“I have to thank Michael Jordan for just giving me a vision. Without that vision, I don’t think it would have been possible. He made me want to play basketball.” —Allen Iverson
As Michael Jordan is the basketball messiah for the entire world, Allen Iverson is the basketball messiah for Philadelphia. When you think of basketball in Philadelphia, you think about Allen Iverson. The tattoos, the braids, the attitude, the heart, the desire to do things his way while leaving everything on the court.
However, on March 12, 1997, Iverson was just a rookie out of Georgetown. The 6’0” first-year player was attending every practice with (near) tattoo-less skin and short hair. In essence, Iverson was still Philly’s newborn baby. Philadelphia had no idea who Allen Iverson was. On that night, the only thing fans expected was an end of season game against the NBA champion Chicago Bulls and the lowly 16-win Philadelphia 76ers.
In the locker room before the game, the young rookie laced up his Reebok Questions and headed out to the court for the 61st game of his NBA career. In the visitors locker room, Jordan was lacing up his Jordan XII’s. Little did AI (and the fans) know that this would be the night that Philadelphia fell for him; the night he etched his name in permanent ink in Philadelphia lore. Sure, the Philly crowd was probably there to see Michael Jordan...but could anyone blame them?
This wasn’t even the first meeting between MJ and AI—it was the third. But the air was just different during that night in Philadelphia. From the tip, the game seemed special. Never mind that The Answer was giving Chicago buckets all night (dropping a then career-high 37 points), he would still continue to be just "the new guy" until he had a defining moment. Luckily, in the fourth quarter, during a one-on-one with the man that made him play basketball, that moment came.
Allen Iverson ran off a screen and Michael Jordan switched onto him. In the background, Phil Jackson hollered out, “Michael, get up on him Michael.” The stage was set. Iverson vs. Jordan, David vs. Goliath, center stage. The crowd at the CoreStates Center started to rise and explode as if this was Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The fans knew what was about to occur, and so did Iverson. This was the moment he had been waiting for his entire rookie season, a chance to go at the best.
"I used to always tell my friends that when I get on that stage, I'm going to try my move on the best," Iverson said.
The Answer sized up His Airness with a small crossover to the left, to see if he would bite—he did. Iverson smelled blood. BANG. Bubba Chuck ices Jordan with a crossover to the right, rises up and fires up a 20-foot jumper…
The next second would seem like an hour. If the jumper falls off the rim, the crossover is essentially meaningless. I’m not writing this post and the T-shirt I’m wearing that depicts the crossover is never made.
But the jumper found twine. The crowd erupted as if he had brought the city an NBA Championship.
"I was going to put my move to the test, to see if it was real," Iverson said. "It had to be real if it worked on the greatest player to ever play the game. That made me feel good.”
Funny enough, even though AI canned the jumper, Jordan was a millisecond from recovering and blocking the shot.
Regardless, this was more than a crossover. It was a crossover against Michael Jeffery Jordan. It was the moment when Philadelphia fell in love with Allen Iverson. It was a, “Hey, this kid is pretty damn good” moment. He had officially arrived.
The city had been deprived of a real star since the '80s—the days of Dr. J and Moses Malone. Barkley was already on his third team. Before Iverson, a city built on basketball had been falling apart ever so slowly. The city of Philadelphia didn’t want any star, though; it needed one that represented the mantra of Philly. Most stars couldn’t make it here. The never-back-down-toughness, fearlessness, and callousness that the city is known for had ruined the city's relationship with more than a couple athletes.
Allen Iverson was born with the same mentality, and that’s what this crossover represented. To be honest, the 6’0” guard from Georgetown probably shouldn't have been on same island with Michael Jordan. Nevertheless, what rookie would have the balls to go mano-a-mano with Jordan? He was supposed to be unshakable. Be real for a second: How many times can you remember someone schooling Michael Jordan?
JORDAN WAS NO LONGER SOME MYTHICAL GOD THAT COULDN’T BE DISCHARGED FROM HIS THRONE. HE WAS VULNERABLE.
The only one I remember is Allen Iverson. The fact that Iverson had the moxie to go at Jordan would have captured Philadelphia. But, after he hit a double-crossover and left MJ wondering who that little shit was? Priceless. It made him the perfect icon for the city of Philadelphia and he created a lifelong legacy from it.
More moments would occur after that crossover. The infamous practice rant. The time he ended Tyronn Lue’s career. These are still fresh in our minds. But the crossover started the engine; these were his first steps. Jordan was no longer some mythical god that couldn’t be discharged from his throne. He was vulnerable.
Allen Iverson is Philadelphia to the core. He deserves his own statue. One day, it’ll happen. If Rocky represented Philadelphia for the '70s and '80s, Iverson was an icon for kids growing up in the '90s and 2000s. To this day, you can’t walk the streets of Philadelphia without seeing someone rocking Iverson or his brand. He’s eternal. Even long after he’s gone from this Earth, he’ll truly never leave the city.
I still get goosebumps watching the video. I remember being a little kid and collecting every penny and nickel I found, trying to save up to buy a pair of Answers—no exaggeration. It’s hard to understand what Iverson meant to Philadelphia unless you were growing up in the area during his era. Sure, your parents didn’t like what he represented and stood for, but you felt like he understood you.
Looking back, it’s weird to think about how it all started from a single move in a meaningless game taking place near the end of a disappointing NBA season. Yet, here we are, 18 years later, still dissecting the play and marveling over the impact it had on his career, Philadelphia, and the NBA as a whole.
THE ENDING OF HIS CAREER WASN’T PERFECT, BUT THE BEGINNING SURE WAS.
Since his retirement, too much time has been spent dissecting his Iverson, comparing him to other players, and trudging over his inefficient scoring. Fuck his shooting percentages—take a look at the rosters he played with. No one was worried about the four other guys on the court, the defense was solely focused on stopping Iverson and no one could. He played damn near every minute in every game and would have died on the court. He carried a squad full of nobodies and Dikembe’s corpse to the NBA Finals. The current era of teaming up with superstar after superstar is upon us. Who knows if we’ll ever see a one man show like Iverson again?
In a weird way, that crossover represented the entire trajectory of Iverson’s career. Even as a rookie he was there on an island, alone, with the best player to ever lace ‘em up, and he got him. Got him damn good. The conversations and arguments about Iverson’s career will never stop. But when it started, it was just him and Michael. The ending of his career wasn’t perfect, but the beginning sure was.
