By Casey Coggins | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-11-22 23:15:37
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。
上半场令人失望，但下半场却让马刺球迷记忆深刻
在取得近年来最令人印象深刻的胜利后，圣安东尼奥马刺队(San Antonio Spurs)希望在没有文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)和德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)的情况下再下一城。空气中弥漫着些许萎靡的气息，但这或许是不可避免的，毕竟他们刚刚与西部最好的球队——俄克拉荷马雷霆交手，现在又对上了最差的球队——犹他爵士(Utah Jazz)。到了第一节七分钟左右，这种萎靡已经渗透到了比赛中。主教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)不得不使出浑身解数，模仿波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)的风格，连续叫了两个相隔30秒的暂停来唤醒他的球队。他们在连续两回合得分后又陷入了冰冷的手感。爵士队在第一节打得行云流水，以32-17领先结束首节。
不仅仅是球队，其他方面也出现了一些问题。节间休息时，现场工作人员开启了一个名人模仿秀的镜头，把杰克·布莱克(Jack Black)的照片放到了大屏幕上。然而，屏幕上并没有出现与他并列的球迷照片，随后屏幕切换到了范·迪塞尔(Vin Diesel)的图像。很快，他们就像普通的球迷镜头一样，开始展示弗罗斯特银行中心(Frost Bank Center)的球迷。
镜头捕捉到一对不超过12岁的孩子，他们在疯狂地跳舞，引得全场观众欢呼雀跃。这似乎唤醒了所有人，包括球员们。他们在第二节的前3分30秒内几乎追平了整个第一节的得分。查尔斯·巴塞(Charles Bassey)送出盖帽，马拉基·布拉纳姆(Malaki Branham)完成抢断，马刺开始缩小与爵士的差距。然而，这股能量很快就消退了。在将分差缩小到8分后，爵士队重新掌控了比赛节奏，并将领先优势扩大到20分。上半场对马刺来说最糟糕的时刻或许是，经验丰富的老将克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)在比赛还剩0.2秒时试图放慢以赛亚·科利尔(Isaiah Collier)的速度，结果被吹犯规。科利尔两罚一中，爵士以67-51领先进入中场休息。
中场休息过后，你能感觉到球馆里的气氛发生了变化。马刺的防守开始奏效，他们开始逐渐缩小分差。他们在第三节的前五分钟内只让爵士投进了两个球。但他们似乎仍然无法摆脱困境。在第三节还剩5分53秒时，巴塞盖帽了科利尔，特雷·琼斯(Tre Jones)捡到球，发动快攻。特雷做出了一个罕见的糟糕传球决定，导致失误，给了基翁特·乔治(Keyonte George)一个轻松的扣篮机会。这使得爵士的领先优势再次回到两位数，而马刺本有机会将分差缩小到7分。然而，在第三节的最后三分钟里，情况发生了逆转，巴塞接特雷的传球完成空中接力的那一刻，能量完全转移到了马刺这边。在第三节结束前几秒，科利尔持球上篮时失误，斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)将球扇给了巴塞，巴塞迅速将球传给朱利安·尚帕尼(Julian Champagnie)，后者又将球传给了特雷。特雷在哨响前完成了上篮。突然之间，爵士只领先了4分。
所有的势头都延续到了第四节。马刺只用了34秒就追平了比分。在接下来的五分钟里，领先优势在两队之间来回转换，但当巴塞盖帽乔治，保罗找到快下的卡斯尔完成扣篮后，这种情况就停止了。在爵士队的下一次进攻中，尚帕尼抢断了球，并做出了一次令人难以置信的努力将球救回，然后将球传给了无人盯防的哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)，后者完成了扣篮。在比赛的剩余时间里，每当爵士队有所斩获，保罗都会做出回应。他帮助球队抵挡住了爵士的反扑，而其他人（巴塞、巴恩斯、卡斯尔和凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)）则锁定了胜局。马刺以126-118击败爵士，成为本赛季第六支在落后20分或更多的情况下逆转取胜的球队。
比赛最佳球
马刺很友好地把所有的精彩镜头都放在了下半场，虽然下半场有很多精彩的镜头，但这次逆转的缩影是特雷·琼斯的压哨上篮。
压哨绝杀 pic.twitter.com/yOWv7cfuTr
— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) 2024年11月22日
比赛记录
劳里·马尔卡宁(Lauri Markkanen)和凯尔·菲利波夫斯基(Kyle Filipowski)需要换一个号码。 如果坐在离球场足够远的地方，你可能会误以为爵士队场上有一对双胞胎。然后，当你试图确定谁在比赛中做了什么时，你必须辨认球衣上的号码是22号还是23号。为了球迷，或许也为了解说员，他们其中一人换一个更容易区分的号码似乎更公平。
查尔斯·巴塞完全康复了。 从前交叉韧带伤势中恢复的球员有时在重返赛场后几个月仍然会受到伤病的影响。在韧带撕裂11个月后，巴塞看起来比受伤前打得更好。他干扰了全队最高的15次投篮，有4次掩护助攻，并且积极冲击篮筐。他最终送出了6次盖帽，在下半场成为了球队的防守支柱。他的出色表现是马刺逆转取胜的关键因素。
克里斯·保罗仍然是控球之神。 众所周知，小个子控球后卫在NBA的职业生涯不如其他类型的球员长。同样众所周知的是，克里斯·保罗不是一个普通的小个子控球后卫。在上个赛季没有在金州勇士队打出最佳表现后，人们质疑他还能剩下多少能量。昨晚，他向我们展示了他仍然有足够的能力在第四节接管比赛。在第四节的10分38秒里，保罗得到11分，3个篮板和3次助攻，外加1次抢断。这提醒我们，神明确实以某种形式存在于我们之中。
科林·塞克斯顿(Collin Sexton)可能是交易截止日期前最有趣的球员。 大多数人会说，本赛季NBA的最终结果很可能是雷霆和波士顿凯尔特人会师总决赛。在这种情况下，NBA交易截止日期可能会比较平静。但这并不意味着一些球队不会放手一搏，或者只是试图为未来做好准备。塞克斯顿场均上场26.8分钟，得到15.8分，场均出手3.9次三分球，命中率为44.4%。他只有26岁，而且有一份非常容易交易的合同。由于爵士队准备交易一些老将以获得更多资产，塞克斯顿应该会成为一个热门的交易对象。除了他之外，谁也不知道交易市场上球员的质量会如何（这并不是说塞克斯顿真的会被交易）。
