Image via Complex Original
The perfect crossover dribble is a thing of beauty. Unlike a facial dunk, where one player physically imposes his will on another through brute force and athleticism, the ankle-breaking crossover is a victory of craftiness, duplicity, and reflexes. On those rare occasions when the defender crumples to the floor in an awkward pile of quivering limbs, there may not have even been any contact between him and the player he was fruitlessly trying to check—it's like homie was felled by an idea.
With the college season just gearing up and the NBA on lockdown, we thought it was a great time to revisit The 50 Greatest Ankle-Breakers in Basketball History. They're ranked according to an advanced algorithm that accounts for factors such as timeliness, influence, and sheer entertainment value. Most are from the NBA, since finding decent quality video clips from pro ball is a whole lot easier, and we've tried to represent legends like Tim Hardaway, Allen Iverson, and God Shammgod down to the new generation of ankle-breakers: Derrick Rose, Deron Williams, and John Wall. It's time to get crossed up, fam...
By Ben Detrick
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50. Tracy McGrady
Here's the textbook crossover (the first clip, #10, in the above video): a sharp change in direction, a defender left leaning the wrong way, and a clear lane to the basket exploited for an easy bucket. T-Mac used to do amazing stuff before he was abducted by extra-terrestrials and surgically implanted with the spinal column of an 83-year-old man.
49. Jamal Crawford
It's always entertaining to see crossover experts get a dosage of their own medicine. Here, Dwyane Wade, whose pull-back dribble often sends defenders flying as if ejected from a Civil War cannon, gets spun around badly at the hands of a master. Of course Craw nonchalantly bricks the shot, as if knocking it down was a task too mundane for an artist such as himself to bother with. He is a painter, not a coarse-pawed builder of oaken frames.
48. Hedo Turkoglu
Always an enigmatic player—he's 6'10" with range and handle, but has rarely made the most of those freakish traits—Turkoglu played his best ball in Orlando alongside Dwight Howard. In this clip, the giant Turk puts Luc Mbah a Moute in the blender like chickpeas and tahini.
47. Allen Iverson
Before the NBA really cracked down on palming violations, dudes like Allen Iverson and Steve Francis were doing playground shit with relative impunity. Here, said yo-yo handles befuddle the fuck outta David Wesley, journeyman guard.
46. Shaquille O'Neal
OK, say you're Isiah Thomas, pondering the wisdom of coughing up big bucks to bring lumbering free agent Jerome James to the Knicks. The first question you might ask your potential signee could be: "Have you ever been crossed over by Shaquille O'Neal?" Upon realizing this footage exists, you close your briefcase, compliment Jerome on the oozing trough of Cookie Dough Häagen-Dazs he's been feasting out of for the duration of the meeting, and get the fuck outta Dodge. Or you give him a $30 million contract.
45. Shaquille O'Neal
Oh, you got crossed-over by Shaq, too? What is this, a rite of passage for monumentally bad, overpaid players? There's clearly this secret society of slow-footed centers that meet up in Jim McIlvaine's country house in a thorny, desolate forest and put on scary animal masks, drink ram's blood, and then fall over their own cloven-hoofed feet while trying to communicate with George Mikan via séance.
44. Kyrie Irving
Irving played only a handful of games for Duke last year, so this classic clip from his prep days serves as a tease of his potential in the NBA. Christmas can't come soon enough!
43. T.J. Ford
T.J. has drifted into obscurity (playing for the Bucks, Raptors, and Pacers is the NBA version of taking a rowboat into the Bermuda Triangle), but he has a bunch of excellent highlights—the little waterbug has speed, springs, and great court vision. Maybe Jeffries was guarding him here on a switch, or maybe it was a one of D'Antoni's inventive defensive strategies, but it didn't work. At all.
42. Ivory Latta
Victim Alana Beard may have had her number retired at Duke, been the second overall pick in the 2004 WNBA draft, and have the magical ability to turn tap water into Patron (we said may, remember), but this highlight proves that life is eminently humbling. Next time you drop a tub of hummus on your crispy new 10.Deep flannel, use the occasion to make yourself a better person.
41. Kobe Bryant
It's not that Kobe's move is so impressive—it's that Fred Jones seems to tumble backwards as if an invisible St. Bernard jumped on his chest. That's the power of the DoberMamba unleashed! We can't wait for him to add another spirit animal to the mix and become some sort of basketball-playing Minotaur.
40. Mike James
The best part of this clip is how you can see Steph chuckling and saying, "Haha, I'm going to eat your Vaseline, bitch"—right before James shakes him out of his $15 footwear. Then Marbury had to flee America and the game he loved.
