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Lost in the nightly basketball highlights of slam dunks, three point shots, and buzzer beaters is the art of dribbling. To ensure hoops glory, a player needs to move the ball upcourt while avoiding the clutching hands of defenders. From watching basketball on television, we know that Allen Iverson has a "killer" crossover dribble. But because players like Iverson execute the maneuver so quickly, it's difficult to understand the process of the crossover dribble. Happily, we typed "crossover dribble" into the search box and quickly found the answer we were looking for. Ken Lindsay's site explains the art of dribbling and defines the crossover. To perform the
killer dribble, the offensive player dribbles upcourt using his right hand, then switches quickly to his left when faced by a defender. When performed quickly, the defender is usually left off-balance, ensuring the offensive player room to move around him to shoot, pass, or drive the lane. It may sound simple enough, but within our search we noticed a number of sites that offered a regimen of drills suggested to help perfect the crossover dribble. Eteamz provides three keys for an effective of the crossover dribble. Practice, footwork, and the ability to execute the move without looking down at the ball are essential. Browsing around through the search results page, we found some more helpful information at
basketball drills site The Coach's Clipboard. For a look at how the move is done, check out Steph's Animated Dribbling Drills. You can watch Steph perform an array of ball-handling moves, including a lightning-quick crossover. For a look at how the pros do it, we turned to Crossover City. This site devoted to point guard Tim Hardaway (now with the Dallas Mavericks and well known for his crossover "skillz") presents a step by step diagram on how he breaks down unsuspecting defenders. While Hardaway's crossover is certainly
lethal, a recent Sporting News article, ranked his dribble third behind Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury. And although we'll never handle the ball like Iverson, we can take a little satisfaction in knowing that we've seen the science behind his on-court skills.
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