[PtR] 马刺对湖人比赛见闻

[PtR]

By Lee Dresie | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-01-15 08:33:27

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。

周六的比赛延期后，周一的比赛给洛杉矶带来了一丝 normalcy——以及马刺的胜利。

马刺队在周五抵达洛杉矶，预计在周六和周一晚上对阵湖人队，但由于洛杉矶的山火，他们不知道这两场比赛是否真的能够进行。周六的比赛取消后，马刺队被困在这个危机中的城市，除了等待周一的比赛是否会举行之外，几乎无事可做。这让我想起了杰克逊·布朗的老歌《The Load-Out》，它描述了一个摇滚乐队在路上等待下一场演出的情景：

我们只是在酒店房间里消磨时间

在后台徘徊

直到灯光亮起，我们听到人群的欢呼

我们才想起我们为何而来

值得庆幸的是，周一的比赛如期举行，灯光亮起，球队听到了人群的欢呼，也记起了他们为何而来。虽然我们都错过了周六的比赛（如果补赛在洛杉矶举行，我们会去观看），但我还是和我的儿子以及我们的两个篮球伙伴，史蒂夫和丹，一起观看了周一的比赛。在这篇文章中，我将按时间顺序给出我的想法和评论，图片会比平常多很多。我不会做逐个回合的比赛分析，因为我的《Pounding the Rock》的同事们已经做得很好。

当我开车去比赛的时候，我的收音机里播放了两首歌。首先是 the Doors 的《Light My Fire》。其次是一个叫艾伯特·哈蒙德的家伙的《It Never Rains in Southern California》。这是在 Sirius 频道上，不是本地电台。我不知道这只是一个惊人的巧合，还是仅仅是 karma。

当我们进入球馆时，湖人队给每位球迷发了一件湖人金色的T恤，以纪念在席卷该地区的火灾中表现英勇的急救人员。我想知道为什么湖人队要把这些T恤发给球迷，而不是送给急救人员。也许他们知道，在这种情况下继续做湖人球迷也需要一些勇气。

在我们去座位之前，我和一个穿着文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)球衣的年轻人聊了聊。他可能是球馆里最开心的人，因为周一的比赛没有被取消。年轻的菲利普·扎亚克(Filip Zajac)从波兰（是的，一路从波兰）飞了 18 个小时来看文班和马刺队与湖人队的比赛。当他从波兰的机场起飞时，他不知道比赛是否会举行，所以他自然非常兴奋比赛如期举行，而且他在现场观战。我给他发了一份我关于周六比赛取消的文章，并告诉他我会把这篇文章连同他的照片一起发给他，这样他就可以和他在波兰的朋友们分享。菲利普，我们一起在洛杉矶的马刺比赛现场！

比赛开始前，我们进行了一段非常庄严而漫长的默哀。我从未听过 17000 人如此安静——这非常感人。湖人后卫杰·文森特(Jay Vincent)（前热火球员）代表湖人队发表了非常感人的讲话，再次感谢了急救人员。虽然我仍然不知道他们是否会得到一些不错的湖人周边产品。

比赛开始后，文班亚马像往常一样赢得了跳球。

不幸的是，马刺队的开局就像忘记了他们为何而来一样。他们很快就以 0-7 落后，导致马刺队立即请求暂停。我告诉史蒂夫（就是上周给我拍帕利高中幸存视频的那个人），我希望我们不会见证 NBA 历史上第一次被零封的比赛。谢天谢地，好人们终于得分了。虽然马刺队在上半场一度落后两位数，但比赛最终变得势均力敌。老家伙们，勒布朗·詹姆斯和克里斯·保罗，都完成了几次漂亮的横传球给对角的射手，传球精准地落在了队友的“投篮点”上。半场结束时，马刺队以 53-62 落后，但感觉他们已经渡过了早期的风暴。

