By Charlie Thaddeus | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-11-23 02:13:32
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。
德州最伟大的小胜利
我错过了比赛开场。晚上一堆事情缠身，尽管我知道必须写这场比赛的报道，但我就是没能赶上跳球。我三岁的女儿坚持认为，在大电视上看《蜘蛛侠和他的神奇朋友们》比马刺和爵士的季前赛更重要。“但我们今晚第一次穿新款城市版球衣，”我恳求道。她无动于衷。
等大家都吃饱喝足、洗完澡、睡着后，我才尽职尽责地打开比赛录像，看最后阶段的比赛。在穿插于各种超级英雄剧集之间，我偷偷瞄了一两眼比分——并且惊恐地注意到，马刺显然也对这场比赛提不起兴趣——我并没有期待看到什么精彩的比赛。你能想象我的惊讶吗？当我打开屏幕时，首先映入眼帘的是扎克·科林斯(Zach Collins)在人群中奋力拼抢，完成一记高难度上篮，将比分扳平。这真的允许吗？
比赛的剩余部分——好吧，我不知道该怎么形容。它让我笑了。我全程坐在那里，脸上挂着傻乎乎的笑容。我没有考虑未来、发展或无形资产。我只是在看我们的小伙子们打球。多么难得的概念！多么享受的时刻！看着克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)像下棋一样调动我们的球员，大声发出指令，指挥交通，并在肘区投进稳稳命中的跳投，这真是我从未想过的事情——而它却在我眼前真实上演。
更特别的是，我们球队的其他成员似乎毫不犹豫地融入了这种节奏。保罗有一个计划，这很棒，但我们的小伙子们能够遵循这个计划并执行它。这不是这支球队几年来一直在做的事情。一直以来，他们都有着最好的意图，但总是伴随着“哦，呃，实际上，我们还没完全达到那个水平。”昨晚，每个人都站了出来。每个人都迎接了挑战。每个人都准备好打球了。
每次马刺赢球，我都会看到人们发布这样的统计数据：*赛季第8胜——马刺去年直到一月份才达到这个胜场！*坦白地说，这听起来不可思议。这支球队在纸面上看起来与去年并没有什么不同。所以他们增加了一些老将和一个新秀？很好。他们也一直受到伤病困扰，格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)也无限期缺阵。这说不通。真的说不通。他们应该还在磕磕绊绊，犯错误，接受教训。
相反，我们看到凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)因为扣篮后在篮筐上挂得太久而吃到技术犯规。我们看到布雷克·韦斯利(Blake Wesley)在斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)完成一次“2+1”后在场边疯狂庆祝。我们看到主场观众在又一个底角三分命中后欣喜若狂的画面。简而言之，我们感受到了快乐。
我进入这个赛季时期待球队能立刻变得更好，但他们没有。我已经写了很多关于我的期望与现实并不相符，以及调整这些期望水平是如何——好吧，姑且称之为“一个过程”。像这样的比赛是一个有趣的数据点，可以添加到关于这支球队将成为什么样球队的更广泛的讨论中。
他们是伟大的吗？他们是争冠球队吗？他们准备好与联盟中真正的强队进行真正的对话了吗？我不知道这些问题的答案。他们可能并不伟大。他们可能不是争冠球队。他们可能还没有完全准备好被认真对待。那么他们是什么？现在，我选择享受快乐。
这支球队很有趣。
关键要点:
- 无论怎么夸赞克里斯·保罗在场上的表现都不为过。他就是人们一直所说的那样：要求严格、掌控全局、高效、老练，而且（说实话）有点烦人。但现在他为我们做这一切。他把每个人都放在他们需要的位置上。他会弯下腰，扭动身体绕过防守者，以便找到一个精准的角度传出击地传球。他绕过掩护，漫步到他20年来一直在漫步的肘区同一个位置，然后投进中距离跳投。这太不可思议了。这就是你所能要求的一切。点燃你所有的祈福蜡烛，希望他保持健康，让我们尽可能多地享受这段旅程。
- 查克·巴塞(Charles Bassey)！就是！那个！家伙！真是个惊喜——他在场上活力四射。跑动、把球盖到看台上，以及有趣的“加油”呐喊。这张牌是我没想到能打的，我很高兴看到它发挥作用。就像，文班(Wemby)，请尽快回归，有一百万个理由，但我也很想看到他们两人同时在场，在禁区创造终极禁飞区。
巴塞盖帽
— 圣安东尼奥马刺 (@ spurs) 2024年11月22日
- 谁是这支球队最好的扣将？文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)不在考虑范围内，因为他的扣篮看起来甚至都不像他在努力。看起来很奇怪。他出局。我认为必须在凯尔登和令人惊讶的斯蒂芬·卡斯尔之间做出选择。凯尔登在场上释放出一种无拘无束的能量，总是让我兴奋，但卡斯尔本赛季很快就展示了他拥有非凡的弹跳力。我的意思是，这家伙绝对能在场上飞起来。他在第二节尝试了一次扣篮，但被一次未吹罚的离谱犯规破坏了，但他从油漆区内起跳，蓄力，并试图把防守者埋进地板里。这很大胆，我喜欢。
- （我意识到所有这些美好的感觉都来自于一场逆转战胜缺兵少将的爵士队的比赛，他们只有3场胜利，而且显然在摆烂。我意识到了，我明白了，这已经纳入我的兴奋之中了。谢谢。）
赛后新闻发布会
- 你觉得马刺穿蓝色球衣怎么样？
- 好吧，我公开说过NBA现在球衣太多了。太多了，即使是酷炫的东西看起来也不再特别了。每个人都需要少做点。话虽如此，这些球衣已经存在，我们只能接受它，在这种情况下，我必须承认我真的很喜欢这些球衣。我觉得它们很有趣。
