“Blind Pig”
Definition: a three-person backdoor action in which the ballhandler passes to a big, who passes to a guard running by him toward the hoop
Synonyms: backdoor step (note: In the Triangle offense, blind pig and backdoor step are similar but slightly different actions; outside the Triangle offense, the terms have been used interchangeably)
See Also: Triangle Offense, Step-Up Screen, Give and Go
Origin of the Name: The player who receives the first pass has his back to the basket and makes a blind pass to the cutter; also, “blind pig” is another name for a speakeasy and, according to Phil Jackson’s More Than a Game, “a term jazz musicians in the 1930s and 1940s used for a marijuana cigarette.”
How It Works: Blind Pig originated with the Triangle offense, developed by Tex Winter and popularized by Phil Jackson’s Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers teams of the 1990s and the 2000s. One aspect of that offense is the “lag pass,” a PG-to-SG pass that swings the ball from one side of the court to the other. That pass is mostly horizontal, but the SG is slightly lagging behind what’s known as “the line of truth,” hence the name*. If the SG’s defender overplays and denies that pass, however, the counter is Blind Pig: The PF flashes to the top of the key, gets the pass from the PG, and passes to the SG as he cuts toward the hoop.
*This is a highly simplified explanation. To learn more about the “lag principle,” line of truth, and the Triangle offense in general, check out this excellent blog from Joon Kim.
Why It Works: Beyond Triangle offenses, NBA teams also run Blind Pig to relieve pressure. Any defender who is denying the ball far away from the hoop has his back to a majority of the court. Therefore it can be difficult for him to anticipate Blind Pig action.
Blind Pig also takes advantage of the defender’s natural tendency to relax when a pass is made to someone else.
The Atlanta Hawks, for one example, run Blind Pig if defensive pressure prevents a backside “step-up screen.”
A favorite ATO (after timeout play) for Atlanta is “Slash Step,” which is a pick-and-pop → DHO → swing back to Trae → step-up screen. In this next clip, Trae Young is not denied the ball, so the Hawks have John Collins set a step-up screen for Trae:
But if Trae Young is denied the ball, the Hawks run Blind Pig: His center, who would have set the step-up screen, instead flashes to the top of the key, receives the pass, and dumps it off to Trae as he cuts to the hoop. In this clip, Clint Capela would have set a step-up screen for Trae, but since he’s denied the ball, Capela becomes the Blind Pig:
Examples:
Evin Gaulberto on Twitter found this example of a zipper screen → blind pig:
