Understanding The “Pistols” Offense
What is the Pistols Offense?
Pistols, sometimes referred to as the “hurry-up offense”, is a popular 5-out offense that utilizes a variety of actions with great spacing to produce high percentage looks early in the shot clock. This is a great offense if you’re down late in the game and need to score quickly. The keys to running this action effectively are pace and space. In order to be run successfully, this offense must be run at full speed and players must maintain proper spacing along the perimeter at all time.
This offense is primarily used at the collegiate and professional levels—watch any NBA game and you’re sure to see Pistols run by both teams at some point throughout the game. In this breakdown, we will cover the four most popular actions teams traditionally flow into out of Pistols.
Chase Action
Keep Action
Dribble Action
Down Action
Set Up:
Pistols starts in a traditional 5-out set-up—the point guard brings the ball up either slot, with the power forward filling the opposite slot, the wings sprint to the corners and 5 trails down main street.
The actions we will cover in this breakdown always start with the strong side corner (2) curling to the free throw line extended—this is sometimes referred to as a buttonhook. From this set-up, there are four different actions available, all of which are detailed below.
1. Chase Action:
In “chase” action, the player in the strong side corner (2) buttonhooks to the wing (FT line extended) and receives the pass from the point guard (1).
The point guard then follows his pass to receive the hand off from 2 at the wing. Upon receiving the handoff, 1’s first options is to turn the corner and get downhill to the rim.
As this action is happening, the trailing post player (5) begins working over to the strong side.
If 1 cannot attack downhill after receiving the handoff, the trailing post player (5) will set a flare screen for 2 (the player who received the 1st pass and handed the ball off). If 2 is not open off the flare screen, 5 can continue on to set an empty wing ball screen for the ball handler (1)
If 1 cannot attack off the ball screen or hit the screener rolling to the rim, he can reverse the ball to 2 at the top of the key. The reversal pass triggers a weak side pin down—4 setting the pin down for 3.
2. Keep Action:
In “keep” action, the player in the strong side corner (2) again buttonhooks to the wing (FT line extended) to receive the pass from the point guard (1).
The point guard then follows his pass to receive the hand off from 2 at the wing. However, like the name suggests, the player with the ball (2) will keep the ball instead of handing it off to the point guard. Again, as this action is happening, the trailing post (5) begins working over to the strong side.
2’s first option when keeping the ball is to turn the corner and get downhill to the rim. If he is unable to get downhill right away, 5 will trail into a ball screen. 2 will look to attack off the ball screen, the screener rolls to the rim, and 1 “shakes” or lifts from the strong side corner.
As the ball screen action is happening, the two players spaced on the weak side (3 & 4) can work together to create an open shot, while also occupying the weak side help defenders. The weak side players can set pin downs or flares for each other, exchange, or they can simply keep space ready to catch and shoot.
3. Dribble Action:
In “dribble” action, the player in the strong side corner (2) again buttonhooks to the wing, but instead of receiving the pass, he sets a step up ball screen (facing opposite baseline) for 1 to attack baseline.
As this is happening, the trailing post player (5) again works his way to the strong side.
If 1 cannot attack downhill off the ball screen, 5 will set a flare screen for the step up screener (2).
If 2 is not open off the flare screen, 5 can continue to set an empty wing ball screen for the ball handler (1). If 1 cannot attack off the ball screen or hit 5 as he rolls to the rim, he can reverse the ball to 2 at the top of the key. This reversal pass triggers a weak side pin down—4 setting the pin down for 3.
4. Down Action:
“Down” action starts the same way the previous Pistol actions have started—the player in the strong side corner (2) buttonhooks to the wing. However, rather than flowing into a two-man action at the wing, the ball handler centers the ball to the trailing post player (5).
Once the ball is centered to 5, the wing player (2) will set a back screen for the point guard (2) to cut to the rim—this is the first option.
If 1 is not open, then 5 can flow into a dribble handoff with 2 after he sets the back screen. 2 can look to turn the corner and get downhill, or hit 5 as he rolls to the rim. If 1 does not receive the pass on his cut to the rim he will exit to the strong side corner, and “shake” or lift to the wing as the dribble handoff action is happening.
Scoring Options:
Finish at the Rim
The first scoring option out of Pistols and the actions covered above is to get downhill and finish at the rim. This option is usually there early in the possession out of the Chase and Dribble actions.
Flare
If the point guard is unable to get downhill and finish at the rim, the 2nd option is always the strong side wing coming off the flare screen at the top of the key. This is a great option to get an open three in rhythm.
Pick & Roll
If the flare is not open, the 3rd scoring option is the empty wing ball screen. The ball handler can look to attack, pull up from midrange, or hit the screener rolling to the rim.
Weak Side Kick
The final scoring option available in Pistols is the weak side kick. This could be a kick after the pick and roll action, or could be the weak side corner pin down action discussed above.