39. Michael Jordan
Goddamn, this is the slowest crossover in the history of basketball. It's almost as if Vince Carter looked into Michael Jordan's eyes and the full weight of his own professional failures, heartlessness, and unmatched expectations slammed into his frame like a wet bag of concrete.
38. Girl
'So, how was hoops?' 'Oh, it was cool. Had a couple buckets, a dime or two.' 'That's it? Nothing out of the ordinary?' 'What do you mean?' ' I guess what I'm asking is, well...' 'I'm waiting.' 'DID A GIRL CROSS YOU INTO THE PAVEMENT?!?!?!?' 'Uh. I don't remember.'
37. Deron Williams
After a mini-cross gets the Knicks' rookie on skates, Deron drops a second (and brutally lethal) one that sends the youngster running in a semi-circle like a beheaded poultry product. Williams calmly drains a three-pointer as the Jazz bench erupts. Sadly, this was the Knicks' best play of the last five years.
36. Nate Robinson
When some drone in a mailroom loses his gourd and guns down six of his coworkers, the response is frequently: "We never saw it coming." That's how Jose Calderon felt here. There was just a tip-off at midcourt, he was settling in to play some moderately effective defense, and all of the sudden he's sitting on the seat of his pants and Nate Robinson is darting towards the basketball like a malevolent dwarf wearing Boots of Escaping.
35. Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry looks young enough to get IDed trying to enter a matinee screening of The Social Network, but he showed the caginess of a grizzled veteran with this nasty crossover and ball-fake. Birdman, who served a long suspension for drug use a few seasons back, probably thought he was experiencing angel-dust flashbacks. Brrrr!
34. Randy Foye
Great crossovers typically start with both players facing off each other in a Mexican standoff on the perimeter, but this is turbo-button video-game madness. From the side, Nelson is heaved backward with such velocity that one might suspect it was an ill-advised flop. The reverse angle clears up any Zapruder-film-esque confusion. Sit down, man.
33. Deron Williams
From our comprehensive research, Kirk Hinrich, Steve Blake, and Jacque Vaughn don't really play "basketball," so to speak—they mostly roll around on the floor like petulant children on ketamine.
32. Baron Davis
It's too bad Baron Davis has spent the majority of his career toiling for salt-mine franchises like the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, and Charlotte Hornets. He's truly great: freakishly athletic, legitimately funny, and looks like that plastic bear that honey comes in. During his second season, he crosses up Mateen Cleaves during the Rookie Challenge and cruises in for the slam.
31. Danko "El Killer del Perimetro" Cvjeticanin
While streetballers call the move "The Shammgod," we've found footage showing that the crossover technique known as "El Latigo"—or "The Whip" in Spanish—may have originated over in Yugoslavia. This grainy clip from 1980 shows Danko "El Killer del Perimetro" Cvjeticanin, a Croatian baller with a great nickname that he acquired while playing professionally in Spain...whipping it real hard.
30. Richard Jefferson
This might have been the only highlight of Richard Jefferson's first season with the Spurs in which he played poorly and got yammed on something retarded by Amare Stoudamire. But this is sick. Psycho-T gets left in the dust, and Jefferson polishes the whole shebang off with the acrobatic reverse jam finish.
29. Tyreke Evans
Tyreke Evans is an oversized bully who uses a powerful first step to muscle by frail opponents. But here, he uses quickness to dazzle Ron-Ron, a dude who knows a thing or two about physical play (and, weirdly, the plight of the Afghan woman). There's an Allure "Head Over Heels" joke somewhere, but we're way too lazy to bother figuring it out.
28. Chris Paul
Nenad Krstic got what he deserved! The guy has a Friar Tuck haircut! It's a bowl cut with a bald spot on top! He's thrown a chair at someone during a FIBA game! HIS LAST NAME IS MISSING A VOWEL!
27. Vince Carter
With (formerly) braids, a protective mask, and a headband, Rip Hamilton is the most over-accessorized dude in the NBA. He's like a HypeBeast.
26. Jamal Crawford
A tibia-snapping crossover is one of basketball's most visceral "oh shit" moments—but slow-motion examination can offer insights into the architecture of humiliation. On this play, during which Ray Allen gets broken down to his very last compound, the Celtics' sharpshooter trips over the offensive player's right foot. Jesus Shuttlesworth never looked so mortal.
25. Nate Robinson
Nate is a feisty gnome whose effectiveness has only occasionally matched his confidence, but his speed and springs make for exciting moments (we're not including that travesty of a dunk contest against the Sixers' Andre Iguodala where he flubbed the same trick 47 times in a row). Here, the pint-sized goon leaves Steve Blake plopped on the floor like a sack of potatoes. Nate also likes to dance.
