by Marcus Willock

Created on: June 16, 2008

The crossover is one of the deadliest moves in basketball. Due to its popularity, a defender is never surprised to see a dribbler use this move. If a defender knows the crossover is coming, he can easily defend against it. Thus, in order for the dribbler to successfully complete the crossover, he has to trick his defender into believing that he will not use the crossover. In accomplishing this, you have set up your defender for the crossover.

The Set Up: When setting up the crossover, the goal is to make your defender shift into a defensive position in which he cannot guard against your upcoming move. The easiest way to accomplish this is by deceiving your defender. Make him believe you are going in one direction and, when he tries to defend that side, you cross the ball over to the other hand and proceed in the opposite direction.

Example: You are dribbling down court towards your defender. He is sitting in his defensive stance waiting for you to approach. When you are a couple of paces away from you defender, sprint towards the right of him just outside his reach. In an attempt to stay in front of you, your defender will slide his feet in the direction of your sprint. He does this because he believes that you are heading in that direction. While your defender is moving to the right, you crossover to the left and fly by him.

The reason why this works is because your defender commits to moving towards one side. While he is moving, his feet are not set on the ground. Thus, he cannot change directions until he his feet have landed. By the time they land, you have already started sprinting in the other direction.

The Crossover: If you are dribbling with your right hand, the first act of the crossover is done by taking a step forward with your right foot. Then you will dribble the ball from your right hand to you left hand and proceed to sprint towards your left. This is the basic crossover. The key to using this move is for the dribbler to commit to the crossover after his defender has committed to guard the side that you set him up to defend.

Example: You are sprinting to the right of your defender. He has just decided to block your path by moving right. While he is moving, his feet are not set on the ground, but yours are. You are currently in that one step position (leading with your right foot) out of a natural result of stopping mid sprint. This is the moment when you use the crossover and proceed to drive to your left. Since your feet are on the ground, you are able to change the direction of your sprint before your defender can change the direction he has chosen to guard. Thus, there is no way for your defender to stop you from passing him.

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