Best I've seen of 5 NBA games, including NBA Live series. There are no competitors in this arena. Thoroughly enjoyable and realistic. Game play is awesome. You finally feel that you have full control of what's going on, unlike the the NBA Live series.
Graphics are spot on.
I wouldn't say state of the art, but the more important thing is that the frame rates are beautifully smooth. While it could have been deeper, and it needed a roster patch for current rosters, it is still more acessible to the average gamer than NBA Live 2000, and presents more of a challenge than Live 2000 as well. All in all, an fun and challenging NBA game. On the gameplay side, it plays very well. It presents a very realistic picture of the NBA for the most part.