Triangle Basketball Offense

Used By Phil Jackson and Others

The Triangle Offense has been used by basketball teams since the 1950's. It is a diverse offense with many options. Teams with great big men use the basketball play to get isolations down low and teams with good guards use backdoor cuts and proper floor spacing to create scores. It's important to keep players spaced 15 - 18 feet apart. This forces the defense to come out and guard so they can't "clog up" the lane area. The post player should try to keep a direct line between himself, the basket, and the ball.

The direct line will keep the triangle formation and force the low post defender to either play in front or behind the post player. An example would be when a pass goes to the corner, the offensive post player would re-align putting himself in a direct path to catch a pass and have the basket directly behind him. You'll understand this better after watching the basketball play animation.

In this animation I'll give you some tips on passing the ball to the low post via the Triangle offense. I'll also show you the basic set-up and a couple of great scoring options. We'll focus on the three man game created by the Triangle in this animated play. In later animations I'll give you some scoring options for the opposite side also known as the two man game in the Triangle offense.