- 你不觉得它们看起来像有人把蓝色袜子落在洗衣机里了吗？
- 我理解这种批评，但我认为这主要是由于一些球员穿着纯白色的汗衫/紧身裤造成的。这是一个奇怪的组合，造成了看起来没有人真正统一颜色方案的效果。但就球衣本身而言？我觉得它们很有趣。我喜欢字体，我喜欢颜色，我喜欢这种氛围。我喜欢马刺在“传统”节日色彩之外进行尝试。我们兼容并包！
- 哇，所以你是说你讨厌节日色彩？？？
- 没有人讨厌节日色彩。我们只是……我认为我们过于依赖它们了。显然它们很酷，但我认为马刺总体上背负了太久的“无聊”标签，我们花了所有时间说，“我们不无聊！我们不无聊！看看粉色和蓝绿色！一个无聊的球队会有这些颜色吗？？？？？”我只是有点厌倦了。
点击查看原文：What We Learned from the Spurs win over the Jazz
What We Learned from the Spurs win over the Jazz
The biggest little win in Texas
I showed up late. My night got away from me and, even though I knew I had to write about this game, I just couldn’t get in front of it by tip-off. My three-year-old daughter insisted that watching Spidey and His Amazing Friends on the big TV was more important than an early-season tilt between the Spurs and the Jazz. “But we’re wearing our new City Edition jerseys for the first time,” I pleaded. She was unmoved.
By the time everyone was fed, bathed, and asleep, I dutifully pulled up the game to catch the final stretch. Having snuck a peek or two at the score in between various superhero episodes—and noticing, with dread, that the Spurs were also clearly uninterested in this game—I wasn’t expecting to see much. Imagine my surprise when the first thing that pops onto my screen is Zach Collins fighting through bodies to finish off a tough layup in traffic to tie the game. Is that even allowed?
The rest of the game—well, I don’t know how else to say it. It made me smile. I sat there with a big, dumb, goofy grin on my face the entire time. I wasn’t thinking about the future or the development or the intangibles. I was just watching our guys hoop. What a concept! What a treat! To just get to watch Chris Paul move our guys around the floor like chess pieces, barking out orders, directing traffic, and knocking down no-doubter jumpers from the elbow is something I never even thought to wish for—and there it was unraveling before my eyes.
Making it even more special, the rest of our team seemed to just drop into that flow without batting an eye. CP3 had a plan, which was great, but our guys were capable of following that plan and executing it. That wasn’t something this team has been doing for a few years now. It’s always been the best of intentions with a healthy dose of, “Oh, uh, actually, we’re not quite there yet.” Last night, everyone showed up. Everyone rose to the challenge. Everyone was ready to ball.
