By Ramona Shelburne | ESPN, 2024-12-26 23:29:00
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。
在菲尼克斯，凯文·杜兰特(Kevin Durant)正在球场上为晚上8:30开始的NBA圣诞大战压轴赛热身，此时斯蒂芬·库里(Stephen Curry)和勒布朗·詹姆斯(LeBron James)正在为本赛季迄今为止最精彩的一天——圣诞大战的第四场惊悚对决——进行最后的准备。然而，杜兰特却清楚地知道这一天对联盟的重要性。
“今天是朝着让人们重新对篮球比赛感到兴奋的方向迈出的一步，”杜兰特在带领菲尼克斯太阳队以110-100战胜丹佛掘金队后，在接受ESPN的广泛采访时说道。“希望这不仅仅是因为圣诞节。希望他们能在接下来的赛季里继续关注比赛，关注每一位球员，每一支球队，而不仅仅是季后赛或总决赛。
“我希望看到人们，看到收视率。我希望看到它回升。联盟不会消失，但就收视率而言，我们正处于一个艰难的时期。”
本赛季的大部分时间里，NBA一直是负面讨论的主题，人们谈论它的比赛风格，球队投了多少个三分球，球星缺席比赛，或者在全明星周末根本没有付出任何努力，以及其他无数的问题。但圣诞大战提醒人们，这项运动仍然可以多么精彩。五场比赛中有四场打到最后一分钟，平均分差只有5分，这是NBA历史上圣诞大战至少五场比赛以来的最低纪录。
每场比赛都以惊心动魄的方式结束，像圣安东尼奥马刺队的文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)（42分，18个篮板）、明尼苏达森林狼队的安东尼·爱德华兹(Anthony Edwards)（26分）和费城76人队的泰瑞斯·马克西(Tyrese Maxey)（33分，12次助攻）这样的年轻球星，与杜兰特（27分）、凯里·欧文(Kyrie Irving)（39分）、库里（38分）和詹姆斯（31分）这些老将一起奉献了精彩的表演。
最关键的球是由湖人队的奥斯汀·里夫斯(Austin Reaves)和纽约尼克斯队的约什·哈特(Josh Hart)这样的角色球员完成的，里夫斯用一记越过安德鲁·威金斯(Andrew Wiggins)的上篮绝杀了库里的英雄主义表现，而哈特的篮板和防守则为尼克斯队战胜了文班和一群斗志昂扬的马刺队锁定了胜局。
而且似乎每个人都知道这对联盟有多重要。
“我喜欢NFL，但圣诞节是我们的日子，”詹姆斯在湖人战胜勇士后告诉ABC的丽莎·索尔特斯(Lisa Salters)。他甚至转过身，直视镜头强调他的观点。
詹姆斯敏锐地意识到，近年来NFL已经侵占了NBA的领地。今年，NFL在Netflix上推出了两场重要的比赛——以及碧昂斯(Beyoncé)领衔的中场秀——与NBA的比赛同时段播出。詹姆斯一觉醒来就决心要夺回这块地盘。
“不再有圣诞节球衣真的很糟糕！”詹姆斯在X上发帖。“走进更衣室看到那些球衣的感觉很棒。”
今年夏天，詹姆斯在法国奥运会史诗般的征程中与库里和杜兰特进行了一次联合采访，NBA娱乐公司在圣诞大战之前发布了这段采访。这次采访充满了怀旧和憧憬。他们公开讨论了退役，也谈到了他们的传奇生涯。传达的信息很明确：球迷们应该珍惜这些球员，因为他们不会在这里待太久了。
然而，结论却令人担忧：一旦他们离开，NBA该怎么办？
在周三晚上的最新一次交锋之后，詹姆斯和库里再次强调了这一信息。
“这总是令人兴奋的。竞争的历史，精神，他的伟大。这让我能够欣赏我们所经历的一切以及来来回回的战斗，”库里说。“在2024年，我们仍然在这样做，而且不知何故，比赛非常精彩，有点像必看的电视节目。我喜欢它……这就是为什么输球很糟糕，因为这些时刻更重要。”
詹姆斯更加直接。当被ESPN的戴夫·麦克梅纳明(Dave McMenamin)问到今天的NBA还有什么伟大之处时，他只是简单地说：“勒布朗和斯蒂芬。”
当杜兰特从球馆走到晚上11点仍然温暖的菲尼克斯夜晚时，他的语气有所不同。这位36岁的老将，17年前加入了一支已经不复存在的西雅图球队，他说他不喜欢把自己、库里和詹姆斯视为他们时代的代表性球员，因为这忽略了未来的名人堂成员詹姆斯·哈登(James Harden)和拉塞尔·威斯布鲁克(Russell Westbrook)，他曾和他们在2012年与俄克拉荷马雷霆队一起进入了他的第一个NBA总决赛。那支球队再也没有回到总决赛（哈登在下一个赛季前被交易到休斯顿），但在杜兰特离开去金州勇士队之前，雷霆队在接下来的四年里赢了219场比赛。
“我觉得球迷们只想要自由球员市场和戏剧性事件，只关心季后赛和总决赛，以及这对某人的遗产意味着什么，”他说。“然后他们就被设定成只考虑这些，这让他们不想关心常规赛。”
