By Jeff McDonald, Spurs Writer | San Antonio Express-News, 2024-04-12 13:28:30
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准
2024 年 4 月 2 日，科罗拉多州丹佛市——在丹佛球馆举行的第四节比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队的维克托·文班亚马（1 号）和特雷·琼斯（33 号）在场上防守丹佛掘金队的尼古拉·约基奇（15 号）。
特雷·琼斯的家里电视总是开着，播放着篮球比赛。
这位马刺控球后卫利用他的休息时间观看其他球队的比赛，为自己的重建俱乐部圣安东尼奥找到一点优势、窍门或蓝图。
最近，琼斯发现自己在遥控器上总是选择一个 NBA 球队：丹佛掘金队。
琼斯说：“他们是一支非常棒的球队。” “我们希望像他们一样，彼此配合，互相帮助打球。”
这是十年来巨变的一个证据。马刺对阵掘金：如何观看比赛，值得注意的统计数据，球员新闻
当迈克尔·马龙在 2015 年接任丹佛队教练时，他希望效仿马刺队。
具体来说，马龙希望实施不分你我、众志成城的团队精神，这种精神曾带领马刺队以惊人的方式击败人才济济的迈阿密热火队，斩获 2014 年冠军。
马龙的球队将于周五拜访弗罗斯特银行中心，他说：“我认为多年来有许多球队一直在努力效仿马刺队。” “他们一直是其他 29 支球队的榜样。”
掘金队一路遵循马刺的“美丽篮球”蓝图，最终在去年 6 月赢得了他们的第一个 NBA 总冠军。
对于 2014 年夏季的马龙来说，这似乎是一个遥不可及的梦想。
他刚刚结束在萨克拉门托作为 NBA 主教练的第一季，战绩为 28 胜 54 负。对于马龙来说，这份工作很短暂。
他于次年 12 月被解雇。
在这期间，马龙坐下来观看马刺队围绕热火队周旋，在五场比赛的系列赛中，没有一名球员的平均得分超过 18 分，但仍创下联盟历史上分差最大的总决赛纪录。
马龙决定，这就是他希望他的球队打球的方式。
马龙没有机会在萨克拉门托实施这一愿景。随着时间的推移，在第二轮选秀秀变成联盟 MVP 的尼古拉·约基奇的帮助下，他能够在丹佛建立起这一愿景。
在周五的比赛开始之前，卫冕冠军掘金队取得了 56 胜 24 负的战绩，并连续第二年占据西部联盟头号种子的位置。
马刺队教练格雷格·波波维奇说：“（马龙）做得很好。” “你必须拥有非常出色的球员才能赢得冠军。但你必须组建一支球队，而球队必须专注于赢球和输球。迈克让他们做到了这一点。”阅读更多内容：扎克·柯林斯享受赛季末期的高潮
在马刺队 2014 年的比赛结束后的一年，金州勇士队借鉴了“美丽篮球”的一些元素，在总决赛中击败克利夫兰队。
在马刺队夺冠后，勇士队出现在接下来的八场总决赛系列赛中的六场，赢得了四座拉里·奥布赖恩奖杯。
马龙认为他的掘金队是进化链中的下一步，其根源可以追溯到“美丽篮球”。
就波波维奇而言，他一直不愿将其他人的成功归功于自己，即使这些人试图将功劳归于他。他承认他在掘金队身上看到了他在自己 2014 年的球队身上看到的一些东西。
波波维奇说：“他们已经不再自我了。” “他们为彼此而战。他们的心理方式很成熟，无论发生什么，他们都会进行下一场比赛。但这不仅仅是一两个人的问题。他们所有人都会这样做，而且他们在场上为彼此加油鼓劲。”
当然也有一些不同之处。
与以一名四赛季中将获得第三个 MVP 奖项的球员为首的现代掘金队不同，2014 年的马刺队在巅峰期没有传统意义上的超级巨星。
蒂姆·邓肯 37 岁。马努·吉诺比利 36 岁。卡怀·伦纳德在对阵迈阿密的系列赛中成为自魔术师约翰逊以来最年轻的 NBA 总决赛 MVP，他还从未进入全明星阵容。
当时马刺队的领军人物仍然是 31 岁的托尼·帕克，他在常规赛中的平均得分为 16.7 分。这一数据足以带领球队。
本赛季约基奇场均得到 26 分、12.4 个篮板和 9 次助攻，并且作为掘金队中深厚的基石，这支球队在执行力上通常看起来像是机器。
马龙说：“有一些相似之处，因为他们是一支控球和身体移动的球队，我们也是。” “我们不会在（孤立战术）中领先联盟。我们将成为一支在每场比赛的传球和助攻中领先联盟的球队。”
马刺队一直坚持这一做法。
今年的球队创造了助攻的俱乐部纪录，总计有 2385 个。他们每场比赛平均 29.8 次助攻，在 NBA 中仅次于印第安纳。
排名第三的是掘金队，他们每场比赛平均助攻 29.4 次。
丹佛拥有六名场均得分上双的球员，包括约基奇。
琼斯说：“就球队而言，我认为他们是最好的。” “这与马刺队在 2014 年时的表现类似。你可以看出他们相互配合的方式。他们知道彼此的角色。他们知道每个人在球场上的位置。”