With every win, I keep seeing people post the stat that reads something like: 8th win of the season—it took the Spurs until January last year to do that! Frankly, that sounds unfathomable. This team doesn’t even seem that different from last year on paper. So they added some old guys and a new rookie? Great. They’ve also been swimming with injuries, and Gregg Popovich is out for an indefinite amount of time. It shouldn’t be working. Not really, anyway. They should be flubbing around, still making mistakes, and taking their lumps.
Instead, we’re getting Keldon Johnson technical fouls for hanging on the rim too long after a dunk. We’re getting Blake Wesley losing his mind on the sideline after Castle finishes off an And-1. We’re getting copious shots of the home crowd looking delirious after another big three drops in from the corner. Simply put, we’re getting joy.
I came into this season expecting the team to be better right away, and they weren’t. I’ve written a lot about how my expectations didn’t really match up with reality and how adjusting those levels has been a—well, let’s just say “process.” Games like this are an interesting data point to add to the greater conversation about what this team is going to be.
Are they great? Are they contending? Are they ready to be in a real conversation with serious teams in this league? I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. They probably aren’t great. They probably aren’t contending. They probably aren’t quite ready to be taken seriously yet. So what are they? For now, I’ll settle for fun.
This team is fun.
Takeaways:
- Can’t say enough about how cool it is to watch Chris Paul do his thing out there. He’s everything everyone has always said he is: demanding, controlling, efficient, crafty, and (if we’re being honest) kind of annoying. But he’s doing all that for us now. He’s putting guys exactly where they need to be. He’s doing that little thing where he hinges over at the waist and contorts his body around the defender to get the exact precise angle he wants on a bounce pass. He’s weaving off picks, meandering to the same spot on the elbow he’s been meandering to for 20 years, and draining that middy. It’s incredible. It’s everything you could ask for. Light every injury candle you have so he stays healthy and we get to soak up as much of this run as possible.
- CHUCK. BASSEY. IS. THAT. DUDE. What a surprise—he is a blast out there. Just running the floor, swatting shots into the stands, and doing fun “LET’S GO” screams. This wasn’t a card I realized we had to play, and I’m having a great time seeing it in action. Like, please come back soon, Wemby, for one million reasons, but also I’m sort of dying to see the two of them out there at the same time creating the ultimate No Fly Zone in the paint.
— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) November 22, 2024
- Who is the best dunker on this team? Wembanyama doesn’t qualify because his dunks don’t even seem like he’s trying. It looks weird. He’s out. I think it has to be between Keldon and, surprisingly, Stephon Castle. Keldon unleashes out there with a kind of unbridled energy that always gets me going, but Castle has been quick this season to show off that he has unreal hops. I mean, the dude can absolutely FLY out there. He attempted a dunk in the second quarter that got foiled by a ridiculous foul that wasn’t called, but he took off from just inside the paint, wound up, and was trying to bury the defender into the ground. It was audacious, and I loved it.
- (I realize all of these good vibes came from a comeback win against a shorthanded Jazz team that only has 3 wins and is clearly tanking. I realize it, I get it, and it’s been factored into my excitement. Thank you.)
WWL Post Game Press Conference
- How did you feel about the Spurs wearing a blue jersey?
- Ok, I’m on the record as saying the NBA has too many jerseys now. It’s too much and even the cool stuff doesn’t seem special anymore. Everyone needs to do less. That being said, these jerseys are here and we’re living with it and in that reality I must admit that I really like these. I think they’re fun
- You don’t think they look like someone left a blue sock in the wash?
- I get the criticism of that, but I think that’s mostly a result of the pure white undershirt/leggings that some of the guys are wearing. It’s a weird combo and creates that effect of looking like no one is really on the same page color scheme wise. On their own though? I think these are fun. I like the font, I like the colors, I like the vibe. I LOVE that the Spurs are coloring outside the lines of only doing “traditional” fiesta color stuff. We’re containing multitudes!
- Wow, so you’re saying you hate the Fiesta colors???
- No one hates the Fiesta colors. We just…I think we lean on them too much. Obviously they are cool, but I think the Spurs in general we’re saddled with the “boring” label for so long and we spent all this time being like, “We’re not boring! We’re not! Look at the pink and teal! Would a boring franchise have those colors???” It just sort of soured me on it a little bit.
By Charlie Thaddeus, via Pounding The Rock