Don't be a pigeon: The NBA slang that nobody wants to be called, and how it's determining playoff winners

On April 3, with 13.8 seconds left in a tie game against the Heat, Ja Morant received an inbounds pass and brought the ball up against a great perimeter defender in Davion Mitchell. As Morant crossed half court, the Grizzlies set a screen for him, forcing rookie center Kel'el Ware to switch onto the Grizzlies star.

Morant's eyes lit up. He immediately sized Ware up.

With the clock ticking down, Morant could not look more comfortable, casually throwing the ball behind his back and between his legs. Then, he took two quick power dribbles into the paint, reversed his momentum, and released an eight-foot fadeaway over Ware's outstretched 7-foot-5 wingspan. The ball dropped through the net as the buzzer sounded for the win.

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 4, 2025

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"Take me through what you saw on that final possession," TNT's Taylor Rooks asked Morant in his postgame interview. 

"A pigeon guarding me," Morant responded immediately. "Get a bucket, win the game." 

For the uninitiated fan, Morant's term may have been confusing. For NBA players, they nodded their heads in understanding. 

"It's just an NBA term," Jae Crowder explained to reporters while on the Suns three years ago. "You either say duck, or you say pigeon. If there's a duck out there on the court, it's a guy you want to attack. Pigeon, same thing."

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The term has been around long enough that nobody is quite sure where it came from. Crowder was a rookie back in 2012, and he said that it predated his time in the league.

Larry Nance, a 10-year vet who's played on five different teams, casually slipped it into an interview about Zion Williamson's pick-and-roll defense. Second-year player GG Jackson called Nikola Jokic, Steph Curry, and Isaiah Joe this year's playoff pigeons on the Run it Back show. 

Targeting the pigeons has been more important than ever in these playoffs. Those who stay pigeons see their teams eliminated. And those who fight back are the ones who are advancing in these series. 

Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, and Rudy Gobert defense have been keys to the playoffs

If these playoffs have shown us anything, it's that hopeless defenders are going to have nowhere to hide. 

The Cavs took targeting the pigeon to a completely different level in the first round. Darius Garland openly stated their gameplan to the media.

"Pick on Tyler Herro," Garland said. "Pick on their weak defenders. Go after them." 

Herro was brought into screening actions on over a third of the plays that he was on the floor, seeing the most dramatic uptick in getting targeted of any guard in the playoffs. The Cavs outscored the Heat by an NBA-record 122 points in the four-game sweep behind the strategy. 

Defenders who have been "put in the action" more during the playoffs than they were during the regular season. pic.twitter.com/isuM9T7EUF

— Todd Whitehead (@CrumpledJumper) May 12, 2025

Other teams have advanced because their defensively-challenged stars have shown their mettle.

Tyrese Haliburton has not been a good on-ball defender throughout his career. The Cavs came into their second round series with the idea that they could do to him what they did to Herro. 

Haliburton saw a 19 percent increase in the amount of times he was targeted by the Cavs, which was the second-largest playoff increase among guards behind Herro. Unlike Herro, he was able to shed his pigeon label. He stayed in front of the ball for the most part, and the Pacers' much-improved defense helped them beat a heavily-favored Cavs team. 

The Pacers as a team were able to shrink the floor when Haliburton was defending on an island, protecting him in those bad one-on-one matchups. They also incorporated interesting coverages in order to protect him. He played in drop coverage for part of the Cavs series (as pointed out by the brilliant podcast duo of Caitlin Cooper and Samson Folk), staying well below screens in a role traditionally reserved for mammoth seven-foot centers.

Jalen Brunson is another elite offensive guard who has been a pigeon on the scouting report throughout his career. He saw the third and fifth-highest rate increases of being targeted during his series against the Pistons and Celtics.

Rather than having their defense in constant rotation, the Knicks made the decision to switch with Brunson and fellow weak link Karl-Anthony Towns, hoping that they could hold their own in tough one-on-one matchups. 

Brunson did indeed defend better than anyone probably could have imagined on those switches, particularly against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Per NBA stats, he has held opponents to just 0.76 points per possession in isolation situations during these playoffs, ranking in the 70th percentile of players. Towns hasn't been a total disaster either, giving up 0.84 points per possession and ranking in the 34th percentile. 

Brunson gives up a lot of size at just 6-foot-2, but he's made up for it in toughness. His seven charges drawn are the most of any player in the playoffs. 

Even elite players can get targeted over and over in the playoffs. The Lakers made a habit of trying to get four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert matched onto Luka Doncic and others on the perimeter during their first-round series. Gobert was called into ballscreen actions on 60 percent of the plays he was on the floor, representing a nine percent increase from the regular season. 

That might have seemed like a good idea given that Gobert famously gave up a game-winning step-back 3 to Doncic in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals last year. That elicited loud "he can't f—ing guard me" screams from Doncic as he backpedaled down the court.

Gobert had the last laugh this year, excelling in those situations not only against Doncic, but the Warriors players in the second round as well. 

Rudy Gobert has been excellent guarding in isolation on the perimeter this postseason. pic.twitter.com/1XEzHcaS4C

— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) May 10, 2025

Gobert's teammate Julius Randle has long been considered a weak defensive link too. Randle has played great on that end throughout the playoffs, holding up against stars like Doncic and LeBron James. 

"I was saying to Julius after the game, you got a lot of disrespect your whole career, and so do I," Rudy Gobert told reporters at the start of the playoffs. "It's an opportunity for us to write our own narrative."

MORE: Julius Randle is proving everyone wrong: How supposed playoff choker has become a playoff riser

Those two have indeed proven those criticisms wrong thus far, helping the Timberwolves to the second-best defense behind the Thunder in the playoffs. 

About those Thunder — perhaps their biggest strength is that they have so few pigeons on their roster, and none in their starting lineup.

Remember, GG Jackson called Isaiah Joe a pigeon. Joe was the team's eighth man and spot starter in the regular season. He barely played in the second round due largely to those defensive concerns. 

The Thunder have the depth to make up for Joe's absence. Alex Caruso has proved insanely valuable, as has Cason Wallace. Those two point-of-attack bulldogs off the bench have helped build the best defense since the Bill Russell Celtics.

Their defense carried them to a decisive win in Game 7 against the Nuggets and Jokic, who cited his team's lack of similar depth as the reason why they were eliminated. 

Brunson, Haliburton, Gobert, Randle, and others will be tested yet again in these Conference Finals. Those who succeed will move on. And those that transform back into pigeons will see their championship dreams fly away.