LeBron James and the 'crab dribble' controversy

I've played a lot of basketball in my day, but I'd never heard of the 'crab dribble' until LeBron James was called for traveling last night in Cleveland's embarrassing 80-77 loss to the Washington Wizards, who have the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

The King says he took a crab dribble before splitting two defenders when making a move down the left side of the lane late in the game. It took awhile, but I finally tracked down a good video on YouTube and it has a great replay. LeBron took a quick dribble to set up his defender, but when he stepped through he definitely took an extra step. If LeBron would have made a two-footed jump stop before elevating toward the rim, it probably would have been legal (ala Shaquille O'Neal).

The crab dribble explanation by the Chosen One has also provided some good quips from Wizards players.

-- Dan Loumena

Comments

[LOL]

deff travel

[Beth]

Another name for the "crab dribble" is "travel".

[Truth Speaker]

Lebron is a cheating cheat, he travels all the dang time. He is over rated.

[andrew]

While this is a travel the crab dribble is a type of dribble (the one he did before taking his 3 steps. Also lebron is in no way overrated and he has dominated hte wizards in 3 playoff series, so i understand you're bitter.

[George Jetson]

I played against a guy in college that used the same move that Lebron uses all the time. A step then he'd gather into a two footed hop/skip for takeoff. Used to drive me crazy as he never got called for travelling, could cover an incredible amount of geography with the move- often clear across the key. He was a very talented player in college and went on to coach. Only certain guys can do it as to most of us it FEELS like travelling when we do it so our brains get hard wired not to. Lebron is just the most famous guy to use it. He even throws in an extra step every once in awhile.