中场休息时举行了迈克尔·库珀的球衣退役仪式。他的大多数老队友都到场了，包括魔术师约翰逊、詹姆斯·沃西、贾马尔·威尔克斯和诺姆·尼克松等等。帕特·莱利也在那里，他发表了一番讲话，听起来像是莱利认为自己而不是库珀在接受表彰。作为一名曾经的湖人球迷（虽然早已改邪归正），我很高兴看到湖人队的皇室成员在那里向我最喜欢的湖人球员之一致敬。湖人队的长期训练师加里·维蒂坐在我们前面一排，库珀在他的演讲中特别提到了他。我没有放人们可以在网上找到的仪式照片，而是放了一张我在 2020 年初，就在一切崩溃之前，在斯台普斯中心活动上与库珀见面的照片。库珀是一个非常和善的人，这始终是他名副其实的声誉。

在第三节，马刺队一路追赶，并在进入第四节时将比分扳平。斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)的表现尤其令人印象深刻，我的邻座都对文班亚马的年轻侧翼队友表示钦佩。也许是第四节的预兆，我拍下了这张照片，我给它取名为“年轻的马刺，老湖人”。

还记得我提到赛前默哀时球馆里有多安静吗？在第四节进行到一半时，随着马刺队的领先优势扩大到 20 分，湖人球迷再次陷入了沉默。现场的马刺球迷不多，无法制造太大的噪音，不过这个人看起来像个马刺球迷，留着好莱坞式的发型：

最后，马刺队能够清空板凳席，除了受伤的杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)之外，每个人都上场了。幸运的是，我在去停车场的路上碰到了索汉。他告诉我，如果他能上场，马刺队会赢 50 分。在我幸福的迷糊中，我同意了他的说法。

赛后，我让我的邻座谈谈他们对我们年轻的马刺队和这场比赛的印象。我的儿子巴勃罗首先回答：

“这三个季度坐下来都很难熬，这取决于我爸爸旁边坐着谁。话虽如此，我在第四节坐在他旁边，不知为什么他看起来很高兴。我想他一直都想坐在我旁边。很高兴马刺队赢了！也很高兴看到他们的年轻球员表现出色。”

丹，湖人队的长期球迷，则不太高兴，尽管他完成了一件事：

“马刺队在第四节痛击湖人队的比赛太糟糕了，我不得不自娱自乐地念(桑德罗)马穆克拉什维利的名字，直到我念对了为止。”

他确实做到了。

更重要的是，我们第二天早上醒来时，天空晴朗，地平线上没有任何烟雾。虽然洛杉矶还没有完全脱离困境，因为几个月来一直没有下雨，但我们可能已经度过了这场灾难。让我们把那些T恤送给急救人员吧。接下来就是重建。

点击查看原文：Sights from the Spurs-Lakers game that did happen

Sights from the Spurs-Lakers game that did happen

After Saturday’s game was postponed, Monday’s game brought a sense of normalcy to Los Angeles — plus a Spurs win.

The Spurs arrived in Los Angeles on Friday expecting to play Saturday and Monday nights against the Lakers, but they did not know if either game would actually be played because of the wildfires in Los Angeles. When the Saturday game was cancelled, the Spurs were stuck in a city in crisis, with not much to do except wait around to see if the Monday game would happen or not. It reminded me of Jackson Brown’s old song “The Load-Out” describing a rock ‘n roll band on the road waiting for the next show to happen:

We just pass the time in the hotel rooms

And wander ‘round backstage

‘Til those lights come up, and we hear that crowd

And we remember why we came

Thankfully, the Monday game happened, the lights did come up and the team was able to hear the crowd and remember why they came. Although we all missed the Saturday game (and will attend the make-up game if it happens in LA), I was able to attend the Monday game with my son and two of our basketball player buddies, Steve and Dan. For this post, I will give my thoughts and comments chronologically, with many more pictures than normal. I won’t do a play-by-play type game analysis, as that has already been well-handled by my fellow Pounding the Rock writers.

When I got into my car to drive to the game, two songs came on my radio. First, “Light My Fire” by the Doors. Second, “It Never Rains in Southern California” by a guy named Albert Hammond. This was on Sirius, not a local station. I can’t figure out if it was a remarkable coincidence, or just karma.

As we entered the arena, the Lakers gave every fan a Laker-gold shirt honoring the first responders who had performed such brave work on the fires that swept the area. I wondered why the Lakers were handing these shirts out to the fans instead of sending them to the first responders. Perhaps they know that remaining a Laker fan with this team also requires some bravery.

