By Jacob Douglas | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-12-14 23:30:25
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。
圣安东尼奥马刺队顽强的表现表明他们已经准备好赢球。
“人生不是骑着战马的骑士……而是在泥潭中争夺匕首的搏斗。”
这是HBO剧集《继承之战》中虚构的媒体大亨洛根·罗伊的名言。这句话也适用于篮球世界。有时你不得不赢得难看。周五晚上，圣安东尼奥马刺队发现自己陷入了一场泥潭大战。大多数年轻球队都会在这种情况下崩溃，但马刺队克服了逆境，以 118-116 击败了波特兰开拓者队。
为了赢得这场比赛，圣安东尼奥不得不克服一系列障碍。他们赛前就已经缺少了四名关键轮换球员，包括首发球员斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)。整场比赛对抗激烈，双方都领到了不少犯规。马刺队的首发控球后卫兼老将领袖克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)在第一节就因与裁判争论而迅速领到两次技术犯规被罚出场。
所有这些导致马刺队在比赛还剩8分钟时落后17分。球队在第三节和第四节的表现似乎印证了那些认为糟糕的赛季会让一支年轻球队养成输球习惯的论调。然而，就在那一刻，这支球队似乎突然开窍，并在关键时刻提升了表现。
杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)开始通过防守端的积极拼抢和进攻篮板来掌控比赛。德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)命中关键球，并为队友创造进攻机会。朱利安·尚帕尼(Julian Champagnie)投进关键三分。当马刺队需要一位超级巨星带领他们冲过终点线时，文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)挺身而出——他通过造犯规和罚球为圣安东尼奥赢得了比赛。
这种顽强的表现是你经常在获胜的球队身上看到的。在过去的几年里，这支球队不可能在这种情况下逆转比赛，即使他们做到了，他们也无法执行好足够的战术来赢得比赛。25场比赛的证据表明这支球队正在进步，但没有哪一场比赛比这场更能强烈地表明球队在心态和成熟度上的转变。赢得轻松的比赛是一回事，但在艰难的比赛中奋力拼搏是失利的日子即将结束的标志。
要点
- 面对同样人员不整的开拓者队，文班亚马是马刺队的王牌。波特兰的策略是在防守端尽可能地对圣安东尼奥进行身体对抗，让他们难以将球传给他们的超级巨星，而一旦他接到球，他们就希望他失误。有时，尤其是在第三节，这个策略是成功的。但文班是一位如此出色且乐于传球的球员，以至于这个策略反而数次让开拓者队吃亏，他找到了空位的队友，助攻他们投进关键球。文班亚马最终得到28分、7个篮板、7次助攻和2次盖帽。
- 瓦塞尔回来了。在受到上场时间限制之后，他终于打满了31分钟。这可能是由于马刺队人手短缺，但在身体上，他看起来可以承受。他的得分能力与文班亚马相得益彰，因为当波特兰队包夹文班时，他通常是文班的出球点。他在本场胜利中得到23分、6个篮板和5次助攻。
- 赛后，米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)告诉媒体，他认为索汉在第四节通过加强防守扭转了比赛的局势。索汉是少数几个真正与开拓者队的身体对抗相匹配的马刺球员之一，不辜负他“执行者”的角色。感觉索汉在自己的第三个NBA赛季已经成熟，确立了自己作为一名优秀的空切手、防守者和积极拼抢球员的地位。他在周五得到15分、5个篮板和2次抢断。
- 我们终于看到了更多文班亚马、索汉和瓦塞尔一起打球的情况。由于伤病和阵容变化，本赛季这三人组只在一起打了27分钟。马刺队的年轻核心不仅证明了他们可以在高水平比赛中发挥作用，而且在周五晚上，他们看起来配合得很好。如果能看到这三人与卡斯尔和尚帕尼这样的球员一起打球就更好了。
点击查看原文：What we learned from the Spurs win over the Trail Blazers
What we learned from the Spurs win over the Trail Blazers
San Antonio’s gritty performance shows they are ready to win.
“Life’s not knights on horseback… It’s a fight for a knife in the mud.”
That’s a quote from fictional media mogul Logan Roy from the HBO series Succession. It also applies to the basketball world. Sometimes you have to win ugly. On Friday night, the San Antonio Spurs found themselves in a mud-fight. Most young teams would have folded, but the Spurs fought through adversity to secure a 118-116 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
San Antonio had to overcome a bundle of obstacles to win that game. They came into the game already missing four key rotation players, including a starter in Stephon Castle. The game was physical throughout, with both teams picking up their fair share of fouls. The Spurs’ starting point guard and veteran leader was tossed out of the game in the first quarter as Chris Paul picked up two quick technicals for jawing with officials.
All that led to the Spurs finding themselves down 17 points with 8 minutes to go in the game. The team’s performance in the third and fourth quarters gave ammunition to the voices claiming that bad years have created a young team with losing habits. At that moment, something clicked with this squad, and they turned it up when they needed to.
Jeremy Sochan started to enforce his will on the game with hustle plays on defense and the offensive glass. Devin Vassell hit big shots and created offense for others. Julian Champagnie knocked down clutch threes. And when the Spurs needed a superstar to get them over the finish line, Victor Wembanyama delivered – drawing fouls and knocking down free throws to win the game for San Antonio.
That’s the kind of gutsy performance you often see from winning teams. In years past, this team would not have gotten back in the game, and even if they did, they wouldn’t execute enough to win it. There have been 25 games of evidence that point to this team’s improvement, but none are such a strong indication of a shift in mentality and maturity than this one. Winning the easy games is one thing, but fighting and clawing in the tough ones are a sign that the losing days should be behind them.
Takeaways
- Wembanyama was the Spurs’ ace in the hole against a similarly depleted Blazers squad. Portland’s strategy was to be as physical as possible on San Antonio and make it difficult to get their superstar the ball, and once he caught it, they wanted him to give it away. At times, especially in the third quarter, that strategy was successful. But Wemby is such a willing and skilled passer that it actually burned the Blazers several times, and he found open teammates for big shots. Wembanyama finished with 28 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks.
- Vassell is back. He finally played a full minute load (31) after being on a restriction. That could be due to the Spurs already being shorthanded, but it seemed like, physically, he could take it. His shot creation complements Wembanyama so well, as he was often the release valve for Wemby when Portland’s doubles came. He had 23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the victory.
- After the game, Mitch Johnson told the press that he thought Sochan swung the game in the fourth quarter by enforcing his will defensively. Sochan was one of the few Spurs who really matched the Blazers’ physicality, living up to his “enforcer” role. It feels like Sochan has grown into his own in his third NBA season, establishing himself as a good cutter, defender, and hustle player. He had 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals on Friday.
- We finally got to see more of Wembanyama, Sochan, and Vassell playing together. That trio has played just 27 minutes together this season as a result of injuries and lineup changes. Not only has the Spurs’ young core proven they can play at a high level, but Friday night, they looked like they fit well alongside each other. It would be great to see more of those three playing together alongside guys like Castle and Champagnie.
By Jacob Douglas, via Pounding The Rock