By Tom Orsborn, Sports reporter | San Antonio Express-News, 2024-04-11 12:22:54
由Gemini Pro人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
圣安东尼奥马刺主教练格雷格·波波维奇，左，于 2024 年 3 月 5 日星期二在休斯顿对阵休斯顿火箭队的 NBA 篮球比赛半场期间在替补席与维克托·文班亚马交谈。（美联社照片/David J. Phillip）
维克托·文班亚马因无法施展身手只得成为最高啦啦队长，当他抵达佩科姆中心为马刺队参加赛季的最后一场客场比赛时，的心情并不是很好。
更糟糕的是，他不得不在俄克拉荷马城雷霆队对短手客队猛击38分的比赛中坐在场边。
“我相信如果我们赢了，他会高兴一点的。”马刺中锋扎克·柯林斯说道。
然而，在少了他们的新秀天才球员后，马刺队面对雷霆队时毫无胜算，后者在第一节比赛中以 34-11 领先，最终在星期三晚上以 127-89 大胜马刺的替补队员，战绩提升至 55-28，并留在西部第一种子席位的争夺中。
如果文班亚马上场，事情可能会不同。
上一次两支球队对战时，马刺队于 2 月底在弗罗斯特银行中心以 132-118 击败了雷霆队，文班亚马打出了历史性表现，凭借 28 分、12 个篮板、7 次助攻、5 次封盖和 2 次抢断的数据成为 NBA 历史第一位在单场比赛中拿下 10 个篮板、5 次助攻、5 次封盖和 5 个三分的球员。
综上所述，星期三对于文班亚马来说确实是一个艰难的夜晚。
“他热爱篮球，热爱竞争。”柯林斯说道。“他是一位篮球运动员，任何时候你被迫坐场，而你又无需如此，这肯定会让你沮丧。我知道他很有竞争力，确实，你可以看出他不太高兴。”
文班亚马在星期五于新奥尔良取得的胜利后谈到了他在赛季最后一周参加每场比赛的愿望。
“我已对这支球队做出承诺。”这位 20 岁的法国小伙子说道。“我对组织、球队和球迷负有责任，所以没有理由坐场。”
这是格雷格·波波维奇欣赏的一种态度。
“每个达到这个水平的人都有着相当大的承诺。”这位马刺主教练在星期三的比赛前说。“达到 NBA 水平并比赛并不容易，因为总有人觊觎你的职位。当你成为最有天赋的球员时，正是这种态度让你与众不同。”
但波波维奇也致力于球队和球迷。这就是他为何说服文班亚马以右脚踝伤势管理为由请假一晚，尽管他在过去几个月一直参加背靠背比赛。
由于脚踝扭伤，这位状元秀在 12 月和 1 月的大部分时间都处于上场时间限制中，这段时间内他还被禁止参加背靠背比赛。了解更多：由于文班亚马缺席，人手不足的马刺队被雷霆队击溃的 3 个要点
“我感觉很糟糕，因为他现在对我非常不满。”波波维奇说。“他想上场，但我着眼于长远，而且我们本赛季在这个特定的伤势上遇到了一些麻烦，众所周知，我们不得不很长一段时间限制他的上场时间，并让他避免参加背靠背比赛。在本赛季最后阶段的背靠背比赛中，我觉得没有必要勉强他。因为如果真的发生了什么事，我必须面对镜子自责，‘你当时在想什么？’
“所以，像对待蒂姆（邓肯）一样，我必须从长远考虑。”
在波波维奇在星期二晚上以 102-87 赢得孟菲斯比赛后表示，在文班亚马对阵灰熊队打了 31 分钟后，正在考虑在俄克拉荷马城让文班亚马坐场，这一决定并不令人意外。
这是文班亚马连续第七场出战超过 30 分钟，包括在星期天双加时惜败费城的比赛中创下的赛季最高的 43 分钟。
“我们准备讨论一下。”文班亚马在孟菲斯得到18分、7个篮板、7次封盖和6次助攻后，波波维奇说道。
谈话以文班亚马同意遵循波波维奇的意愿而结束。
“幸运的是，他足够聪明，能理解（长远考虑）这一点，尽管他不喜欢。”波波维奇说道。
星期四下午晚些时候，马刺队发布了一份伤病报告，其中不包括文班亚马，这显然表明他在星期五晚上对阵丹佛队的比赛中可能会上场，这是马刺队的倒数第二场常规赛。
马刺队以 20-60 的总战绩和在没有文班亚马的情况下取得的 2-8 的战绩失利，星期三在比赛中没有德文·瓦塞尔（赛季末脚伤）、杰里米·索汉（赛季末踝关节手术）、凯尔登·约翰逊（脚）、杰迪·奥斯曼（脚踝）和多米尼克·巴洛（膝盖）。约翰逊、奥斯曼和巴洛均被排除在星期五的比赛之外。
马刺队在 2022-23 赛季以 8-33 的战绩客场作战后，取得了 10-31 的战绩。
在俄克拉荷马城，柯林斯代替文班亚马担任中锋，以 20 分带领马刺队。马刺与掘金队比赛：如何观看比赛、值得注意的统计数据、球员新闻
新秀西迪·西索科在 28 分钟的上场时间里得到 14 分、5 个篮板和 3 次助攻，均创下赛季新高。特雷·琼斯和二年级双向后卫雷宽·格雷各得 13 分。
谢伊·吉尔杰斯·亚历山大以 26 分带领雷霆队。乔什·吉迪贡献 20 分，戈登·海沃德得到 18 分。
预计仅次于文班亚马当选年度最佳新秀的切特·霍姆格伦在俄克拉荷马城本赛季对阵马刺队以 3-1 获胜的比赛中出场仅 15 分钟，得到 9 分、6 个篮板和 2 次助攻。
失去与霍姆格伦再次一对一交锋的机会对文班亚马来说可能也令人沮丧。
但正如柯林斯所指出的，这两位身高 7 英尺的球员在未来应该会有更多的碰撞。
“他会没事的，”柯林斯谈到文班亚马时说道。“他（20）岁，小伙子。他还有很多比赛要打。”
原文如下：
Popovich took ‘long view’ in decision to sit Wembanyama
[Image] San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, left, talks with Victor Wembanyama on the bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Reduced to serving as the world’s tallest cheerleader, Victor Wembanyama wasn’t in the best of moods when he arrived at Paycom Center for the Spurs’ final road game of the season.