24. Steve Francis
Around this time last year, Stevie Franchise was arrested at LAX for allegedly being a drunken jackass. It was another depressing anecdote for an enormously talented player who never lived up to the promise he exhibited at the University of Maryland and as a young Houston Rocket. Here he is in Harlem, flexing some nasty handles for a crowd that slangs in their white tee, bangs in their white tee, and hangs out at Rucker Park in their white tee. We'll admit it, the combination of Nas' "Memory Lane" instrumental and Steve Francis made us tearful about a bunch of stuff.
23. Stephon Marbury
There's no way a 7'4" center should ever be able to stick with a point guard at the top of the key, but it's still entertaining to see the massive man topple like a sequoia when that Vaseline-eating lunatic switches direction. But since Starbury is involved, the receiver of his pass chucks the ball awkwardly off the backboard and everything crumbles into sloppy chaos.
22. Tim Hardaway
Before he ethered himself by publicly announcing his anti-gay platform—"I hate gay people," Tim said suavely during a radio interview—Hardaway was best known for his "killer crossover" or "UTEP 2-Step." In this clip, he sons Ron Harper, then finishes off the play with a reverse lay-up where he swings the ball right in Scottie Pippen's face. Pause.
21. Allen Iverson
This wouldn't be on a Top 20 list of A.I.'s crossover highlights if not for the fact that it came during the Sixers' upset win in the first game of the 2001 Finals—a tight contest in which the diminutive rascal went on a 48-point murder spree. The jumper was the nail in the coffin, and the slow stepover of a prone Tyronn was the kind of distilled #swag that Lil B dreams about while #cooking.
20. Dwyane Wade
Since Raja is known for some pretty egregious flops (like this one), he might have been trying to draw a charge on Wade with this ridiculous 40-mph crash and burn. But if not, well, damn. And yeah, since it was Dwyane taking the shot, Andrei Kirilenko gets called for a cheapie foul. These days we'd take flops and bad fouls in a heartbeat if it meant getting to watch actual NBA games.
19. Beno Udrih
If someone told you Benu Udrih and Kobe Bryant were in a crossover clip, you probably wouldn't think that it would culminate with the Lakers' star sprawled backwards into a twisted heap of limbs (at least one of them with an embarrassing tattoo). Pau Gasol might have saved Mamba's career, but he couldn't prevent him from being sliced up by the Slovenian star. Preseason, yeah, but it's still on the record.
18. T.J. Ford
This clip is so full of merriment! First T.J. Ford makes Mike James stumble around the court like a discombobulated zombie, then the announcers chuckle gleefully in Spanish, then one of Ford's teammates is shown on the bench impersonating the wobbly defender.
17. John Wall
Before even enrolling at the University of Kentucky, the new Reebok star introduced himself in summer league play with this crossover and dunk combination. The unhappy recipient of the latter half is Jerry Stackhouse, a bit battered, but no athletic slouch. Since Wall will be the best point guard in the NBA within three years, this is your "I knew him way back when" clip—like one of Biggie's Mister Cee freestyles.
16. Dwyane Wade
One would think Eric Snow would be accustomed to defending crossovers from all those years in practice with Iverson...oh, right. Here, stumbling like a punch-drunk heavyweight, the brick-shooting point guard winds up about 15 feet away from Wade, who gives him the illy side-eye for his troubles.
15. Deron Williams
Yo, the move is sweet and all, but the best part of this clip is when Jacque Vaughn attempts to foul Deron from the floor. He looks like a character in an action-adventure movie yelling "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" as his trusty sidekick plunges into the molten basin of a volcano on a Polynesian island.
14. Kenny Anderson
Another one of those vaunted NYC point guards who never really live up to their advance billing, Kenny Anderson was nevertheless an absolute beast while at Georgia Tech. Here he makes mincemeat of Bobby Hurley, a player who ended up a lottery pick himself. And having Dre's "Lil' Ghetto Boy" rocking in the background is a touch we appreciate.
13. God Shammgod
A New York City hoops legend famed for his obscene ball-handling skills, Shammgod Wells played two years for Providence College before embarking on an uneventful and abbreviated 20-game NBA career. But when you see his mercury-like fluidity on the court, none of that matters. This clip shows his eponymous move, a crossover where the player redirects the ball with his off hand to change directions.
12. Chris Paul
Famed NYC hoops legend God Shammgod once described Chris Paul as the "best dribbler" in the NBA, and this clip shows the collateral damage—ankles, Achilles tendons, pride, souls—of that reputation. Watch Anthony Carter get crossed-over three times in rapid succession, the last of which leaves him reeling in bewilderment like Kat Stacks after an open bar. Filthy!