但在一个支离破碎的媒体环境中，NBA不仅要与其他电视节目争夺眼球，还要与流媒体网络和社交媒体平台竞争，他也不责怪他们。
“所以要看一场一月份的晚间比赛——夏洛特黄蜂队对阵亚特兰大老鹰队，或者菲尼克斯太阳队对阵金州勇士队，那不在国家电视台播出？你可能只会关注数据统计，”杜兰特说。
“我的意思是，你不能贬低产品，却又认为人们会像某些节目那样重视这个产品。我们都应该在同一个团队里。但现在感觉每个人都在冲突。试图获得更多关注。每个人，而不是一起努力推动比赛朝着正确的方向发展。”
至少在这一天，NBA确实朝着正确的方向前进。比赛很精彩。球员们充满活力。不仅仅是扛起联盟二十年的三位超级巨星，还有他们很快就会交棒的年轻球员。
如果能从圣诞节的成功中学到什么教训，杜兰特将是寻找这些教训的人之一，希望随着2025年的到来，能够改变围绕联盟的讨论。
“我很认真地对待这件事，我一直在思考为什么人们不想再看我们比赛，或者为什么他们不喜欢三分线，或者真正的问题是什么，”他说。“我正在努力思考和理解它。我热爱这项运动。我希望看到它继续下去。”
点击查看原文：NBA's Christmas Day success couldn't have come at a better time
NBA’s Christmas Day success couldn’t have come at a better time
Kevin Durant was on the court in Phoenix, warming up for an extra late 8:30 p.m. tipoff for the NBA’s Christmas Day finale, when Stephen Curry and LeBron James were putting the final touches on the fourth thriller of the best day of the NBA season thus far. Yet somehow Durant knew exactly how important this day had been for the league.
“Today was a step in the right direction to get people excited again for the game of basketball,” Durant told ESPN during a wide-ranging interview after leading the Phoenix Suns to a 110-100 win over the Denver Nuggets. "Hopefully it’s not just because it’s Christmas. Hopefully they stay invested in the game, invested in each player, each team throughout the rest of the season and not just the playoffs or the Finals.
“I want to see people, the viewership. I want to see it get it back up. The league ain’t going nowhere, but we are in a rough patch when it comes to that.”
The NBA has been the subject of particularly negative discourse for much of this season, with talk about its style of play, how many 3-pointers teams are taking, stars missing games or just failing to give any kind of effort at All-Star Weekend, and countless other issues. But the Christmas Day games offered a reminder of how good the game can still be. Four of the five games came down to the final minute, and the average margin was just five points, the lowest for a Christmas with at least five games in NBA history.
