By Jeje Gomez | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-01-16 12:59:47
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。
马刺上半场表现出色，但灰熊在下半场占据统治地位，最终 secured the win.
马刺错失了战胜强敌的机会。尽管半场领先12分，但他们未能抵挡住灰熊的反扑，最终主场以115-129告负。新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)砍下职业生涯最高的27分，但这不足以弥补球队面对一支进攻强队时的糟糕防守表现。
比赛开局对马刺来说并不理想，文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)在跳球时就犯规，这限制了他在内线与扎克·埃迪的对抗。为了避免第二次犯规，文班亚马不敢进行身体对抗，因此灰熊的中锋在比赛初期予取予求。幸运的是，马刺在外线手感火热，进攻端也展现了耐心，以应对灰熊收缩内线、放空斯蒂芬·卡斯尔的防守策略。双方交替领先，互有攻守，但当贾·莫兰特下场休息时，马刺抓住了机会。由于缺少这位明星控卫的带领，且快攻机会有限，客队的进攻只能依靠小贾伦·杰克逊，而文班亚马出色的防守表现成功地限制了他。在首节大部分时间落后的情况下，圣安东尼奥在节末打得更好，以两分领先结束第一节。
第二节开始，灰熊试图加强防守压迫，小斯科蒂·皮蓬对克里斯·保罗施加压力，并在短时间内取得了一些成功。但就像他们在第一节所做的那样，主队展现了耐心和韧性。即使孟菲斯在后半段获得了更多提速的机会，马刺也拒绝慌乱。文班亚马在半场阵地防守中仍然占据统治地位，球队的得分点分布均衡，替补席也做出了贡献，整个上半场都充满了活力。尽管在比赛中处于劣势，客队还是尽力阻止分差被拉开，但圣安东尼奥在节末打出一波高潮，带着12分的领先优势进入更衣室。这是一场强势的表现，表明马刺已经完全投入到比赛中。
不幸的是，这种专注只持续了半场。灰熊放空卡斯尔、收缩内线的策略在第二节开始奏效，圣安东尼奥的进攻陷入困境。两位数的领先优势开始缩小，马刺很幸运灰熊没有打得更犀利，否则他们会更早地陷入困境。先是德文·瓦塞尔，然后是凯尔登·约翰逊，他们试图通过个人能力帮助球队渡过难关，但最初出现在进攻端的混乱也感染了防守，突然间，孟菲斯开始跑起来，找到空位射手，三分雨下。客队用了大半节时间才追平比分，但一旦追平，他们就没有松懈。在以43-25的比分统治了第三节后，灰熊带着6分的领先优势进入最后一节。
马刺没有让对手轻松带走胜利，这值得称赞。卡斯尔在第四节初段表现出色，他利用杰伊·赫夫防守他的机会，持球突破篮下，让孟菲斯付出了代价。防守方面的问题更难解决，小贾伦·杰克逊在内线对文班亚马的进攻复苏，并找到了他的外线手感，将文班吸引到外线，为队友打开了进攻通道。尽管圣安东尼奥在很长一段时间内执行力很差，但直到比赛后期，分差才被拉开，但感觉灰熊始终掌控着比赛。在前一场比赛中完成了对湖人的惊人下半场逆转后，马刺又一次让对手完成了逆转，对手虽然没有处于最佳状态，但他们打得足够出色，利用了马刺一些可以避免的错误。
本场最佳：
斯蒂芬·卡斯尔的双脚爆发力十足。
好样的，新秀 pic.twitter.com/qOX5oNIDHJ
— 圣安东尼奥马刺 (@ spurs) 2025年1月16日
比赛记录：
- 文班亚马在进攻端表现挣扎。当对手放空一名非射手来包夹他时，他仍然很难获得好的出手机会。作为一名诱饵和为其他人拉开空间的球员，他做了很多，但马刺需要他得分，而他没能做到，19投仅得13分。防守方面，他在上半场占据统治地位，但下半场小贾伦·杰克逊压制了他，灰熊用投射型大个子把他拉到外线，从而抵消了他的护框能力。
- 卡斯尔不惧怕出手，但为了防止对手用大个子防守他并放空他，他需要投进9次出手中的2次以上。这位新秀在突破方面做得很好，而且即使投篮不中，他似乎也从未对自己失去信心，这很好。缺乏射程是一个问题，但现在就对此感到恐慌还为时过早。
- 克里斯·保罗的失误数追平了赛季最高的4次，并且只送出了5次助攻。他的得分也不高，只得到了8分。为了弥补一些空间问题，不得不让卡斯尔更多地控球，这使得保罗无法掌控球权，这从来都不是理想的情况。
- 二号得分手德文·瓦塞尔和凯尔登·约翰逊完成了他们的任务。他们25投合砍38分，并获得了11次罚球。当球队需要他们的时候，他们接管了比赛的短时间段。瓦塞尔似乎已经走出了低迷，这是他连续第二场比赛得分超过20分。
- 射手哈里森·巴恩斯和朱利安·尚帕尼在进攻端也表现出色，9投5中。在这场比赛中，角色球员的表现还不错，至少在进攻端是这样。
- 非文班亚马在场上的时间仍然是马刺的一个大问题。查尔斯·巴塞很可能比扎克·科林斯更好，而且他也很高效（11分钟内得到5分、5个篮板和2个盖帽），但球队在他上场时表现挣扎。管理层需要在交易截止日前或休赛期找到一个更好的替补中锋。
- 特雷·琼斯出场13分钟，场均出场时间为16.6分钟，而前两年他还是首发球员，出场时间要长得多。这是可以理解的，因为培养卡斯尔是球队的首要任务。在交易截止日前与他分道扬镳对球员和球队来说都很有意义。
下一场比赛：周五对阵孟菲斯灰熊
马刺将有机会立即复仇，因为他们将在不到48小时内再次主场迎战灰熊。
点击查看原文：Spurs start strong but can’t hold off Grizzlies’ second-half comeback
Spurs start strong but can’t hold off Grizzlies’ second-half comeback
After a great first half by the Spurs, the Grizzlies dominated the last two periods and secured the win.
