According to a recent interview with the American Film Institute where Denzel Washington reflected on some of the great movies in his career, he discussed some of the things he had to do to prepare for "He Got Game."
Washington explained that he had informed the crew beforehand that he couldn't dribble with his left hand whatsoever, but he definitely didn't want to only dribble with his right during the basketball scenes. So, every day before and after filming, he would practice with his left hand until he got better. He went on to note that in a particular scene with co-star Ray Allen where they're playing one-on-one, he noticeably goes left first after practicing all that time.
Washington laughed and said that he was actually beating Allen in that particular scene, and that Allen's acting coach was yelling at him from behind the camera — although Washington knew Allen was just taking it easy on him.
In an interview with KTLA 5 News, Allen even noted that Washington was like a point guard on set when it came to directing him for his acting scenes, so it looks like they both helped each other quite a bit.