精彩言论
米奇·约翰逊：
被问及球队较去年的进步。
“看到球队的成长真是太好了。你知道，波波维奇总是谈论过程，不要跳过步骤。你能看到，显然，老将的存在很重要，但这些年轻球员也在我们眼前一点点成熟起来。希望我们能继续保持这种势头。”
克里斯·保罗：
被问及在一个回合中指导斯蒂芬·卡斯尔，最终卡斯尔上篮得分。
“我看到了他们是如何防守我的，我知道他的侵略性和他如何能够到达篮下。我只是告诉他保护好自己。你冲到那里试图侧身扣篮。我说，直接上篮就好了。直接上篮。”
查尔斯·巴塞：
被问及文班亚马回归后是否应该打替补。
“听起来不错，伙计。”
斯蒂芬·卡斯尔：
被问及他是否知道克里斯·保罗在上述比赛中看到了什么。
“我以为他只是想换防。我的意思是，他在那个时候打得很好，所以我告诉他去攻击他。所以，当他叫我的时候，我以为他只是想换防。”
哈里森·巴恩斯：
被问及在凯尔登·约翰逊吃到技术犯规后把他拉到一边。
“伙计，凯尔登每天在训练中都做那个扣篮。我告诉他，你知道，我们在比赛中迟早会吃到技术犯规的。他总是笑着说。然后今天就是这一天了。在那个时刻，它并没有 specifically 对我们造成伤害，但这只是我们在训练中谈论的某些事情之一。你会谈到某些事情，谈到它如何反过来咬你一口。”
下一场比赛：周六对阵金州勇士
马刺将在周六迎战斯蒂芬·库里(Stephen Curry)和勇士队，他们将尝试自2022年12月以来第二次取得三连胜。
点击查看原文：Spurs overcome sluggish start and mute the Jazz
Spurs overcome sluggish start and mute the Jazz
As much as the first half was one to forget, the second half was one to remember for the Spurs
Coming off perhaps their most impressive win in years, the San Antonio Spurs looked to win another sans Victor Wembanyama and Devin Vassell. The feeling in the air was a bit of malaise, but that was likely always going to be the case going from playing the conference’s best team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, to the worst, the Utah Jazz. And by the seven-minute mark of the first quarter, you could see that feeling had bled into the game. Coach Mitch Johnson had to do his best Pop impersonation and call timeouts 30-seconds apart in order to wake his team up. They scored on back-to-back possessions but went cold after that. The Jazz were playing all the right notes in the quarter, pun intended, and led 32-17 at the end of one.
Things weren’t working for more than just the team, too. Between quarters, the game operators started a celerity copycat cam and put a picture of Jack Black on the video board. No fan was pictured alongside him, though, and the screen would then change to an image of Vin Diesel. They’d soon just start showing fans in the Frost Bank Center like a normal fan cam.
Two of the fans they showed were a couple of kids, couldn’t be older than 12. They were dancing like crazy and the crowd was eating it up. This seemed to wake everybody up, including the players. They had almost matched their entire first quarter output in the first 3:30 of the second. Charles Bassey was blocking shots, Malaki Branham got a steal, and the Spurs started chipping away at the Jazz lead. That energy faded quickly, though. After managing to cut it to an eight-point game, the Jazz regained the momentum and pushed their lead to as much as 20. Perhaps the biggest sign of how the half went for the Spurs was when savvy veteran Chris Paul tried slowing down Isaiah Collier and got called for a foul with 0.2 seconds left. Collier would make one of two free throws and send the Jazz into the locker room leading 67-51.
