Q&A for How to Do a Crossover in Basketball

Practice crossing right to left. From there, try faking right and crossing left, and faking left and crossing right. A good crossover dribble should involve quick changes in direction.

A crossover dribble is basically going from right to left or left to right, crossing the dribble in front of yourself. It should be low, below the knee, and it should be quick and start with a fake.

Practice it a lot. Grab a chair, cone, or anything really and just practice crossing the "defender" over. One important thing to remember is to practice it game speed. Keep doing it over and over again and you will see results. After that, do it in a pickup game.

Do some ball handling drills. Start off with the basics and progressively move to more challenging drills.

When a defender is being extremely aggressive towards the ball and is reaching in.

Practice makes perfect. Keep doing the simple ball drills like going through the legs and behind the back and it will become second nature in no time.

You could pretend to charge towards the defender, which will make him go behind to defend. Then, take one quick step backwards when the defender is just adjusting to his new place. That move would certainly make space for you to shoot.

Try to do your crossover again. However, this time, try to bounce the ball behind the back and also try to hesitate to the left and then come back up and do it again.

Play in front of people you trust and ask them to give your their honest opinion. If they think you don't have potential, keep practicing until you gain some more confidence and experience, and then ask them again.

Take your layup at full speed and confidence and try to get close to the ring.

No, you shouldn't get away from the defender. You should run faster and block your defender's lane so as to not give him space to adjust his position and time to cover up the distance between you and him.

That depends on the situation you're in. If you're playing 1 on 1, you should go to the basket and finish the layup. If you're in a real game situation, you have to shoot or pass. This is to prevent the ball from getting stolen, or getting your layup blocked by the center. But really, you have to think quickly based on the situation, and this is more important than your handling, agility, etc.

Use a crossover on offense. Point guards use the crossover more often. The defender is most vulnerable when you cause him/her to cross his/her feet.

Yes. You need good shoes to be able to stay up and not fall. If you have dirty or old shoes, you could easily lose your balance.

Have confidence in yourself. Practice a lot and show spirit. Try your best, that's all anyone expects from you.

After breaking the defender, you should either try to score (shooting the basketball or finishing at the rim with a layup) or, if you aren't able to score, try to get past more defenders, or simply pass the ball to a teammate.

He practiced consistently and became an expert. If you practice a lot, you might be able to do it easily, too!

Practice that move over and over again until you feel like you've mastered it. Use cones or even chairs to simulate people. Everyone makes mistakes, but they will happen less frequently if you practice regularly.

Yes, "ankle breaker" is basically a nickname for a crossover.

If you're playing a one-on-one, there is not much you can do. If you're playing on a team, it is best you pass before you turn the ball over.

Try to shield your defender with your shoulder. Don't turn your whole body towards the defender, just enough to shield.

Go to a local park with a hoop, see if you can get access to the gym at school if no one's using it, practice at a friend's house, or buy your own hoop.

You should stay lower and dribble the ball harder as you move from one side to the other. Practicing ball control will help you not lose the ball when doing a harder variation or quicker variation of a crossover.

Try the article How to Jump Higher .

Work with a coach or a player who is better than you.

No. Ankle breaking depends on how confident you are with the ball. However, speed and quickness could be a big help.

Just focus on mastering the three-pointer, since all Curry does is shoot 3's from illegal screens. People like LeBron, MJ and Gary Payton have a complete basketball game in which they play great offense and great defense, so you should consider trying to get as good as them.

If the defender is slow and you're fast, sure, you might be able to pull that off.

Do a simple crossover, try practicing it until you are confident enough to do it without looking at the ball, and then adjust the cross behind your back.