By Marilyn Dubinski | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-12-04 03:32:03
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。
马刺的防守又回来了，哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)的加盟堪称神来之笔，而米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)是一位合格的NBA教练。
截止今晚半场，马刺2024-25常规赛季的四分之一赛程（是的，我们又可以这样区分赛季了！）已经结束，他们持续展现出一支全新球队的风貌。20场比赛过后，马刺取得了11胜9负的战绩（追平了他们自2017-18赛季以来的最佳开局），比上赛季同期足足领先了8个胜场。上赛季同期，他们正深陷18连败的泥潭，直到2月12日在多伦多的“牛仔之旅”中取得唯一一场胜利才拿到第11场胜利。（巧合的是，那场比赛出现了本赛季我最喜欢的镜头——我会利用任何借口来重温它。）
由于这支球队不断给我们带来惊喜，并且如此引人入胜，我认为我们可以回顾前10场比赛的观察，并看看后10场出现的一些新情况。
回顾前10场比赛
回顾前10场比赛的观察，从那时到现在，球队的氛围已经发生了一些变化。虽然马刺当时的战绩为4胜6负——考虑到赛程安排，这的确在预期之内——但考虑到他们刚刚遭遇了3连败，其中包括被快船逆转26分的领先优势以及主场输给实力孱弱的爵士，当时球队依然笼罩着失望的气氛。更不用说，伤病还在不断累积。
22天后，当时的两个观点依然成立：当克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)积极寻求个人进攻时，马刺的进攻会受益匪浅；斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)看起来确实是潜力新星。但其他两个观点需要重新审视。首先，当时看来马刺可能要到2025年才能拥有完整的阵容，虽然考虑到特雷·琼斯(Tre Jones)的肩伤，这最终仍有可能成为现实，但马刺现在已经迎回了德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)和索汉(Jeremy Sochan)（即使不是今天，也会很快回归），这已经是他们本赛季最接近完整的阵容了，而且两人的回归为这支已经势头强劲的球队注入了新的活力。
另一个需要重新审视的观点是关于文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)的投篮选择。当时，我们指出他场均出手超过7次三分球——按照这个速度，他将以压倒性的优势打破马刺队史单赛季三分球出手次数纪录——而他的三分命中率只有28%，而且投篮选择也值得商榷。从那以后，虽然他的场均出手次数在过去10场比赛中进一步增加到12.3次，但他的出手更多地融入到了球队的进攻体系中，三分命中率也达到了40.7%，使他的赛季平均命中率达到了35%，场均出手9.2次。我仍然希望看到他更多地在低位进行进攻，但如果他能保持这样的命中率，你也没什么可抱怨的。
现在，这里有一些新的观察。
马刺的防守又回来了
开门见山地说：马刺的防守不再是短板了。事实上，他们的防守相当出色。尽管上赛季拥有年度最佳防守球员的亚军文班，马刺的防守却很糟糕，这是毋庸置疑的。虽然他们在赛季末的防守效率排名有所提升，进入到联盟后20名左右，但他们大部分时间都处于垫底的位置，这体现在他们一次又一次地挥霍两位数的领先优势，最终在进攻端不可避免地陷入低迷时输掉比赛。
现在，由于一些新面孔的加入和内部的成长，马刺再次成为一支防守效率高于联盟平均水平的球队，目前在联盟防守效率排名中位列第13位。这弥补了他们略低于平均水平（但正在提升）的进攻，并且对他们会再次挥霍巨大领先优势的担忧也逐渐消退。为此，与上赛季的另一个变化是，他们已经成为一支下半场球队，消除了他们臭名昭著的“垃圾时间”，并且在下半场实际得分超过了对手。进攻有起伏，但防守才是永恒的，而这是建立一支胜利之师所必需的基础。
哈里森·巴恩斯堪称马刺的神来之笔
上次我们对保罗和卡斯尔给予了应有的赞扬，现在轮到巴恩斯了。作为本赛季马刺三名新球员中最容易被忽视的一位，巴恩斯是将德玛尔·德罗赞(DeMar DeRozan)送到萨克拉门托国王队的交易的一部分。马刺无需付出任何代价就将他纳入工资帽空间，甚至还获得了与国王队交换2031年选秀权的权利（顺便说一下，国王队目前正处于困境之中）。
当时，他看起来是一个不错的补充，可以为球队带来一些老将的领导能力和三分球投射能力，但他的贡献远不止于此，以至于很难想象在马刺恢复完全健康后将他从首发阵容中移除。他的三分球出手次数不多，但命中率高达46.2%，而且他的无球跑动可以防止进攻停滞。他也没有像一些人担心的那样成为防守端的漏洞，并且帮助马刺度过了一段伤病期，包括文班的伤病，并凭借西部周最佳球员的表现大放异彩。雅各布·道格拉斯(Jacob Douglas)上周对巴恩斯进行了更深入的分析，所以一定要去看看，但足以说明的是，马刺可能又通过一笔被低估的交易“抢劫”了另一支球队。
米奇·约翰逊是一位合格的NBA主教练
最后但同样重要的是，必须称赞一下代理主教练米奇·约翰逊。几周前，有消息称格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)自11月2日以来一直缺席的原因是轻微中风，目前正在进行康复治疗，而约翰逊出色地顶替了他的位置。虽然不像波波维奇那样充满激情，但他仍然拥有同样的强硬作风。他不怕指导球员，在他们犯错时叫愤怒的暂停，或者在对球队表现不满意时告诉媒体。他也不怕在需要的时候缩减轮换阵容，或者在对位或其他原因需要的时候扩大轮换阵容，比如在马刺需要活力时让桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利(Sandro Mamukelashvili)上场，或者让查尔斯·巴塞(Charles Bassey)担任替补中锋。
当然，约翰逊仍在学习中，这一切并不意味着波波维奇应该退休并将帅印交给他——他的目标仍然是回归——但这可能会让约翰逊在波波维奇最终决定退休时成为接替这位历史最佳教练的内部热门人选。虽然多年来我们对许多助理教练都说过这样的话，而且到时候可能还会有一系列的程序，但约翰逊无疑给了自己一个内部优势。当然，前提是没有其他球队先把他挖走。
点击查看原文：Observations from the first quarter of the Spurs’ season
Observations from the first quarter of the Spurs’ season
The Spurs can defend again, Harrison Barnes has been a steal, and Mitch Johnson is an NBA coach.
