"I tried to get as close as I could" - Allen Iverson shares why he always attacked the rim despite being undersized
Allen Iverson is one of the few fearless little guys who stood out in a big man's sport. He was gifted with a soft touch from the outside, but "The Answer" earned the majority of his points by taking it strong to the hole.
As it turns out, it wasn't just because Iverson wanted to prove that he could bang bodies with bigger opponents and still score. Instead, it was because that's the mentality instilled in him by his first beloved sport – American football.
"It comes from my football pedigree," Iverson once said via NBA.com. "The closer you get to the basket, the percentages are better, so I tried to get as close as I could."
Football toughened A.I.
Attack, get hit, and finish. That's what playing American football taught Iverson when they starred as a quarterback at Bethel High School. It made A.I.'s 165-pound body tough, resilient, and, more importantly, unbreakable. When Iverson switched to basketball in college, it came in handy as he already had that killer instinct.
Most little guards in the NBA could only take as much beating on the court and eventually wore their bodies out. But for someone who is used to getting knocked down and tossed up in the air on the field like A.I., the physicality in the NBA was nothing.
"When everyone thought it was a big deal me hitting the floor, I would laugh at it because I spent a lot of time getting hit and put on the ground in football," the 2001 NBA MVP explained.
Tough but not rough
Throughout his NBA career, Iverson proved that besides being physically tough, he also had the heart of a warrior on the court. He had zero tolerance for weakness, but unlike others, "The Answer" prided himself on beating his rivals fairly and squarely.
"I'm a warrior dawg," Iverson once said. "You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't have any heart, I don't need you stepping up on a basketball court. You can't play basketball if you are soft, and basketball players know what I'm talking about. I play hard every night, and I get beat up, but you don't see me play the game dirty. I don't get in a fight with dudes."
Different breeds of fearless little guards have plagued the NBA in recent years. They vary in attributes and attitudes, but what most of them have in common is that they were all influenced by Iverson.