马龙也看到了他的球队文化核心与 2014 年马刺队之间的相似之处。
约基奇与邓肯一样，是一个性格内敛、不讲废话的球员，他几乎没有表现出对这项运动的浮华和魅力。
马龙说：“我认为这两个球员之间最大的相似之处甚至不在球场上。” “这是他们的处事方式，以及他们对关注的真正尴尬方式。他们只想独处。”
今年春天晚些时候和夏季，丹佛将寻求达成邓肯王朝时代的马刺队都没有做过的事情——连续蝉联冠军。
如果掘金队能做到这一点，马龙说他们部分要感谢马刺队。
马龙说：“如果人们拿我们与过去的老马刺队相提并论，那这真是莫大的褒奖。”
2024 年 4 月 2 日，科罗拉多州丹佛市——在丹佛球馆举行的第四节比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队的维克托·文班亚马（1 号）和丹佛掘金队的尼古拉·约基奇（15 号）在场上传球。
原文如下：
Nuggets’ success has roots in Spurs’ “beautiful game”
[Image] DENVER, COLORADO - APRIL 02: Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets is guarded by Victor Wembanyama #1 and Tre Jones #33 of the San Antonio Spurs during the fourth quarter at Ball Arena on April 02, 2024 in Denver, Colorado.
The television is always on and tuned to basketball at Tre Jones’ house.
The Spurs point guard spends his downtime watching other teams for an edge, a tip or a blueprint for what he hopes to one day bring to his rebuilding club San Antonio.
Lately, Jones has found his remote gravitating to one NBA team in particular: The Denver Nuggets.
“They’re such a good team,” Jones said. “Thy build off each other and play with each other in ways that we want to do here.”
Consider that statement evidence of a sea-change nearly a decade in the making.<p class=“MM_onlineOnly” title=“CCI Online Only”>Spurs at Nuggets: How to watch the game, notable stats, player news
When Michael Malone took over as Denver’s coach in 2015, he was hoping to mimic the Spurs.
In particular, Malone was looking to institute the all-for-one, one-for-all approach that guided the Spurs to the 2014 championship in resounding fashion over the more talent-laden Miami Heat.
“I think for years now so many teams have tried to emulate the Spurs,” said Malone, whose team was set to visit the Frost Bank Center on Friday. “They have always been the model for 29 other teams.”
The Nuggets followed the Spurs’ “beautiful game” blueprint all the way to their first NBA title last June.
That seemed like a faraway dream for Malone in the summer of 2014.
