
Starting in the mid-2000s, a young Argentinian player named Manu Ginobili popularized the Eurostep, which tests the limits of a rule that allows a player to take two continuous steps after gathering his dribble. Young fans loved the way these players regularly put opponents on skates, while cranky columnists often blamed Iverson for the deterioration of the game’s fundamentals.Īt about the same time the NBA succeeded in banishing the Iverson crossover, another move made its way into the league. Other players adopted their own versions of the crossover. The trendsetting phenom continued to shake defenders and flirt with the line dividing legitimate basketball move from clear violation. As a Los Angeles Times story from a few months into his rookie season notes, “Every week, it seems as if the league sends out another memo on palming.” But efforts to curtail Iverson’s crossover didn’t immediately take hold. The NBA office sided with Iverson’s critics. Jordan shifts his weight to his right foot, and Iverson achieves separation when he moves back the other way. It’s that split second before Iverson goes left to right for the final time, the moment when, with his hand clearly cradling the ball from underneath, he moves it left and then holds it still. Jordan, the more apparent it becomes that what knocks Jordan off balance isn’t the speed with which Iverson moves the ball across his body. The more you study the clip of Iverson vs. Jordan bit on the fake, freeing Iverson for a clean look. He cupped the ball in his left hand while pushing it as far to his left as he could-feigning intent to move in that direction-before bringing it back across his body at an accelerated speed. Iverson crossed the ball in front of his body from left to right, then back the other way between his legs. As he went to work breaking down his defender, any informed basketball fan watching in real time knew which move he planned to use. Iverson, the front-runner for Rookie of the Year, found himself with the ball near the top of the key, guarded by Jordan.

It was the fourth quarter of an otherwise nondescript game in March 1997 between Michael Jordan’s Bulls and Allen Iverson’s 76ers. Who Is Really to Blame for the High School Football Scam That Duped ESPN? Now I Have a WNBA “Wife” and Religiously Check the Subreddits.Ī Viral Clip From the Korean Basketball League Could Change the WorldĬollege Football Will Never Look the Same Again
