Broke their ankles
What is the definition of “Broke their ankles” in hockey?
What is Broke their ankles referred to in hockey?
How do players “Break their ankles”?
Broke their ankles is when a defensive player falls after being deked while skating backwards.
This refers to when an offensive basketball player performs a dribbling move with the ball, usually a crossover that causes the defender to either lose balance or fall to the court.
Examples of how breaking ankles is used in commentary:
- Paul sprints up court with the ball and pulls a hesitation move on the defender that breaks his ankles and allows him to go in for the uncontested layup.
The ability to break ankles on the court is not an easy task. A player must have excellent dribbling skills and speed, mostly a strong and deceptive crossover. If a player develops a reputation of crossing over their opponents, then defenders tend to give them more space to dribble the ball so that they don’t get crossed-up. This will sometimes open up the jump shot for the ball handler.
However, if a ball handler is going against someone who is a subpar defender that has poor footwork, then breaking ankles is as easy as giving a simple fake and dribbling right past the defender.