Crossover dribble

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Cat Barber does a crossover dribble on Nigel Williams-Goss at the 2013 McDonald's All-American Boys Game

A crossover dribble is a basketball maneuver in which a player dribbling the ball switches the ball rapidly from one hand to the other, to make a change in direction.^[1] In a typical example the player heads up-court, dribbling the ball in (say) the left hand, then makes a wide step left with a head fake. If the defender is deceived, the player can then switch to dribbling with the right hand and surpass the defender. The crossover can allow the player an open jump shot or a clear path to the basket. Crossover is generally performed for space creation.

The first crossover, it is claimed, happened in a street basketball game at the Rucker Park by the street legend Richard (Rick) "Pee Wee" Kirkland.^[2]

In the NBA, Oscar Robertson was known to do the move as early as the 1960s^[3] as well as Dwayne Washington while playing for Syracuse during the early 1980s, but Tim Hardaway is credited for popularizing the killer crossover in the NBA, as well as Allen Iverson and Steve Francis.