By Michael C. Wright | ESPN, 2024-12-26 07:16:00
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。
纽约——麦迪逊广场花园的记分牌上，播放着昔日纽约尼克斯队盖帽集锦，DMX的"Party Up"响彻整个球馆。
然而，在周三的比赛中，没有一个尼克斯球员能够跳得足够高，去封盖身高7尺4寸（约2.24米）、臂展近10尺（约3.05米）的维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)的投篮。这位法国球星在自己的圣诞大战首秀中狂砍全场最高的42分——这也是麦迪逊广场花园圣诞大战客队球员的最高得分——外加18个篮板、4次助攻和4次盖帽。尽管文班亚马表现出色，但圣安东尼奥马刺队最终还是以114-117不敌纽约尼克斯队，米卡尔·布里奇斯(Mikal Bridges)为尼克斯队贡献了41分。
在比赛的最后一分钟，马刺队本有机会扳平比分，但最终功亏一篑。文班亚马深深地叹了口气，停顿了五秒钟，思考着自己在比赛中的表现。
“我甚至不太了解圣诞大战最佳比赛的历史，”文班亚马说道，“我现在满脑子都是这场比赛，我们很接近胜利，但在某些方面有些松懈。”
文班亚马成为NBA历史上继威尔特·张伯伦(Wilt Chamberlain)（1959年和1961年）和尼古拉·约基奇(Nikola Jokic)（2022年）之后，第三位在圣诞大战中砍下40+得分和15+篮板的球员。他的42分也使他成为NBA历史上圣诞大战首秀得分第三高的球员，仅次于张伯伦（45分）和特雷西·麦克格雷迪(Tracy McGrady)（43分）。
“我的天哪，”尼克斯队后卫约什·哈特(Josh Hart)谈到文班亚马时说道，“他与众不同。当勒布朗·詹姆斯(LeBron James)和凯文·杜兰特(Kevin Durant)这样的老将退役后，联盟将掌握在他这样的年轻人手中。他的出手点太高了，而且他的投篮能力为他们打开了所有进攻的大门。”
这场对决标志着圣诞大战历史上仅有的三次双方球员均砍下40+分的比赛之一。前两次分别发生在1961年，埃尔金·贝勒(Elgin Baylor)对阵奥斯卡·罗伯特森(Oscar Robertson)，以及张伯伦对阵里奇·盖林(Richie Guerin)。
文班亚马已经连续四场比赛至少命中4记三分球并送出4次盖帽。这位20岁的球员是唯一一位在连续比赛中做到这一点的球员。
“他很好地展现了自己的意志，在比赛中留下了自己的印记，”马刺队代理教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)说道，“强硬的接球、终结和突破。显然，他投进了一些球，在防守端也做得很好。我认为我们作为一个团队联系紧密，这有时也让他在防守端的个人技能得以闪耀。”
文班亚马在进攻端开局缓慢，第一节9投仅3中，前四次三分球出手全部偏出。但在防守端，他在三分钟后就送出了一记盖帽，立即展现了自己的影响力。事实上，作为防守者，文班亚马将尼克斯队的命中率限制在13投3中。他限制贾伦·布伦森(Jalen Brunson)和卡尔-安东尼·唐斯(Karl-Anthony Towns)在面对他防守时的命中率为9投1中。
“他正在利用他天赐的优势，”唐斯说道，“这就是他成为一名特殊防守球员的原因，以及他覆盖空间的能力。他的运动能力足够快，可以到达任何位置。他足够高，可以改变投篮。他受到了上帝的眷顾，并正在为他的家人和马刺队运用他的天赋。”
直到第二节，文班亚马的进攻才开始升温，他9投6中得到14分，外加7个篮板和2记三分球，三分命中率为50%。到半场结束时，文班亚马已经得到24分、11个篮板、4次助攻和2次盖帽。在过去的25年里，只有沙奎尔·奥尼尔(Shaquille O’Neal)（2000年）和安东尼·戴维斯(Anthony Davis)（2015年）在圣诞大战半场前得到至少20分和10个篮板。
文班亚马全场命中6记三分球，领衔全场。但是，在麦迪逊广场花园的失利是本赛季马刺队第一次在三分命中率至少达到40%的情况下输球。
尼克斯队在进攻篮板上的统治地位（17个进攻篮板）发挥了作用，他们在二次得分上以19-13领先马刺队，并在内线得分上以58-50胜出。
“我不认为这是一场关于势头的比赛。我认为这是一场关于‘狠劲’的比赛，”文班亚马说道，“当比赛时间开始减少——五分钟，三分钟——我们让他们抢到了一些篮板。我们让他们对我们施加了太多压力。这就是问题所在。他们不是因为打得比我们好才赢了我们。根本不是。今晚，只是证明了我们还没有准备好。我们已经很接近了。这只是一个我们需要拨动的开关，因为我相信我们会看到它起作用，我们会沉迷于这种打法。这种打法需要付出很大的努力，但回报也很高。”
控球后卫克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)表示，在每场比赛开始前，当倒计时显示距离比赛开始还有60分钟时，马刺队喜欢玩一个关于各种篮球相关主题的快速问答游戏。在对阵尼克斯队的比赛前，主题是圣诞大战得分。保罗本场比赛送出7次助攻，使他在圣诞大战历史助攻榜上排名上升至第七位。
“我们都试着去猜，”保罗说道，“我想（麦克格雷迪）在榜单上，卢卡·东契奇(Luka Doncic)也在。文班拿到了42分，所以现在他也上榜了，你明白我的意思吗？我们每天都能看到他的表现，所以我们对此并不感到惊讶。对我们来说，下一步是赢得这些比赛。这就是我们所追求的。”
点击查看原文：Victor Wembanyama puts up 42 points in Christmas Day debut
Victor Wembanyama puts up 42 points in Christmas Day debut
NEW YORK – High on the Madison Square Garden scoreboard, a video montage played of blocked shots from New York Knicks of yesteryear as DMX’s “Party Up” blared over the public address system.
