By Tom Orsborn, Sports reporter | San Antonio Express-News, 2024-04-05 23:50:09
由Google 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。
圣安东尼奥马刺中锋维克托·韦姆班亚马（1 号）在 2024 年 4 月 5 日星期五在新奥尔良举行的 NBA 篮球比赛上半场灌篮，新奥尔良鹈鹕队前锋马特·瑞安（37 号）在他旁边。
新奥尔良——拼凑起来的马刺队正在证明，他们不是可以轻视的球队。
在周二于丹佛险胜卫冕冠军掘金队后，维克托·韦姆班亚马和一群不知名的支持阵容在第二节落后 15 分的情况下奋起直追，以 111-109 击败了季后赛球队新奥尔良鹈鹕队。
鲜有上场的德文特·格雷厄姆从替补席上站出来，对阵他的前球队砍下赛季最高的 20 分，维克托·韦姆班亚马克服了开局迟缓的不利因素，以 17 分、12 个篮板和 9 次助攻结束比赛，马刺队还有其他五名球员得分达到两位数，结束了连败两场。阅读更多：桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利成为一名技巧投射大师
“波波前几天告诉我们他不在乎谁上场，”格雷厄姆说。“他说，'无论谁穿球服，都出去以正确的方式比赛，保持积极态度，充满信心。’这正是我们今晚所做的。”
失去首发球员德文·瓦塞尔（脚部）和杰里米·索坎（脚踝）导致赛季报销后，波波维奇被迫从替补席中挖掘潜力。马刺队（19 胜 58 负）在没有第六人凯尔登·约翰逊（脚部）和前锋杰迪·奥斯曼（脚踝）的情况下出战了对阵状态低迷的鹈鹕队的比赛。
鹈鹕队（45 胜 32 负）也有自己的伤病问题，在没有领先得分手锡安·威廉姆森（手指）和布兰登·英格拉姆（膝盖）的情况下比赛。
伤病迫使波波维奇让格雷厄姆从替补席上打了创赛季纪录的 25 分钟，并给了桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利（以 15 分结束比赛）他的赛季首发，也是他在三年职业生涯中的第 11 次首发。
波波维奇说：“有很多球员站出来表现出色。”“德文特非常出色。桑德罗非常出色。朱利安（香槟尼）一直在打球，但他有一场精彩的比赛（获得 15 分、4 次助攻和职业生涯最高的 4 次封盖）。不过总体而言，需要很多人来保持能量。我们在上半场开局很慢，但下半场来了，我们在身体对抗上表现得更好。”
韦姆班亚马也有三次封盖，包括在比赛还剩 12.6 秒时扇出了赫伯·琼斯的 12 英尺浮球，而马刺队以 107-106 领先。在最后 10.3 秒，格雷厄姆和韦姆班亚马各命中两记罚球，为马刺队赢得了 5 分的领先优势。
当韦姆班亚马在比赛还剩 2.5 秒时完成一次抄截时，他再次上演防守好戏。C.J. 麦科勒姆在还剩 0.2 秒时命中三分，为比赛设定了最终比分。
韦姆班亚马说：“我们只能向团队的努力致敬，每个人都知道要站出来，其中一些人通常没有出场。”“而德文特扮演了我们今晚最重要的角色之一。一切都进行得很顺利。我们今晚作为一个团队团结在一起。”圣安东尼奥马刺：圣安东尼奥城最好的马刺队报道，送至您的邮箱
麦科勒姆得到 31 分，约纳斯·瓦兰丘纳斯得到 26 分，但这不足以阻止鹈鹕队连续输掉第四场比赛。
扎克·科林斯从替补席上得到 15 分、7 个篮板和 3 次助攻，效力于马刺队。特雷·琼斯和马拉基·布兰汉姆各得 14 分。
以下是马刺队本赛季最后一次多场比赛客场之旅的最后一场比赛的三点总结：
- 马刺队始终相信韦姆班亚马能够强劲收尾
新奥尔良在中场休息时以 61-51 领先，此前他们将韦姆班亚马限制在仅得到 2 分，投篮命中率为 0-6。
但马刺队离开更衣室时相信他们的明星新秀最终会爆发。
马穆克拉什维利说：“一旦他开始想清楚…他就会变得疯狂。”
这发生在第四节，他以 2 投 3 中得到全队最高的 7 分，包括一个 27 英尺的撤步三分，让马刺队在比赛还有 3:26 时以 105-99 领先。他还以三次封盖和一次抢断在另一端得分。
格雷厄姆说：“他可以全力以赴，每个人都知道。”“他只是在打比赛。他只是在那里做着他该做的事情，保持积极的态度，打出表现，做出正确的阅读。他可以得分，这一点很明显，所以这是我们不必担心的事情。”
在星期五晚上，鹈鹕队成为最新一支将一个身材矮小的防守球员派给这位 7 英尺 3 英寸的法国人的球队。
他们选择了一个真正优秀的人来完成这项任务：三年级的后卫赫伯·琼斯，他是一位封锁型防守者，经常紧盯对手的最高得分者，并且在防守孤立时的场均得分位列联盟前 15。
波波维奇在被问及阿拉巴马州前球员时，在比赛开始前说：“避开他就像避开瘟疫。”“你不希望他防你。你觉得我是在开玩笑吗？我告诉我们的球员，如果他在那里，那就传给其他人。就是这样。”
但骚扰韦姆班亚马的不仅仅是琼斯。鹈鹕队对他进行了大量的双人包夹。在上半场，当他们为韦姆班亚马建立了两位数的半场领先优势并迫使他在进攻中开局缓慢时，这对防守策略起到了完美的作用。
但韦姆班亚马在努力为队友传球时保持着耐心。
韦姆班亚马说：“今年，我不得不适应这种（防守策略），但教练和我的队友也努力让我参与进来，即使他们这样防守。”“但吸引防守和被双人包夹不一定是一件坏事，如果我们可以作为一个团队传球的话。所以我们有很多选择。篮球比赛充满了资源。”
- 格雷厄姆是职业球员中的典范
这位打了六年的后卫的出色表现说明了他在整个赛季中如何准备好，尽管他坐在替补席的末端，他知道马刺队想要培养二年级后卫布兰汉姆和韦斯利。
格雷厄姆说：“我得以以打篮球为生，生活并不算太糟糕。”“醒来，旅行，吃很多好吃的，航班和包机都免费。你有很多抱怨的。但如果不是打篮球是我生活中最糟糕的事情，我认为我过得相当不错。我只是不想看到负面因素。我试图以积极的态度去面对。”
圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫德文特·格雷厄姆（4 号）在 2024 年 4 月 5 日星期五在新奥尔良举行的 NBA 篮球比赛上半场庆祝三分，新奥尔良鹈鹕队后卫迪森·丹尼尔斯（11 号）在他旁边。（美联社照片/马修·辛顿）
这种方法使他成为更衣室里最受欢迎的球员之一。
马穆克拉什维利说：“我为德文特感到非常自豪，因为这并不容易。”“他是一个职业球员。他保持冷静，他保持镇定。”
当他有机会对阵一支他很熟悉的球队时，他做到了。
格雷厄姆说：“我认识体育场的全体工作人员、所有教练和所有队友。”“当我在这里的时候，这座城市表现出了很多爱，而且我在这里仍然有一个家。”
- 年轻队伍创造了记录——以好的方式
马刺队本赛季创造了一些他们不想挂在名下的记录，主要是从 11 月到
原文如下：
3 takeaways as Spurs top Pels behind Wemby, Graham
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) dunks next to New Orleans Pelicans forward Matt Ryan (37) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Friday, April 5, 2024.
NEW ORLEANS — The patchwork Spurs are proving they are not a team to be trifled with.
After nearly beating the defending champion Nuggets on Tuesday in Denver, Victor Wembanyama and an unheralded supporting cast rallied from a 15-point second quarter deficit to defeat the postseason-bound New Orleans Pelicans 111-109 Friday night.
Little-used Devonte’ Graham came off the bench to pump in a season-high 20 points against his former team, Victor Wembanyama overcame a slow start to finish with 17 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, and the Spurs received double-digit scoring from five other players to snap a two-game losing streak.READ MORE: Sandro Mamukelashvili earns fame as a trick-shot artist
“Pop told us the other day he don’t care who is playing,” Graham said. “He said, ‘Whoever suits up, go out there and play the right way, be aggressive, full of confidence,’ and that is exactly what we did tonight.”
Popovich has been forced to dig deep into his bench after losing starters Devin Vassell (foot) and Jeremy Sochan (ankle) to season-ending injuries. The Spurs (19-58) also took the court against the slumping Pelicans without sixth man Keldon Johnson (foot) and forward Cedi Osman (ankle).
The Pelicans (45-32) had injury problems of their own, playing without leading scorers Zion Williamson (finger) and Brandon Ingram (knee).
The injuries forced Popovich to play Graham a season-high 25 minutes off the bench and give Sandro Mamukelashvili, who finished with a season-high 15 points, his first start of the season and only the 11th over his three-year career.
“A lot of guys stepped up and played well,” Popovich said. “Devonte’ was superb. Sandro was superb. Julian (Champagnie) has been playing, but he had a great game (with 15 points, four assists and a career-high-matching four blocks). But, overall, it took a good number of people to keep up the energy. We started out slow in the first half, but the second half came around, we physically played better.”