By halftime tonight, a quarter of the Spurs’ 2024-25 regular season (yes, we can use the distinction again!) will have passed, and they continue to show they are a new team. With an 11-9 record after 20 games (tying their best start since 2017-18), the Spurs are 8 games ahead of last season, when they were reeling in the midst of an 18-game losing streak and did not reach 11 wins until their lone win of the Rodeo Road Trip in Toronto on February 12. (A game that coincidently featured my favorite play of the season — I’ll use any excuse to rehash it.)
Because this team continues to show us new things and be so intriguing, I thought we could revisit observations from the first 10 games, as well as look at some new ones from the last 10.
Revisiting the first 10 games
Looking back at observations from their first 10 games, the mood has shifted a bit from then to now. While the Spurs sat at 4-6 — admittedly within expectation based on the schedule — there was still an aura of disappointment at that moment considering they had just lost 3 of 4 games, including a blowing a 26-point lead to the Clippers and losing to the lowly Jazz at home. Not to mention, injuries were piling up.
Two points from then remain true 22 days later: the Spurs offense benefits greatly when Chris Paul looks for his own shot, and Stephon Castle is looking like the real deal, but the other two could use a quick revisit. First, it was looking like the Spurs may not sport a complete roster until 2025, and while that could still end up being true depending on Tre Jones’ shoulder sprain, the Spurs now have Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan back (if not today, then very soon), which is as close to complete as they’ve been all season, and both bring yet another boost to an already surging team.
The other point to revisit is concern about Victor Wembanyama’s shot selection. At the time, we pointed out that he was taking over 7 threes per game — on pace to set a franchise record for attempts in a season by a landslide — while hitting them at just a 28% rate with questionable shot selection. Since then, while his attempts have increased even more to 12.3 per game in the last 10 games, he’s taking them more within the flow of the offense and shooting 40.7%, bringing his season averages up to 35% on 9.2 attempts. I would still like to see him establish a low post game a bit more, but you can’t argue too much if he keeps hitting them at this rate.
Now, here are some new observations.
The Spurs are a good defensive team again
To get right to the point: the Spurs no longer suck on defense. In fact, they’re pretty good. Despite having the runner-up Defensive Player of the Year in Wemby last season, the Spurs were a bad defensive team, no ifs, ands or buts about it. While they made a bit of a leap to the lower 20’s in defensive rating by the end of the season, they spent much of it towards the very bottom, and it showed as they blew double-digit lead after double-digit lead when the offense hit an inevitable lull.
Now, thanks to some new faces and internal growth, the Spurs are an above average defensive team again, currently sitting at 13th in the league in defensive rating. This has helped make up for their slightly below average (but improving) offense, and the fears that they will blow huge leads have subsided. To that end, another change from last year is they have become a second-half team, eliminating their infamous “turd quarters” and actually outscoring their opponents in the second half. Offense comes and goes, but defense is forever, and that foundation is needed to build a winning team.
Harrison Barnes has been a steal for the Spurs
We gave Paul and Castle some much deserved praise last time, so now it’s Harrison Barnes’ turn. Perhaps the most overlooked of the Spurs’ three new players this season, Barnes was accquired as part of the trade that sent DeMar DeRozan to Sacramento. The Spurs didn’t have to give anything up to absorb him into their cap space, and they even received the right to swap 2031 draft picks with the Kings for their troubles (who by the way are struggling right now).
He seemed like a nice addition who would bring some veteran leadership and three-point shooting at the time, but he has been so much more than that, to the point that it’s hard to visualize removing him from the starting lineup as the Spurs return to full health. He’s not shooting a ton of threes but is hitting them at a very efficient 46.2% rate, and he keeps the offense from stagnating with his off-ball movement. He also hasn’t been a sieve on defense like some feared and helped the Spurs traverse a bout of injuries, including to Wemby, with a Western Conference Player of the Week performance. Jacob Douglas dove much deeper into Barnes last week, so be sure to go check that out, but suffice it to say, the Spurs may have fleeced yet another team with an underrated trade.
Mitch Johnson is an NBA head coach
Last but not least, props must be given to interim head coach Mitch Johnson. While it was announced a few weeks ago that the health scare that has kept Gregg Popovich out since November 2 was a minor stroke and he is currently undergoing rehabilitation, Johnson has filled in admirably for his boss. While not as bombastic Pop, he still has the same hard-nosed approach. He’s not afraid to coach his players, call angry timeouts when they mess up, or tell the media when he’s not happy with a performance. He also hasn’t been afraid to tighten the rotation when needed or open it up when the matchup or other reasons call for it, such as playing Sandro Mamukelashvili when the Spurs need a spark or giving Charles Bassey a shot at backup center.
Of course, Johnson is still learning, and none of this is to say Pop should retire and hand over the reins now — his goal remains to return — but this could put Johnson on an inside track to succeed the GOAT coach when he does call it quits. While we’ve said that about many assistant coaches over the years, and there will likely still be a process when the time comes, Johnson is certainly giving himself an inside advantage. That is of course, if someone doesn’t come snatch him first.
By Marilyn Dubinski, via Pounding The Rock