The Crossover
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The Crossover
The crossover is one of the most well known off-the-dribble moves in basketball. The move is pretty simple. Here is a breakdown going right to left:
The set-up to a great crossover is almost as important as the execution itself. Again, my offensive philosophy is to always sell the defender the opposite of what you want to do. Dribbling right, your head and shoulders should show hesitation dribble to the right. At the last second you plant your right foot, creating an explosion point(see basketball terms) to the left. As you push off your explosion point, make a quick dribble from your right hand to your left in front of your body. Make sure the dribble is low and hard or a good defender will pick your pocket(steal the ball.) Once you have successfully gone east-west with the ball(switching hands with the dribble), then tuck your shoulder around the defender and explode north-south with the dribble.
Many And-1 videos have shown ankle breaking, balance losing, deadly crossovers over recent years, but in my opinion it is one of the more dangerous moves a player can make. The reason: the basic front crossover involves putting the ball directly in front of the defender. The risk/reward isn't there in my opinion, which is why I use either a between-the-legs crossover, or a behind-the-back crossover. Both accomplish the same thing, the latter two protect the ball much more effectively, but are also that much more difficult to master. Put in the extra work it takes to master a quick crossover and you will be penetrating defenses for years to come.
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