Before we went to our seats, I spoke with a young fellow wearing a Victor Wembanyama jersey. He was probably the happiest guy in the arena that Monday’s game had not also been cancelled. Young Filip Zajac had braved an 18-hour flight from Poland (yes, all the way from Poland) to see Victor and the Spurs play the Lakers. When he took off from the airport in Poland, he did not know if the game would happen or not, so naturally he was absolutely thrilled that it was and he was there for it. I sent him a copy of my post about Saturday’s cancelled game and told him that I would send him this post, along with his picture, so he could share it with all his friends back in Poland. Filip, here we are at the Spurs game in Los Angeles!

Before the game started, we had a very solemn and long moment of silence. I have never heard 17,000 people that quiet — it was very moving. Laker guard Jay Vincent (formerly with the Heat) spoke very eloquently on behalf of the Lakers, again thanking the first responders. Though I still don’t know if they will be getting any good Laker swag.

The game then started with Victor winning the tip, as usual.

Unfortunately, the Spurs started the game as if they had forgotten why they came. They quickly fell behind 7-0, leading to an immediate Spurs time-out. I told Steve (the same guy who got me the video of Pali High surviving last week) that I hoped we were not going to witness the first shut-out in NBA history. Thankfully, the good guys finally scored some points. Though the Spurs trailed by up to double-digits at times in the first half, it turned into a competitive game. The old guys, LeBron James and Chris Paul. both completed several beautiful cross-court passes to shooters in the opposite corner, with the passes landing exactly in the “shooting pocket” of their teammates. At halftime, the Spurs were down 62-53, but it felt like they had weathered the early storm.

Halftime brought a Michael Cooper jersey retirement ceremony. Most of his old teammates were there, including Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon, among others. Pat Riley was also there, and he gave a speech which sounded like Riley believed he was getting honored instead of Coop. As a former Laker fan myself, though long since reformed, I very much enjoyed seeing Laker royalty there honoring one of my favorite Lakers. Longtime Laker trainer Gary Vitti was in the row in front of us, and Coop gave him a nice shout-out in his speech. Instead of a picture of the ceremony which people can find on-line, I instead have a shot of me meeting Coop at a Staples Center event in early 2020, just before everything broke. Coop was a very nice guy, which has always been his well-deserved reputation.

In the third quarter, the Spurs came all the way back, tying the game going into the fourth quarter. Stephen Castle was especially impressive, with my seatmates all expressing admiration for Victor’s young wingman. Perhaps in a precursor to the fourth quarter, I took this shot, which I title “Young Spurs, Old Lakers”.

Remember how I mentioned how quiet the arena got for the pregame moment of silence? Laker fans repeated that silence half-way through the fourth quarter as the Spurs’ lead ballooned to 20. There weren’t enough Spurs fans in attendance to make much noise, though this guy seems to be a Spurs fan, with Hollywood hair:

At the end, the Spurs were able to clear the bench, and everyone except the injured Jeremy Sochan got into the game. Luckily, I ran into Jeremy on the way to our car. He told me the Spurs would have won by 50 if he had been able to play. In my happy haze, I agreed with him.

After the game, I asked my seatmates to give me their impressions of our young Spurs team and the game. My son Pablo responded first:

“It was a tough three quarters to sit through depending on who my dad was sitting next to. That said, I sat next to him in the fourth, and he seemed pretty happy for some reason. I guess he wanted to sit next to me the whole time. Glad the Spurs won! Also great to see their young guys play well.”

Dan, long-time Laker fan, was less pleased, though he did accomplish something:

“The Spurs 4th quarter shellacking of the Lakers was so bad, I had to amuse myself with pronouncing (Sandro) Mamukelashvili’s name until I got it just right.”

And he did.

More importantly, we woke up the next morning with clear skies, and no smoke anywhere on the horizon. While Los Angeles is not completely out of the woods yet, as it still hasn’t rained in many months, we just might be past this catastrophe. Let’s get those shirts to the first responders. Next comes the rebuilding.

By Lee Dresie, via Pounding The Rock