and trap them with both players. Call for a shove for you computer mate and try and steal with your controlled player. Works half the time, but do not keep doing this because you will not get it everytime. I do this every 2 or 3 possessions so I'm not so predictable If you try this every possession then you will fail and next thing you know they're up by 20. Being down 20 against jambots is an automatic restart. If you miss the steal/shove get back on defense (anyone who's played or knows basketball should know this). Because even if you whiff on the steal you can block the shot or dunk if you get back. You could also just stand in a cherry picking position (under the rim) and go for blocks. But I've found that I have a greater chance of shoving them and them lose the ball or steal it rather than blocking shots as more times then not they'll get the rebound. Blocking and rebound combo are not bird and garnets strengths. That's why I suggest going for the steal method. Once you've got that down, pass to Larry, pass to Larry and pass to Larry some more and shoot the 3 pointer with him. The trick to 3's and even 2 point jump shots is waiting until they are at the peak of the jump and then let go of the shoot button. Bonus tip: hold for a split second longer if he does a fadeaway. You might not mean to but sometimes that's what happens.

I should also note, when I played this when it first came out I swear the jambots where much much harder. I don't know if an update lowered their cheap shotness or I got good enough but they do not seem as hard as they were.

Hope this helps! Happy hunting!