Wembanyama also had three blocks, including swatting away Herb Jones’ 12-foot floater with 12.6 seconds left and the Spurs nursing a 107-106 lead. In the final 10.3 seconds, Graham and Wembanyama each hit a pair of free throws to give the Spurs a five-point cushion.
Wembanyama had another big defensive play when he recorded a steal with 2.5 seconds left. CJ McCollum hit a 3-pointer with .2 seconds left to account for the final score.
“We can only salute the team effort and everyone knew to step up, some guys who usually don’t have minutes,” Wembanyama said. "And Devonte’ had one of our biggest roles tonight. Everything worked out. We fit together tonight as a team."SPURS NATION: The best Spurs coverage in Alamo City, delivered to your inbox
McCollum scored 31 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 26, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Pelicans from losing their fourth game in a row.
Zach Collins came off the bench for 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Spurs. Tre Jones and Malaki Branham each had 14 points.
Here are three takeaways from the last game of the Spurs’ final multi-game road trip of the season:
- The Spurs always trust Wembanyama to finish strong
New Orleans went into halftime leading 61-51 after holding Wembanyama to just two points on 0-for-6 shooting from the field.
But the Spurs left the locker room trusting their star rookie would break out eventually.
“Once he starts figuring out it out…he just goes crazy,” Mamukelashvili said.
That happened in the fourth quarter when he scored a team-high seven points on 2-of-3 from the field, including a 27-foot step-back 3 that gave the Spurs a 105-99 lead with 3:26 left. He also delivered on the other end with three blocks and a steal.
'He can get going, everybody knows that," Graham said. “And he just plays the game. He is just out there doing what he does and being aggressive, making plays, making the right reads. He can score the ball, obviously, so that is something we never really worry about.”
On Friday night, the Pelicans became the latest team to assign an undersized defender to the 7-foot-3 Frenchman.
And they picked a really good one to do it: third-year guard Herb Jones, a lockdown defender who routinely shadows the opponent’s top scorer and ranks in the top 15 in the league in points per possession in defensive isolation.
“Avoid him like the plague,” Popovich said before the game when asked about the Alabama-ex. “You don’t want him guarding you. You think I am just being funny? I told our guys, if he is there, give it to somebody else. That’s the deal.”
But it wasn’t just Jones who pestered Wembanyama. The Pelicans double-teamed him plenty. And it worked to perfection in the first half as they built a double-digit halftime lead while forcing Wembanyama to a slow start offensively.
But Wembanyama stayed patient while looking to feed his teammates.
“Throughout the year, I’ve had to adapt to this (defensive strategy), but the coaches and also my teammates have worked to try and get me involved even though they play defense like this,” Wembanyama said. “But attracting defense and getting double-teamed isn’t necessarily a bad thing if we can pass the ball as a team. So we got plenty of options. The game of basketball is full of resources.”
- Graham is a pro’s pro
The sixth-year guard’s big game illustrated how he stayed ready all season while sitting at the end of the bench knowing that the Spurs wanted to develop second-year guards Branham and Wesley.
“I get to play basketball for a living and life isn’t really that bad,” Graham said. “Wake up, get to travel, eat a lot of good food, paid flights, charter flights. You can complain about a lot. But if not playing basketball is the worst thing going on in my life, I think I am doing pretty well. I just don’t look at the negatives. I try to come in with a positive attitude.”
San Antonio Spurs guard Devonte’ Graham (4) celebrates a 3-point basket next to New Orleans Pelicans guard Dyson Daniels (11) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Friday, April 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
It’s an approach that has made him one of the most popular players in the locker room.
“I am so proud of Devonte’ because it is not easy,” Mamukelashvili said. “He is a professional. He kept his head, he kept his composure.”
And when he got his chance against a team he knows well, he delivered.
“I know all the staff in the arena, all the coaches, all the teammates,” Graham said. “The city shows a lot of love when I was here and I still got a home here.”
- Young bunch sets a record — in a good way
The Spurs have set a few records this season they don’t want attached to their name, mainly a franchise-worst 18-game losing streak that spread from November into December.
But on Friday night, they established a mark they can be proud of. With 34 assists, they notched their 42nd game this season with 30-plus assists, a franchise standard.
“They have done that all year,” Popovich said. “Very unselfish group. We have been a great assist team all year. And we did a little bit better job tonight not turning it over as much as we do when we lose.”
Wembanyama led the Spurs with nine assists, and Graham and Blake Wesley notched five each.
By Tom Orsborn, Sports reporter, via San Antonio Express-News