By Charlie Thaddeus | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-11-21 02:58:28
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。
圣安东尼奥终于在NBA杯上取得了胜利
并不是说你无法从这样的比赛中学到任何东西——只是难度更大。球队阵容不完整，情况也很特殊。所有这些变量的存在使得我们几乎不可能从我们刚刚看到的比赛中得出任何全局性的结论。然而，如果只看局部呢？嗯，局部充满了细节，我们非常乐意深入研究，形成自己的观点，并牢牢记住那些即使过了很久也可能对我们很重要的东西。
每当我们观看没有文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的马刺比赛时，都会感觉很奇怪。尤其是在现在，球队并非处于“不成功便成仁”的模式。你基本上必须将你的期望完全转移到发展目标上。球员们的状态如何？他们进步如何？展现了哪些无形资产？诸如此类。降低一点赌注固然不错，但这确实让比赛少了一些乐趣。
部分原因在于，这正是我们五年来一直秉持的心态。谁在乎输赢？我们来这里只是为了长远发展！这是一种正确的想法，但我已经厌倦了。这是一种聪明的想法，但我只是一只喜欢看到自己的球队在比赛中获胜的笨蜥蜴。我忍不住。我喜欢竞争。我喜欢参与其中。在昨晚的比赛前查看伤病报告感觉就像走到一家餐馆，却只看到沙拉。
所以，想象一下，当这支由零零碎碎的球员组成的马刺队出现并开始真正出拳时，我的惊讶程度。我欣喜若狂。他们以为他们是谁？每个人都在球场上各司其职，而凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 却打出了这支球队十年来最赏心悦目的精彩时刻之一？我最喜欢的查克·巴塞 (Chuck Bassey) 在面对一支相当强大的前场阵容时，四处拼抢，制造麻烦？斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 在真正的谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大面前模仿谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大？这场比赛的发展几乎和我脑海中计划的一模一样，以至于我不得不怀疑它的真实性。
事实上，我确实不相信。我的意思是，我相信也不相信。这很复杂。我不认为马刺突然变成了西部最好的球队之一，也不认为凯尔登·约翰逊能够经常打出这样的比赛。如果没有主力球员和很多事情都朝着正确的方向发展，这支球队仍然远远达不到具有竞争力的水平。并不是说这场比赛是侥幸，但它肯定与侥幸沾边。
然而，以下是你必须喜欢的地方。马刺看起来……更聪明了？他们仍然像他们的年龄一样打球（分别太年轻或太老），但他们的风格似乎更具凝聚力，朝着某种关于如何打球的更大想法前进。他们投篮更好了，无球跑动更有目的性，并且不知疲倦地抢篮板。失误仍然以一种让我想要跳进海里的频率发生，但它们不再像去年那样是懒惰、低效的失误。这些失误似乎来自于球员们试图做得太多，而不是做得不够。这并不完美，也不会赢得今年的任何冠军，但偶尔会奏效，我们会看到像这样的夜晚。
即使与今年早些时候相比，感觉也更好。就像铁锈开始脱落，每个人（包括我）都不应该对开局几场不稳定的表现反应过度。这是一支有很多变动部分需要磨合的球队，也有很多年轻球员仍在学习如何打球。一旦你陷入NBA常规赛的急速漩涡中，就很容易忽略这一点。
不要过度解读这场比赛很重要，但花点时间欣赏它同样重要。
要点:
- 凯尔登的扣篮确实非同凡响。也许我只是渴望看到非文班类型的精彩马刺集锦，但感觉这确实是马刺的第一个时刻，它真正突破进入了主流NBA的讨论，与这位高大的法国人无关，这感觉很重要。
小心 https://t.co/OXENIKG1W3 pic.twitter.com/EuI0RpTnCW
— 圣安东尼奥马刺 (@ spurs) 2024年11月20日
- NBA杯！我们感觉如何？去年我基本上完全忽略了它，今年也准备这样做，但现在我们已经取得了一场胜利，并且可能有一些竞争力……我们参与其中了吗？有趣吗？是我们想要的吗？就像我上面说的，我愚蠢的蜥蜴大脑只是喜欢赢，如果这可能是一种让我们的球员在半有趣的赌注下获得一些高杠杆代表的方式，那么，你知道，我想我可能准备好了去关心？也就是说，如果我们在下一场比赛中搞砸了，我也完全准备好放弃这个计划。我们灵活多变。
- 我真心为扎克·科林斯 (Zach Collins) 在上一场比赛中连续两次投篮不中而受到严厉批评感到难过，所以很高兴看到他今晚有一些好的表现。他很有用！我知道他大部分时间都不是我们最喜欢的选择。我知道他不是雅各布·珀尔特尔 (Jakob Poeltl)，也永远不会是，但他很有用。他消耗时间。他争取时间。他确实偶尔会得分。我不知道。我认为对照他目前所处角色的实际情况来看待他是健康的。
- 克里斯·保罗 (Chris Paul) 在最后时刻投进的三分球是否是我们的第一个真正的“克里斯·保罗是马刺的一员！”的时刻？这并不是你雇佣像他这样的人的确切原因，但这当然是一个很好的额外收获！
赛后新闻发布会:
- 你判断某事是否重要的策略是什么？
- 这很简单，我会问自己：“这是否伤害了我的感情？”如果是？你最好相信我会发起一场全场紧逼运动，以降低它在更广泛生态系统中的重要性。
- 感觉有点不诚实。
- 看？现在这伤害了我的感情。
- 你会因此开始不那么认真地对待这些新闻发布会吗？
- 你肯定已经被我注意到了，这是肯定的。
点击查看原文：What We Learned from the Spurs win over the Thunder
What We Learned from the Spurs win over the Thunder
San Antonio finally gets on the board in the NBA Cup
It’s not that you can’t learn anything from a matchup like this — it’s just that it’s harder. The teams aren’t complete. The circumstances are weird. All the variables in play make it just this side of impossible to draw any Big Picture conclusions about what we just saw. Little Picture, though? Well, the Little Picture is swimming with details that we are more than welcome to sink our teeth into, form opinions on, and commit to bits we can hold dear to our hearts long past any real relevance they might have.