Each game had a thrilling finish, with young stars such as San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama (42 points, 18 rebounds) Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards (26 points) and Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey (33 points, 12 assists) delivering standout performances alongside the old guard of Durant (27 points), Kyrie Irving (39 points), Curry (38 points) and James (31 points).
The biggest plays were made by role players such as the Lakers’ Austin Reaves, who upstaged Curry’s heroics with a game-winning layup past Andrew Wiggins, and New York’s Josh Hart, whose rebounding and defense sealed the Knicks’ win over Wembanyama and an inspired group of Spurs.
And it seemed as if everyone knew how important it was to the league.
“I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day,” James told ABC’s Lisa Salters after the Lakers’ win over the Warriors. He even turned and looked directly into the camera to emphasize his point.
James is keenly aware that the NFL has encroached on the NBA’s territory in recent years. This year the NFL put two marquee games – and a halftime show featuring Beyoncé – on Netflix up against the NBA’s slate. James woke up determined to claw that territory back.
“Not having Xmas day unis anymore really sucks!” James posted on X. “That was a great feeling walking into the locker room and seeing those.”
Over the summer, James had done a joint interview with Curry and Durant during their epic Olympic run in France that NBA Entertainment released in advance of the Christmas Day slate. It was wistful and nostalgic. Retirement was openly discussed. So were legacies. The message was clear: that fans should enjoy these guys while they can because they won’t be around much longer.
The takeaway, however, was daunting: What is the NBA going to do once they’re gone?
James and Curry continued to lean into that message again Wednesday night after their latest head-to-head battle.
“It’s always a blast. The competitive history, the spirit, his greatness. It allows me to just appreciate all that we’ve been through and the battles back and forth,” Curry said. “In 2024, still doing it and somehow the games are pretty electric and kind of a must-see TV situation. I love it. … That’s why it sucks to lose because these are those moments that matter a bit more.”
James was even more direct. When asked by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin what is still great about the NBA today, he said simply, “LeBron and Steph.”
As Durant walked from the arena into the still-balmy-at-11 p.m. Phoenix night, he struck a different tone. The 36-year-old vet, who came into the league 17 years ago on a Seattle team that no longer exists, said he doesn’t like thinking of himself and Curry and James as the defining players of their era because it ignores future Hall of Famers James Harden and Russell Westbrook, with whom he went to his first NBA Finals in 2012 with the Oklahoma City Thunder. That team never got back to the Finals (and Harden was traded to Houston before the next season), but the Thunder won 219 games over the next four years before Durant left for Golden State.
“I feel like fans only want free agency and drama and only care about playoffs and Finals and what that means for somebody’s legacy,” he said. “Then they get programmed to just think about that, which has made them not want to care about the regular season.”
But he also doesn’t blame them, in a splintered media environment where the NBA is competing for eyeballs not just against other TV shows but also against streaming networks and social media platforms.
“So to consume a January night game – Charlotte Hornets against the Atlanta Hawks or Phoenix Suns against the Golden State Warriors, that’s not on national TV? You might just follow the stats,” Durant said.
“My thing is you can’t s— on the product and think that people are going to value that product like some of the shows do. We all supposed to be on the same team. But it feels like everybody is clashing right now. Trying to get more attention. Everybody, instead of just all trying to push the game in the right direction.”
For one day at least, the NBA did move in the right direction. The games were great. The players were dynamic. Not just the three superstars who’ve carried the league for two decades, but the young players they’ll hand it off to soon enough.
If there are lessons to be learned from what went right on Christmas, Durant will be among those looking for them, hoping to change the discourse around the league as the calendar turns to 2025.
“I take this serious, and I’m locked in as to why people don’t want to watch us play no more or why they don’t like the 3-point line or what the real problem is,” he said. “I’m trying to think about and understand it. I love this game. I want to see it keep going.”
By Ramona Shelburne | ESPN, via ESPN