Deadly Crossover

Allen Iverson defended by Stephen Curry (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I believe that any guard that knows how to run an offense and utilized the crossover will lead his team to victory. The crossover move is hard to learn and difficult to defend. It keeps your defender guess on which direction you are actually going to run. The crossover move helps outmaneuver your opponents, especially when dribbling against a man-to-man defense. The move is to quickly switch your dribble from one hand to the other by bouncing the ball in front of you. The fast swift motion catches the defender off guard which allows you to dribble past the player. Allen Iverson from the NBA was breaking all his defenders ankles when he was crossing them over on the court. If a guard runs fast in one direction and then switches the dribble to the other hand and run the opposite direction, the defender would have to react so fast but by the time he does, they’ll already have took the open shot. Till this day it is hard to me to defender players who can use the crossover effectively. I find it a little easier to guard these by simply putting your hand near their waist while they are running, but not technically touching them. This will move will help you feel where your opponent is running and help you react a little faster. It will take you some time to run with the opponent while your arm is in front of them, but it will catch them off guard when you’re in front of them blocking their shot. Thanks for reading stay tuned for my next post!