“Allen Iverson had the left to right crossover so I went behind the back twice”: Jamal Crawford chops it up with Kevin Garnett on inventing new crossovers out of thin air

Jamal Crawford breaks down how he came up with his vast array of crossovers during his time in the league to Kevin Garnett. 

Jamal Crawford is slept on far too often when talking about he greatest ball-handlers of all time. J-Crossover transcends the mere definition of what a ball-handler is as it was painfully obvious that he had a great handle on the ball. For him, it was how far could he go with his innovative techniques, always keeping defenses guessing his next move. 

In his interview with Kevin Garnett on showtime Basketball, he talks about how he would practice his dribbling skills by himself.

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“So, I spent a lot of time by myself and just, imagining. I would play myself, I would count down, ‘If I make this shot, I’m going to Michigan.’ I didn’t have grades at the time. I studied the game so much and so I watched Rod Strickland, Jason Williams, AI, Nick Van Exel, Isiah, Tim Hardaway, I watched all of them,” said Crawford. 

Jamal Crawford on trying to become innovative with his moves. 

Given the fact that Jamal Crawford played so much like Allen Iverson, it’s no wonder that he tried to come up with moves that one-upped the 2001 MVP. He talks to KG about how he noticed the league started to catch onto AI’s left to right killer crossover and so decided to think of moves that the NBA wasn’t privy to seeing before. 

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“AI had the left to right cross right? Everybody’s catching up to that, it was the dopest move. How can I have a move of my own that nobody can get to. Ok I can go behind the back. I can go behind the back behind the back.” 

It’s incredible to hear players who can be classified as ‘true hoopers’ break down their mentality going into games and how they came up with the moves that they performed.  

Given how naturally skilled Jamal Crawford was, it’s no surprise that he was able pull off a behind the back (2x) hop step in transition in a matter of seconds.