When it comes to the greatest NBA players of all-time, Allen Iverson rarely cracks the top 10. Top 25, maybe. Top 50, for sure.
AI ranks No. 1 in one category, however: cultural impact.
Hard to believe, but we are now at the 25th anniversary of Iverson’s defining moment as a basketball player, and his defining moment as the ultimate uniter of hip-hop and hoops.
Iverson literally stomped his way into the memory banks of basketball fans on June 6, 2001, during Game 1 of the NBA Finals, at the Staples Center in LA. The crossover, the shot, and then the disrespect Iverson showed toward the Lakers’ Tyronn Lue was the peak of AI’s influence on that cultural era.
But what led up to that moment? This is the Complete History of Allen Iverson Stepping Over Tyronn Lue.
Swag
It’s difficult to overstate how much swag Iverson possessed in the ’90s and early 2000s. AI was the definition of “fly”—the tilted brims, gold chains, tats, the jewelry, baggy jeans, throwback jerseys—and the embodiment of ’90s hip-hop fashion.
Iverson wouldn’t care about the opponent he was facing that night. He might even dress in the colors of a team in the city he was playing against.
It wouldn’t be unusual to see AI pull up to a Sixers game against Milwaukee with an oversized Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Bucks throwback jersey. Hell, in his famous “practice” rant he wore a Boston Red Sox cap four days AFTER the Boston Celtics had just eliminated his Sixers from the playoffs.
Anti-establishment
Iverson’s fashion sense spearheaded a movement in the NBA where players would show up to games dressing how they would in a normal setting. Blazers, ties, and dress shoes were out. T-shirts, jeans, and sneakers were in.
"I took the ass whooping for it, but the dress code thing… I was 21. Where am I going after the game? I'm going to the club. Before that, they were used to dudes wearing suits, and I was like, damn. I'd never worn a suit growing up, except to church, funerals… in the courtroom," Iverson said on The Breakfast Club last fall. "David Stern and the rest of the NBA was like, 'No,' because it was all right when I was doing it. But then everybody else said, 'Okay, like he can do that, we can do this.' You see Kobe coming in with diamond chains and baggy clothes, and everyone started doing it. Then the league was like, 'Hold on, we got to do something about that.”
Stern, the NBA commissioner at the time, eventually implemented a strict dress code in 2005 that banned baggy clothes, chains, jerseys and doo-rags. Players would have to conform to a “business casual” style when arriving at games and doing press conferences after games. It might as well have been called “The Iverson Rule.”
Iverson also clashed with 76ers head coach Larry Brown, a noted control freak, many times while Brown was at the helm in Philly from 1997-2003.
Crossover
Iverson had, arguably, the most lethal crossover of all-time.
AI’s signature move was introduced to a global audience on March 12, 1997, when the then-rookie crossed up Michael Jordan.
Jordan was at the peak of his powers at this point, and there was not a soul on Earth that could make His Airness look foolish … or so it was thought.
That night at the CoreStates Center in Philly, Iverson ran off a screen and MJ switched onto him.
It was the old lion vs. the young lion. One-on-one.
The Philly crowd rose to its feet in anticipation.
The Answer went with a small crossover to the left to see if Jordan would bite.
MJ did, and then Iverson unleashed the filthiest crossover you’ve ever seen. Jordan was stunned for a brief split second, giving Iverson enough time to rise up for a jumper … swish.
The Stage
Iverson’s fearlessness when going up against the giants of his sport was a big part of what made him so popular. He exuded a “F*** the World!” attitude on and off the court.
NBA fans had seen AI cross up the legend that was Jordan. Now, AI was set to face the best of his contemporaries in the NBA Finals.
The 2000-01 Lakers are very much in the conversation for greatest NBA team of all-time. LA was shooting for back-to-back titles. It was Kobe and Shaq in their primes, and they were undefeated in postseason play that year going into Game 1 of the Finals against Iverson’s Sixers.
Oddsmakers were predicting another sweep for the Lakers, as LA was an incredible -2000 favorite to win the series ahead of Game 1. The spread for Game 1 was Lakers -11.5, a mammoth number for any pro basketball game.
Iverson won his only NBA MVP that season, but heading into that Finals it was very much seen as a 1-man show going up against an all-time powerhouse.
The Play
The Sixers were losing to the Lakers in overtime of Game 1, 99-98, with 1:21 left on the clock when Iverson drilled a 3-pointer from the wing to give Philly the lead.
Philly went right back to its little general the next trip down the floor.
Iverson caught the ball in the corner, with his feet on the 3-point line. Lue, a solid and extremely quick defender, crowded AI.
Iverson created a small amount of separation from Lue with a jab step, then moved to his right.
AI then used the crossover that once stopped MJ in his tracks on Lue.
Iverson rose up, faded away, and nailed a 21-footer with Lue still draped on him.
Lue briefly got his feet tangled up with Iverson, and Lue fell to the ground.
With Lue in a sitting position and looking up at Iverson, AI emphatically raised his right leg and stomped over Lue.
The play put an exclamation point on an all-time Finals performance as Iverson finished Game 1 with 48 points and led the Sixers to a 107-101 upset win over the mighty Lakers.
The Call
Marv Albert was the signature voice of pro basketball for decades, most notably during the 1990s and early 2000s when NBC had the rights to the NBA Finals.
Albert had so many memorable calls over the years, but few are remembered as fondly as his call of this play.
“Bothered by Lue … Iverson … And steps OVER!!! … Tyronn Lue!”
Of note, this was the first NBA Finals game that Albert called since he was involved in a highly publicized sex scandal in 1997. Albert was fired, then later re-hired by NBC. So there was certainly a little more of a focus on the announce team than usual that night.
The Aftermath
Game 1 was the only game in that Finals that the 76ers would win, but Iverson stepping over Lue remains the indelible moment from that series—even though Shaq averaged 33 and 15.
That game was the only playoff game that the loaded 2001 Lakers lost, as they ultimately went 15-1 in the postseason.
Iverson never made it back to the Finals.
AI was traded to the Nuggets in 2006, and he played his final NBA game in 2010.
Lue, who coached the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Championship in 2016, is now the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Lue says that he and Iverson are now on great terms, and are actually “good friends” that have a “good bond.”
They will always be tied to that moment from 25 years ago.
“[The play] definitely created buzz,” Lue told ESPN in 2016. “When I was going places it was, ‘Oh, that’s the guy Allen Iverson stepped over!’ Well, if you know that, then you know me. So that’s fine. I don’t have a problem with that. He’s going to arguably go down as probably the best player under 6-foot in NBA history, so I don’t have a problem with that at all.”
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