“Pinch Post”
Term: Pinch Post
Definition: an offensive series in which a big near the weakside Elbow is used as a playmaking hub (while no other teammates are between him and the closest sideline)
Note on Terminology: The term “Pinch Post” can also refer to the player occupying the Pinch Post, or it can mean the specific spot on the floor (as long as there are no teammates between that spot and the closest sideline).
See Also:
- Triangle
- Spanoulis: a back screen+DHO, sometimes from the Pinch Post
- Iverson Cut (aka “Over”): a cut from one wing to the other, often used to transition from Horns or 1–4 High to Pinch Post
- Chicago: a down screen + DHO, which is one of the original options of the Triangle’s version of Pinch Post
How It Works:
In the diagram below, the ballhandler (1) passes to 5 in the Pinch Post and follows his pass for a handoff:
What differentiates Pinch from similar alignments is that the big at the Pinch Post is the only player on that side of the floor. Contrast Pinch Post (far left) with Horns/Elbow, 1-4 High, and Corner, all of which have a big near an Elbow and somebody outside of him (usually on the wing or in the corner, if not both):
The Pinch Post is older than the NBA. It has been used in John Wooden’s UCLA High-Post Offense and Tex Winter’s Triangle, and it’s similar to the Princeton offense’s Point series. First, we’ll look at Pinch’s origins with Triangle, and then at more recent uses of it.
Pinch from Triangle to the Modern NBA:
Pinch Post is perhaps best known for its role in the Triangle offense. In the halfcourt, Triangle (usually) starts with the ballhandler on the wing (3) forming a triangle with the corner (2) and the low post (4), with the other two players at the top of the key (1) and near the weakside box (5):
The first option in Triangle is for the ballhandler on the wing (3) to feed the post (4). The second option is Pinch: A pass to the top of the key (1) triggers the weakside post player (5) to flash to the Pinch Post—usually about halfway between the Elbow and the 3-point line:
From there, 1 and 5 run a two-man game on the weak side of the floor. Because there are no other defenders on that side, Pinch is especially effective as a give-and-go action between guard and big. If the guard receives the handoff but can’t get downhill, that triggers an empty pick-and-roll:
Another option is for the pinch post to set an angled ballscreen for the guard to attack the empty side:
If the ball is entered to the Pinch Post but he can’t hand the ball back to the guard, the Triangle—and most modern offenses that use the Pinch Post—will have that guard clear out to the corner. Meanwhile, a down screen (sometimes a two-person staggered screen) is set for the guard in the opposite corner:
The following example is taken from a YouTube video of the 2010 Los Angeles Lakers running Triangle. The Pinch Post handoff is denied, so it triggers a staggered screen for Kobe Bryant in the far corner:
(You might recognize the down screen+handoff combination as Chicago action, which also appears in the Princeton offense’s Point series.)
Compare that play to the following example from the 2021-22 Golden State Warriors, who are best known for using the Triangle’s split-cut action. However, they’ll also use Pinch, especially after an Iverson cut clears one side of the floor. In fact, this play uses the same two-part Pinch progression from Triangle: a potential handoff from the Pinch, followed by a staggered screen for Otto Porter Jr. in the far corner:
The Miami Heat are another team that loves using Pinch, especially after an Iverson cut. In this example, an Iverson cut clears the left side, which is perfect for the lefty Goran Dragic to run the give-and-go/chase action and get fouled on his layup attempt:
But when Miami needs a 3, they’ll fake the handoff and run Spanoulis, in which a shooter (Duncan Robinson) sets a backscreen for the weakside big and comes around for a handoff from the Pinch Post:
Naturally, this play has found its way around the league:
As in the previous clips, most NBA teams use Pinch Post exclusively as part of designed ATO plays, but lately there has been a growing adoption of Pinch as a crucial element of a team’s half-court offense, especially for Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Pinch Post’s Major Flaw—and the Cavs’ Simple Solution
One of the inherent flaws of Pinch Post is that it is best designed to generate long 2s, which the NBA has moved further and further away from. Jordan Sperber (@hoopvision68) has an excellent video on Brad Underwood’s Spread offense, which uses the Pinch Post. According to Sperber, the problem with Pinch is that “the two-man game occurs at the Elbow area, and it produces a lot of inefficient midrange jumpers.” In fact, the Arizona Wildcats disrupted Underwood’s University of Illinois by encouraging the Fighting Illini into the Pinch Post portion of their Spread offense. Arizona simply let Illinois rely on too many inefficient 2s, which happened naturally thanks to the Pinch Post’s location on the floor:
That puts two strikes against the Pinch Post: It’s part of an offense (Triangle) that no NBA fully runs anymore, and it’s best suited to generate shots (long 2s) that are no longer de rigueur. (The need for high-post playmaking has also decreased thanks to the rise of on-ball playmakers at the guard or wing positions.)
The Cleveland Cavaliers, which have lost guards Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio to season-long injuries, have brought back the Pinch Post in order to replace some of their missing playmaking. The Pinch Post has enabled the passing skills of bigs like Kevin Love, Evan Mobley, and Lauri Markkanen to keep Cleveland’s offense from fully cratering when Darius Garland is off the floor.
However, the Cavs have made a few small tweaks to adjust Pinch to the modern game, creating a sort of Pinch Post/Pistol hybrid. First, the Cavs use it as a primary option instead of a secondary one. Second, they’ve moved the Pinch Post to the strong side of the floor (which, to some purists, would disqualify it as being true Pinch Post). Third, and perhaps most important, they’ve moved the Pinch Post a few feet farther from the basket, beyond the 3-point line. As a result, a big like Kevin Love can simply turn and fire a 3 instead of a long 2:
If Kevin Love isn’t left open, the first option is for the ballhandler to follow his pass for a handoff, just like both Triangle and Pistol/21 Series (more specifically, “21 Chase,” except that there isn’t a big at the top of the key coming to set a screen):
Here, both defenders follow the guard, so Love turns and shoots, turning this play into what is almost identical to Pistol Keep action (which would have a center at the top of the key come set a ballscreen for Love; the fact that pistol is a 3-person series and this is a 2-person series make the Cavs’ version more in line with Pinch Post than Pistol):
If neither Love nor the handoff is open, the off-ball players run various 3-man, split-cut actions that are similar to what happens in Triangle, or what Gregg Popovich calls “Gaggle”:
Kevin Love in the Pinch was something the Minnesota Timberwolves also ran for him (coincidentally, also with Ricky Rubio setting inverted ballscreens for him):
Many NBA teams run designed ATO plays with a Pinch Post, and some—especially the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets—use it to feature their playmaking bigs. The Triangle may be gone (or at least dormant), but teams have kept the Pinch Post, especially by extending it beyond the 3-point line to adapt it to the modern game:
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