Anytime we’re watching the Spurs without Victor Wembanyama, it makes for a weird exercise. Especially right now, when the team is not exactly in “win or die” mode. You basically have to shift your expectations completely into development goals. How are guys looking? How are they coming along? What intangibles were on display? Stuff like that. It can be nice to have the stakes lowered a little bit, but it does make it a little less fun.
Part of that is just the fact that it’s kind of the mindset we’ve been in for five years now. Who cares about the wins? We’re just here to get better in the long run! It’s the correct way to think, and I’m also sick of it. It’s the smart way to think, and I’m also just a dumb lizard who likes seeing his team win at sports. I can’t help it. I like to compete. I like being in the mix. Looking at the injury report before last night’s game felt like sidling up to a restaurant and only seeing salads.
So imagine my surprise when the odds and ends that comprised this Spurs team showed up and started throwing real punches. I was beside myself. Who did they think they were? Everyone is just minding their business out there, and Keldon Johnson is throwing down one of the most aesthetically pleasing highlights this franchise has had in a decade? My absolute boy, Chuck Bassey, is throwing his body around and causing problems against a pretty formidable front court? Steph Castle is doing a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander impression in front of actual Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? This game played out almost exactly like I would’ve planned it in my head to a degree that I can’t help but distrust it.
In fact, I don’t trust it. I mean, I do and I don’t. It’s complicated. What I don’t think is that the Spurs are suddenly one of the best teams in the West or that Keldon Johnson is capable of having a night like this on a routine basis. This team is still woefully short of being competitive in the mix without its big guns being available and a lot of things going right. It’s not that this game was a fluke or anything, but it was certainly fluke-adjacent.
Here’s what you have to like, though. The Spurs seem… smarter? They still play like their age (too young or too old, respectively), but they’re doing it in a style that seems cohesive towards some sort of bigger idea about how to play. They’re taking better shots, moving without the ball with purpose, and crashing boards relentlessly. The turnovers are still happening at a rate that makes me want to walk into the ocean sometimes, but they aren’t the lazy, low-energy turnovers we saw last year. These seem to come from a place of guys trying to do too much versus guys not trying to do enough. It’s not perfect, and it’s not going to win any championships this year, but every once in a while, it’s going to click, and we’re going to be treated to a night like this.
It feels better, even compared to earlier in the year. It’s almost like the rust is starting to come off and everyone (me) shouldn’t have overreacted to a few shaky performances out of the gate. This is a team with a lot of moving parts they are trying to fit in and a lot of young guys still learning how to play. It’s so easy to lose sight of that once you fall into the breakneck slipstream of the NBA regular season.
It’s important not to read too much into this one game, but it’s just as important to take a minute to appreciate it.
Takeaways:
- Keldon’s dunk really was something else. Maybe I’ve just been starved for cool looking Spurs highlights of the non-Wemby variety, but it did feel like it was one of the first Spurs moments that really broke through into the mainstream NBA conversation that didn’t have anything to do with the the tall Frenchman and that felt important.
WATCH OUT https://t.co/OXENIKG1W3 pic.twitter.com/EuI0RpTnCW
— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) November 20, 2024
- The NBA Cup! How do we feel? I basically ignored it completely last year and was ready to do the same this year, but now that we’ve logged a win and might be a little bit in the mix…are we into it? Is it fun? Is it something we want? Like I said up there, my dumb lizard brain just likes to win things and if this might be a way for our guys to get some high leverage reps with semi interesting stakes then, you know, I think I might be ready to care? That said, also totally prepared to pull the ripcord on that plan if we beef in the next one. We’re nothing if not flexible.
- I felt genuinely bad about Zach Collins getting raked over the coals for his back-to-back airballs in the last game so it was nice to seem him putting in some good minutes tonight. He’s useful! I know he’s not our favorite option most of the time. I know he’s not Jakob Poeltl and he never will be, but he’s useful. He eats minutes. He buys time. He does score from time to time. I don’t know. I think being realistic about what the options are for the role he currently occupies is probably healthy.
- Was the Chris Paul three down the stretch the first real, “Chris Paul is a freakin’ Spur!” moment we’ve had? It’s not exactly why you hire a guy like that, but it’s certainly a nice perk!
WWL Post Game Press Conference:
- What’s your strategy for deciding whether or not something is important or not?
- It’s a really simple thing where I ask myself, “Does this hurt my feelings?” If it does? Well you better believe I start a full court press movement to downgrade it’s importance in the wider ecosystem.
- Feels a little intellectually dishonest.
- See? Now that hurt my feelings.
- Are you going to start taking these press conferences less seriously as a result?
- You’re definitely on notice, that’s for sure.
By Charlie Thaddeus, via Pounding The Rock