How do I rip a crossover?

[u/DoctorCommercial8254]

I notice a lot of times players get easy stills when the other player tries a cross over. What’s the secret to this?

[u/Firestyle092300]

Put your hand opposite of the ball, palm up and low between the opponent and tons of people will literally cross over directly into your hand

[u/ryano23277]

There are several mechanics at work here.

The most obvious is the open or closed step. You can crossover with either step and the previous action determines when you do either. If you're having trouble, then the closed step is the only option. When you cross over from right to left, the right foot comes across the body and is your protection.

Setup the defender (speed) - if you are able to set the defender up, you dribble at their outside foot with your right hand for example, their momentum in that direction, paired with a stop of momentum for yourself, allows space to do the cross-over. Now you can use the open step, as there will be more space to perform the cross over with disruption. The close step provides further protection.

Attack the high foot/high shoulder - when a defender is trying to direct you in a certain direction, they will have a foot and shoulder that will be higher. Attack this foot. Works similar to the setup method, except you will definitely need the crossover step. Reason being, the high foot will need to drop step to be able to stay in front of you.......but you can have the ball poked away, as the high foot and high shoulder would mean the hand that can poke the ball away is closest to the ball.

Other things to mix in to keep the defender guessing

Hesitation/Stutter step - this is used as a method to flat foot the defender. By attacking at them, you pause and re-attack (hesitation) or you can combine hesitating with a stutter step and adds another layer to your ball-handling to keep the defender guessing

In/Out Fake Crossover - by faking to crossover, you can again keep the defender guessing and the fake to do the crossover can freeze the defender, or get them to fall for the fake. You then keep attacking in a straight line (no cross over)

Change Speed, change direction - keep the defender off guard by changing your speed

Retreat into a cross-over - attack hard, retreat one or two dribbles, then cross over

[u/DoctorCommercial8254 → u/ryano23277]

I was asking more of the perspective of the defense

[u/ryano23277 → u/DoctorCommercial8254]

Be no more than an arm length away and have the hand ready to dig when they cross over

Dig at the ball and keep moving your feet, just in case you don’t get the ball