The Spurs missed the opportunity to get a quality win against a contender. Despite leading by 12 at the half, they couldn’t hold off the Grizzlies’ comeback and lost 129-115 at home. Rookie Stephon Castle recorded a career-high 27 points but it wasn’t enough to overcome a poor defensive performance against an elite offensive team.
It wasn’t the best start for the Spurs, as Victor Wembanyama fouled on the tip-off which limited him in the battle inside against Zach Edey. Victor couldn’t be physical to avoid committing his second foul, so the Grizzlies’ big man feasted early. Fortunately, things were going better on the other end, with the threes falling for San Antonio and the offense showing patience against a defense that was packing the paint and playing off Stephon Castle. The teams traded good stretches, with neither side dominating, but the Spurs pounced when it was Ja Morant’s time to rest. Without the star point guard leading the way and with limited opportunities to run, the visitors’ attack relied on Jaren Jackson Jr., who was neutralized by a fantastic defensive performance from Wembanyama. After trailing most of the opening frame, San Antonio closed better and led by two after one.
The Grizzlies tried to up the defensive pressure to start the second, with Scottie Pippen Jr. pressuring Chris Paul, and had some momentary success. But like they did in the first quarter, the home team showed patience and resilience. The Spurs refused to get flustered, even when Memphis was getting more opportunities to push the pace later on the frame. Wembanyama remained dominant on the defensive end in the half court, there was balanced scoring and good contributions from the bench and the energy was high the entire first half. The visitors did their best to keep the lead from ballooning despite being outplayed, but San Antonio closed strong and went into the locker room with a 12-point lead. It was a strong performance that suggested the Spurs were locked in.
Unfortunately, the focus only lasted one half. The strategy to leave Castle open to pack the paint worked to start the second quarter, as San Antonio struggled to get going on offense. The double-digit lead started to fade and the Spurs were lucky that the Grizzlies weren’t sharper or they would have found themselves in a hole sooner. First Devin Vassell and then Keldon Johnson tried to keep the team afloat through individual plays but the discombobulation that first manifested on offense infected the defense, and suddenly Memphis was running and finding open shooters that were raining threes. It took the visitors most of the period to tie the game, but once they did, they didn’t let off. After a dominant 43-25 third quarter, the Grizzlies were up six going into the final frame.
The Spurs deserve some credit for not letting their opponent run away with the win. Castle had a great stretch early in the fourth in which he made Memphis pay for having Jay Huff guarding him by driving to the rim. Defensively the issues were harder to solve, as Jackson Jr. came alive with some buckets inside on Wembanyama and found his outside shot, dragging Victor away from the paint and opening up lanes for his teammates. The lead never got out of hand until late in the game despite some terrible execution for long stretches by San Antonio, but it always felt like the Grizzlies were in control. After completing an impressive second-half comeback against the Lakers in the previous game, the Spurs allowed one against an elite opponent that wasn’t at its best but played well enough to capitalize on some preventable mistakes.
Play of the game
Steph Castle is explosive off two feet.
OKAY ROOK pic.twitter.com/qOX5oNIDHJ
— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) January 16, 2025
Game notes:
- Victor Wembanyama struggled offensively. It’s still hard to get him good looks when opponents load up on him by ignoring a non-shooter. He did a lot as a decoy and a floor-spacer for others but the Spurs needed him to score and he couldn’t do it, finishing with 13 points on 19 shots. Defensively, he was dominant in the first half but Jackson Jr. got the best of him in the second half and the Grizzlies neutralized his rim protection by drawing him to the perimeter with shooting bigs.
- Castle is not afraid to let it fly, but he’ll need to make more than just two out of nine attempts to prevent opponents from putting a big on him and leaving him open. The rookie did well on drives and never seemed to get too down on himself when he was missing, which is good. The lack of range is a problem but it’s too early in his career to panic about it.
- Chris Paul tied a season-high four turnovers and logged just five assists. He didn’t score a lot either, finishing with eight points. Having to put Castle on the ball more to negate some of the spacing issues took the rock out of Paul’s hands, which is never ideal.
- The secondary scorers, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson, did their job. They combined for 38 points on 25 shots and took 11 free throws. They took over for short stretches when the team needed them to. It was the second game in a row with more than 20 points for Vassell, who seems over his slump.
- The shooters, Harrison Barnes and Julian Champagnie, also did well on offense, combining for five three-pointers in nine attempts. The supporting pieces were mostly fine in this one, at least on one end.
- The non-Wemby minutes remain a huge issue for the Spurs. Charles Bassey is likely a better option than Collins, and he is productive (five points, five boards, two blocks in 11 minutes), but the team struggles with him on the floor. The front office will need to find a better backup center, either at the deadline or in the offseason,
- Tre Jones played 13 minutes and is averaging 16.6 per game after two years of being a starter and playing a lot more. It’s understandable, as developing Castle is a priority. Parting ways before the deadline makes a lot of sense for both the player and the team.
Next game: vs. Memphis Grizzlies on Friday
The Spurs will get a chance to get immediate revenge, as they will host the Grizzlies again in less than 48 hours.
By Jeje Gomez, via Pounding The Rock