Allen Iverson Steps Over Tyronn Lue

The opportunity to play against a NBA player has always been my dream. At age 27, I still consider myself a young, better than an average basketball player. I’m not currently playing professional basketball overseas, but I definitely spend a lot of my time during the week playing basketball.

I would consider at my age, skill set, and experience level that I could compete with an ex-NBA player twice my age. He would be a lot slower and not as good, right? No, not the case at all for Tyronn Lue; the 23rd draft pick in the 1998 draft, 2-time NBA champion, and current Cleveland Cavalier’s assistant basketball coach.

My basketball career stopped at the European professional level, so I was eager to see how my basketball skills would match up with a former NBA stud. It didn’t go so well! For me of course. Tyronn Lue did whatever he wanted on the court. We are both short, but he was much stronger and a much better shooter. He scored at will, he was unguardable. I have always been considered a solid defender because of my quickness, but this match-up showed no signs of that. My teammates only could watch in disbelief because of what I do to them everyday, Lue was doing to me.

Lue’s defense wasn’t too great, which was expected at his age, but when I scored once he scored 4 times. You know what, I loved every bit of it, it was an opportunity of a life time and now I see why I didn’t make it to the NBA at my height. Tyronn Lue and Allen Iverson are two of my favorite players because they represent the smaller guards who made it to the NBA. Allen Iverson said it best, “Only the Strong Survive!”. I didn’t think that I would ever say this, but it felt good to be humiliated like Tyronn Lue was when Allen Iverson punished him in the 2001 NBA finals. When Allen Iverson crossed over Tyronn Lue and stepped over him, that was historic! One thing that I did learn is, no matter your size, skill, or determination, there is ALWAYS going to be someone the same size but better. Tyronn Lue’s beat down on me only made my next defender feel like I was picking on him…