11. Allen Iverson
When poor Antonio Daniels lurched backwards and caught himself on his wrists, our boy Jewelz could simply have taken an open 12-foot jumper. Instead, A.I. crosses him over again, puts him back on the hardwood, and coasts in for an uncontested layup. Kevin Ollie smiles with happiness on the sideline, which means everything is temporarily good in the world. He is a songbird of joy.
10. Deron Williams
You know a crossover is nasty when the crowd doesn't even give a shit if the subsequent shot misses. When Deron Williams abuses Jason "The Jet" Terry in this clip, the assembled swarm of pasty Jazz fans responds as if Donny and Marie Osmond announced a mayonnaise giveaway at Hollister.
9. Allen Iverson
A gnat of a defender who played at Kansas in college and in Utah for the early portion of his professional career, Jacque Vaughn had the dorky, swag-less hustle of a middle-aged Jewish Community Center rec-leaguer. Here he hounds The Answer all the way to mid-court—and then gets a severe comeuppance. The lesson for you? Never try.
8. Jamal Crawford
Decades from now, when inquisitive aliens sift through the rubble of our civilization and the Palin/Beck armageddon, Jamal Crawford's resumé will show him as a journeyman who chucked up a lot of shots. But we know the truth: Craw has some of the filthiest handles of anyone over 6'4". This clip shows his patented move, a crossover/ball-fake/jump-stop that leaves hapless Kirk Hinrich flailing at air like a mental hospital patient swatting invisible talking bees. He got Deron Williams with it, too.
7. Derrick Rose
Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo handle the rock with the deft touch of a magician, but Derrick Rose is more like a skilled butcher. With absurdly fast twitch muscles, he moves with sharp, cutting angles, which are enough to carve up Andre "Epitome of Mediocrity" Miller like a butchered Berkshire sow. After the Richard Pryor doppelganger flops onto his backside like a drunk girl trying to skateboard down a flight of stairs, the cackling of Stacey King makes the moment even more precious. We've heard that somewhere before...
6. Dwyane Wade
This is some Bruce Lee shit—peep O.J. Mayo flying backwards as if Dwyane Wade mashed him with the One-Inch Punch. Greg Buckner, who almost got taken out by Mayo's flailing corpse, seems unimpressed. Or maybe he's thinking: "Damn it, now the coach is going to see this clip and realize I, Greg Freaking Butler, am actually collecting paychecks from this team."
5. Jason Williams
Jason "White Chocolate" Williams was to be the forerunner of a new age, a post-racial NBA where flashy white dudes with tattoos and streetball skills would rule the league (just as Eminem was going to usher in a stream of Caucasian rappers that would wrest the genre away from its melanin-infused originators). We saw how that turned out. Still, anything seemed possible when Williams put cement shoes on Gary "The Glove" Payton, a ferocious defender, trash-talker, and future Hall of Famer. We don't want to say J-Will deserves credit for the Obama presidency, but we're just saying he kind of does.
4. Steve Francis
In an utterly ruthless display of ball-handling panache, Steve Francis puts a helpless Troy Hudson on ice skates for what seems like a half-hour. One gets the sense that this could go on indefinitely: Buildings rise and fall, the seas crest and receded, continents drift and intersect, and people start going to Chipotle in hover-cars, all while Francis continues to torment Hudson with crossovers and ball fakes.
3. Allen Iverson
The most famous crossover in history, A.I.'s juking of His Airness signaled a changing of the guard in more ways than we knew at the time. It seemed purely a generational passing of the torch then, but soon half the league was tatted up, wearing braids, donning compression sleeves, rocking headbands, and rapping. If the NBA's dress code marked the end of the first World War, this play was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
2. Michael Jordan
OK, maybe there was a push-off. But in the closing seconds of a Finals game, any official that blows the whistle there deserves to spend eternity refereeing a pickup game between 10 undead Rasheed Wallaces. Anyway, Jordan crosses Bryon into the ground, calmly deposits the game winner, poses statuesquely, and retires. A storybook ending for the greatest player to ever peddle $130 sneakers. Except that it wasn't.
1. Randolph Childress
In 30 years, when Randolph Childress is a small, wrinkled old man with a nicely trimmed goatee, he'll be able to pull out his 18G smartphone and show this clip of him dropping Jeff McInnis—then pointing at him, motioning for him to get up, and calmly nailing a three-pointer—during the 1995 ACC title game. And when he asks what you were doing at 22, you'll look down at the floor in shame and mutter, "Well, I had this Tumblr page called 'RappersEatingSmores.'" You'll feel like the saddest husk of flesh in the world.