He had just completed his first season as an NBA head coach in Sacramento, going 28-54. For Malone, the job was short-lived.
He was fired in December the following season.
In between, Malone sat down to watch the Spurs execute circles around the Heat, with no player averaging more than 18 points throughout the five-game series but nevertheless setting a record for the most lopsided Finals in league history in terms of margin of victory.
This, Malone decided, is how he wanted his team to play.
Malone would not get the chance to institute that vision in Sacramento. Over time, and with the help of second-round draft pick turned league MVP Nikola Jokic, he was able to build that in Denver.
Heading into Friday’s game, the defending champion Nuggets owned a 56-24 record and were in the driver’s seat toward the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the second year in a row.
“(Malone) has done a great job,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “You got to have really good players to be able to win the championship. But you also have to put together a team, and the team has to focus on what wins and loses. Mike has gotten them to do that.”
A year after the Spurs’ 2014 run, the Golden State Warriors borrowed elements of the “beautiful game” en route to a Finals victory over Cleveland.
The Warriors appeared in six of the next eight Finals series following the Spurs’ title, winning four Larry O’Brien trophies.
Malone sees his Nuggets as the next step in an evolutionary chain that traces its roots to the “beautiful game.”
Popovich, for his part, has long been loathe to take credit for other people’s success, even if those people try to hand it to him. He admits he does see something in the Nuggets that he recognized in his own 2014 squad.
“They have all gotten over themselves,” Popovich said. “They play for each other. They are mature with their mental approach, where they play the next play no matter what happens. But it’s not just one or two of them. They all do that, and they are pulling for each other on the court.”
There are differences, to be sure.
Unlike the modern-day Nuggets, who are led by a player in line for his third MVP award in four seasons, the 2014 Spurs did not have a conventional superstar in his prime.
Tim Duncan was 37. Manu Ginobili was 36. Kawhi Leonard, who would finish the series against Miami as the youngest NBA Finals MVP since Magic Johnson, had not yet made an All-Star team.
The head of the Spurs’ snake at the time was still 31-year-old Tony Parker, who had averaged 16.7 points during the regular season. That figure was enough to lead the team.
Jokic this season is averaging 26 points, 12.4 rebounds and nine assists per game, and serves as a fulcrum for a deep Nuggets team that often seems machine-like in its execution.
“There are some similarities because they were a ball and body movement team, and so are we,” Malone said. “We are not going to lead the league in (isolation plays). We are going to be a team that leads the league in passes per game, assists per game.”
That approach for the Spurs persists to this day.
This year’s team has set a club record for assists, totaling 2,385. Their average of 29.8 per game ranks second in the NBA behind Indiana.
Clocking in at third are the Nuggets, who average 29.4 assists.
Denver boasts six players with a double-figure scoring average, including Jokic.
“As far as the team goes, I think they’re the most complete,” Jones said. “That’s similar to how the Spurs were in 2014. You can tell the way they feed off one another. They know each other’s roles. They know where each guy is going to be on the court.”
Malone also sees the comparison between his team’s cultural centerpiece and the Spurs’ in 2014.
Jokic, like Duncan, is a throwback, no nonsense player who displays little interest in the glitz and glamour side of the sport.
“I think the biggest similarity between those two players isn’t even on the floor,” Malone said. “It’s their approach and truly how embarrassed they are by the attention. They just want to be left alone.”
Later this spring and into the summer, Denver will look to accomplish something not even Duncan’s dynastic Spurs ever did — win back-to-back championships.
If the Nuggets get there, Malone says they will in part have the Spurs to thank.
“If people are comparing us to the Spurs of the old,” Malone said, “that is a hell of a compliment.”
[Image] DENVER, COLORADO - APRIL 02: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs and Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets pass on the court during the fourth quarter at Ball Arena on April 02, 2024 in Denver, Colorado.
By Jeff McDonald, Spurs Writer, via San Antonio Express-News