Making matters worse, he had to sit through the 38-point pounding the Oklahoma City Thunder put on the shorthanded visitors.
“I’m sure if we won, he’d be a little bit happier,” Spurs center Zach Collins said.<p class=“MM_onlineOnly” title=“CCI Online Only”>SPURS NATION NEWSLETTER: The best Spurs coverage in Alamo City, delivered to your inbox
Without their rookie sensation, though, the Spurs never stood a chance against a Thunder squad that jumped out to a 34-11 lead in the first quarter on its way to shredding the Spurs’ skeleton crew 127-89 on Wednesday night to improve to 55-28 and stay in contention for the No. 1 seed in the West.
Had Wembanyama played, things might have been different.
The last time the clubs squared off, the Spurs stunned the Thunder 132-118 in late February at the Frost Bank Center behind a historic performance by Wembanyama, who finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, five blocks and two assists to become the first player in NBA history with 10 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and five 3-pointers in a game.
Add it all together, and Wednesday was indeed a tough night for Wembanyama.
“He loves basketball, loves to compete,” Collins said. “He’s a basketball player, and anytime you’re kind of told to sit out and you don’t have to, it can definitely get to you. And I know how competitive he is, and, yeah, you could tell he wasn’t too happy.”
Wembanyama talked after Friday’s win at New Orleans about his desire to play in every game in the final week of the season.
“I made a commitment to this team,” the 20-year-old Frenchman said. “I have a responsibility towards the organization and the team and the fans, so there’s no reason to sit out.”
It’s an attitude Gregg Popovich admires.
“Everybody that’s made it to this level has a pretty good commitment,” the Spurs coach said before Wednesday’s game. “It’s not easy reaching the NBA level and playing because there’s somebody that always wants your job. And then when you get to the most talented players, that’s what makes them special, to have that kind of a commitment.”
But Popovich is also committed to the franchise and the fans. That’s why he convinced Wembanyama to take the night off for injury management to his right ankle even though he generally had been playing back-to-backs over the past few months.
The No. 1 overall pick spent much of December and January under a minutes restriction stemming from an ankle sprain that also left him prohibited from back-to-backs for a period.
“I feel badly because he’s not a happy camper right now with me,” Popovich said. “He wants to be out there, but I’m looking at the long view and we’ve had some trouble with this particular injury during the season, and as everybody knows, we’ve had to limit minutes for quite a while and had to keep him out of back-to-backs. And down the stretch in the season here, the last back-to-back, it just doesn’t make sense to me to push it. Because if something did happen, I’d have to look in the mirror and say, ‘What the hell were you thinking?’
“So, I’ve got to think long term like we did with Timmy (Duncan) in this sense.”
The move wasn’t a surprise after Popovich said following Tuesday night’s 102-87 win at Memphis he was thinking about sitting Wembanyama in Oklahoma City after he played 31 minutes against the Grizzlies.
It was Wembanyama’s seventh consecutive outing in which he logged 30 or more minutes, including a season-high 43 in Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia in double overtime.
“We’re going to talk it out,” Popovich said after Wembanyama recorded 18 points, seven rebounds, seven blocks and six assists in Memphis.
The conversation ended with Wembanyama agreeing to follow Popovich’s wishes.
“Fortunately for me, he’s smart enough to understand (the long view), even though he doesn’t like it,” Popovich said.
Late Thursday afternoon, the Spurs released an injury report that did not include Wembanyama, a clear sign that he likely will be available for Friday night’s home game against Denver, the Spurs’ next-to-last game of the season.
The Spurs, who fell to 20-60 overall and 2-8 without Wembanyama, also played Wednesday without Devin Vassell (season-ending foot injury), Jeremy Sochan (season-ending ankle surgery), Keldon Johnson (foot), Cedi Osman (ankle) and Dominick Barlow (knee). Johnson, Osman and Barlow have all been ruled out for Friday’s game.
The Spurs finished 10-31 on the road after going 8-33 in 2022-23.
Starting at center in place of Wembanyama, Collins led the Spurs with 20 points in Oklahoma City.<p class=“MM_onlineOnly” title=“CCI Online Only”>SPURS-NUGGETS: How to watch the game, notable stats, player news
Rookie Sidy Cissoko finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes, all season highs. Tre Jones and second-year two-way guard RaiQuan Gray each had 13 points.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 26 points. Josh Giddey contributed 20 points and Gordon Hayward had 18.
Chet Holmgren, the expected runner-up to Wembanyama in Rookie of the Year voting, had nine points, six rebounds and two assists in just 15 minutes as Oklahoma City finished 3-1 against the Spurs this season.
Losing the opportunity to go head to head again with Holmgren likely was also a bummer for Wembanyama.
But, as Collins pointed out, the 7-footers should have plenty more clashes in the future.
“He’ll be fine,” Collins said of Wembanyama. “He’s (20), man. He’s got a lot more games coming.”
By Tom Orsborn, Sports reporter, via San Antonio Express-News