You could sense the vibes in the building changed at halftime. The Spurs defense started making things happen, and they started to chip away at the lead. They held the Jazz to two made field goals in the first five minutes of the third. But it still seemed like they couldn’t get out of the way of themselves. With 5:53 left in the third, Bassey blocked Isaiah Collier and Tre Jones picked up the loose ball and started to lead the break. In a rare poor decision to pass, Tre turned it over, giving Keyonte George an easy dunk. This pushed the Jazz lead back to double digits instead of the Spurs potentially getting within seven. Things flipped over the last three minutes of the quarter, though, and the energy was completely on the Spurs side the moment Bassey threw down an alley-oop from Tre. That was cemented when Collier lost the balling going up for a shot with seconds left. Stephon Castle swatted the ball to Bassey, who got it to Julian Champagnie quickly, who hit Tre with an outlet pass. There was just enough time for Tre to get a layup off before the buzzer. All of a sudden, the Jazz only led by four.
All that momentum carried over into the fourth. It took 34 seconds for the Spurs to tie the game. The lead would bounce back and forth for the next five minutes, but that stopped once Bassey blocked George and Paul found Castle breaking away for a dunk. Champagnie stole the ball on the next Jazz possession, making an incredible hustle play to save it, and found Barnes ahead of everybody for a dunk. For the remainder of the game, anytime the Jazz would make something happen, Paul would respond. He helped keep the Jazz at bay, and the others (Bassey, Barnes, Castle, and Keldon) would put it away. The Spurs became the sixth team this season to come back from 20 or more points down to win, defeating the Jazz 126-118.
Play of the Game
The Spurs were nice to put all their highlights in one half, and while there were a lot of great plays in the second half, the epitome of the comeback is this Tre Jones buzzer beater.
at the BUZZER pic.twitter.com/yOWv7cfuTr
— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) November 22, 2024
Game Notes
One of Lauri Markkanen and Kyle Filipowski needs a number change. You could be fooled into thinking there were twins on the court for the Jazz if sitting far enough away from the court. Then, when trying to determine who did what on a play, you have to decipher whether the number on the jersey was 22 or 23. Feels like it’s only fair to fans, and probably also to those calling the game, for one of them to change their number to something that sets the two apart a bit more.
Charles Bassey is all the way back. Players returning from ACL injuries sometime look like they’re still feeling the effects of the injury for months after returning to play. 11 months after tearing his, Bassey looks like he’s playing better than he was before getting hurt. He contested a team high 15 shots, had four screen assists, and attacked the rim. He ended with six blocked shots and was a force defensively in the second half. His play was a big part of the Spurs’ comeback victory.
Chris Paul is still the Point God. It’s no secret small point guards don’t last in the NBA as long as other types of players. It’s also no secret Chris Paul isn’t your average small point guard. After not having the best year with Golden State last season, it was questioned what he had left in the tank. Last night, he showed us he still has enough to take over games in the fourth quarter. In the 10:38 he played of the fourth, Paul scored 11 points, had three assists and rebounds, and added one steal. It was a reminder that gods do walk amongst us in some form or fashion.
Collin Sexton might be the most interesting piece moved at the deadline. Most would say the outcome of this NBA season likely ends with the Thunder and Boston Celtics facing off in the NBA Finals. And when that’s the case, the NBA trade deadline can be a bit quiet. That doesn’t mean some teams won’t take their swing, or perhaps, just try to set themselves up for the future. Sexton is averaging 15.8 points in 26.8 minutes per game and shooting 44.4% on 3.9 three-point attempts. He’s only 26 years old and is on a very tradable contract. With the Jazz in a position to start trading away some vets to get more assets, Sexton should be a hot commodity. Outside of him, who knows what the quality of players on the trading block will look like (and that’s not to say Sexton is actually on the block).
Best of what was said
Mitch Johnson:
Asked about team improvement from last year.
“It’s just nice to see the growth. You know, Pop always talks about the process and not skipping steps. And you see, you know, obviously, the veteran presence, but these young guys maturing before our eyes a little bit. Hopefully, we can continue to keep that momentum going.”
Chris Paul:
Asked about directing Stephon Castle on a play that got Castle a layup.
“I saw how they was guarding me, and I know his aggression and how you can get to the goal. I just told him protect yourself. You’re going up there trying to turn sideways to dunk it. I said, just take the layup. Just take the layup.”
Charles Bassey:
Asked about if Wemby should be moved to the bench when back.
“Sounds good to me, man.”
Stephon Castle:
Asked about if he knew what Chris Paul was seeing in the play mentioned above.
“I thought he just wanted to switch. I mean, he had it going at that point, so I was telling him to go at him. So, when he called for me, I thought he was just getting a switch.”
Harrison Barnes:
Asked about pulling Keldon aside after he was hit with a technical foul.
“Man, Keldon does that dunk every day in practice. And I tell him, you know, we’re going to get called for a tech in game of time. And he’s always laughed. And then today was the day now. It didn’t hurt us in that moment specifically, but it’s just one of those things where you talk about certain things in practice. You talk about certain things of how it could come back to bite you.”
Next Game: Vs Golden State Warriors on Saturday
The Spurs try to win three straight for the second time since December 2022as they take on Steph Curry and the Warriors on Saturday
By Casey Coggins, via Pounding The Rock