Down on the court, though, no Knick could leap high enough Wednesday to swat a shot launched by Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 owner of a standing reach of nearly 10 feet. Making his Christmas Day debut, the Frenchman blistered the Knicks for a game-high 42 points – the most by a visitor on Christmas at Madison Square Garden – to go with 18 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks in a 117-114 San Antonio Spurs loss delivered through a 41-point effort from Mikal Bridges.
Wembanyama let out a deep sigh and paused for five seconds to ponder his performance in a game the Spurs had a chance to tie in the final minute.
“I don’t even know really the history of the best Christmas games,” Wembanyama said. “I’m thinking about the game right now and just thinking we were close but relaxed on some attributes at times.”
Wembanyama became the third player in NBA history after Wilt Chamberlain (1959 and 1961) and Nikola Jokic (2022) to score 40-plus points with 15-plus rebounds in a Christmas game. His 42-point performance ranks third in NBA history for a player making his Christmas Day debut behind Chamberlain (45) and Tracy McGrady (43).
“Good Lord, man,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said of Wembanyama. “He’s different. The league will be in good hands when all the old guys and elder statesmen like LeBron [James] and [Kevin Durant] are out of the [sport]. His release point is so high, and his ability to hit shots, it opens up everything for them.”
The showdown marked only the third instance of dueling 40-point performances on Christmas. The last two took place in 1961 in games featuring Elgin Baylor against Oscar Robertson, and Chamberlain facing Richie Guerin.
Wembanyama has cobbled together four consecutive games in which he connected on at least four 3-pointers and blocked four shots. The 20-year-old is the only player to achieve those numbers in consecutive outings.
“He did a good job of imposing his will, leaving his imprint on the game,” Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson said. “Strong catches, finishes and drives to the rim. Obviously, he made some shots, did a good job defensively. I thought we were connected as a team and sometimes that allowed his individual skill set on that end to shine through.”
Wembanyama started slowly on offense, making only 3 of 9 shots from the field in the first quarter while missing his first four attempts from 3-point range. On the defense, he made an immediate impact with a blocked shot after three minutes. In fact, the Spurs’ big man limited the Knicks to 3-of-13 shooting on the day as the contesting defender. Wembanyama held Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns to 1-of-9 shooting from the field as the contesting defender.
“He’s utilizing his God-given traits,” Towns said. “That’s what makes him a special defensive player, as well as his ability to cover space. He’s athletic to move quick enough to get to the spots. He’s tall enough to alter shots. He’s been blessed by God and utilizing his talent for his family and the Spurs organization.”
Wembanyama didn’t heat up on offense until the second quarter, when he racked up 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting with 7 rebounds and 2 made 3s on 50% shooting. By halftime, Wembanyama had tallied 24 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. It marked only the third time after Shaquille O’Neal (2000) and Anthony Davis (2015) in the past 25 years that a player scored at least 20 points with 10 boards before halftime of a Christmas Day game.
Wembanyama drilled a game-high six 3s. But the setback at MSG is the first time this season San Antonio lost a game in which it shot at least 40% from distance.
The Knicks’ dominance on the offensive glass (17 offensive rebounds) played a role, as they outscored the Spurs in second-chance points 19-13, and bested them 58-50 in paint scoring.
“I don’t think it was a game about momentum. I think it was a game about being dogs,” Wembanyama said. “When the clock starts going down – five minutes, three minutes – we let them get some rebounds on us. We let them move us a little too much. This is what it was about. They didn’t win against us because they played better basketball. Not at all. Tonight, just proved we are not ready yet. We are right there. It’s just a [switch] we’ve got to [flip] because I’m sure we’re going to see that it works and we’re going to get addicted to playing this way. It’s high effort to play like that, but also high reward.”
Before every outing, when the clock shows the contest is 60 minutes away from tipoff, the Spurs like to play a quick game of trivia featuring various basketball-related topics. Christmas Day scoring was the topic ahead of the matchup against the Knicks, according to point guard Chris Paul, who finished with seven assists to move into seventh place on the all-time list for assists on Christmas.
“We all try to guess,” Paul said. “I think [McGrady] was on there, Luka [Doncic]. Vic had 42, so now he’s on that list, you know what I mean? We see him day in and day out. So, we’re not surprised by that. For us, the next step is winning those games. That’s all it’s about.”
By Michael C. Wright | ESPN, via ESPN