By August Bembel | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-01-19 04:15:38
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。
马刺和文班找到了他们的克星，但他们也找到了他们的替补中锋。
在这个赛季，直到我们遭遇主场与国王的“棒球系列赛”（指连续三场对阵同一对手）之前，一切都充满乐趣。克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)和哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)已被证明是马刺开始持续赢球所需的催化剂。维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)在经历了艰难的开局后，已经取得了不错的进步。斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)的表现比任何人预期的都要好得多。马刺的表现也大大超出了拉斯维加斯对他们的预测。然后，他们遇到了灰熊。
连续第二场比赛，他们在下半场丢掉了多达78分。我还记得马刺曾经靠78分就能赢球的日子。也许快乐的时光就在不远的将来。也许下周当他们再次进行“棒球系列赛”时，这个赛季将会继续充满乐趣，至少对文班亚马来说，是在主场。但就目前而言，他们已经跌到了谷底。他们和他们的最佳球员都在孟菲斯灰熊身上找到了他们的克星。
在这两场比赛中，灰熊的出手次数比马刺多27次，总共出手200次，命中次数多26次，最终得到106分。另一方面，文班总共出手38次，只得到32分。灰熊拥有完美的球员来防守他。而且不仅仅是贾伦·杰克逊(Jaren Jackson Jr.)；还有，甚至更重要的是来自西班牙的圣地亚哥·阿尔达马(Santi Aldama)，他昨晚有效地贴身防守了文班——而文班和马刺又一次找不到破解之法。
马刺在季后赛首轮与灰熊相遇的可能性仍然很小，但我必须说：如果不能横扫马刺，我会感到非常惊讶。
要点
- 以对手球队开始要点总结感觉很奇怪，但在灰熊的案例中，我无法抗拒。联盟中的球队都羡慕马刺拥有文班亚马，但说到发现和签下其他人忽视的人才，有哪支球队能比得上灰熊呢？杰伦·威尔斯(Jaylen Wells)是年度最佳新秀的有力竞争者，而他只是一个二轮秀。杰伊·赫夫(Jay Huff)在与灰熊签约之前曾三次被裁掉，现在，在他26岁的赛季，他已经成为一名替补席上的空间型护框者（湖人和掘金现在肯定在后悔，因为他们没有早点发现他）。小斯科蒂·皮蓬(Scotty Pippen Jr.)是另一个重要的发现。最引人注目的是，在德斯蒙德·贝恩(Desmond Bane)和圣地亚哥·阿尔达马分别被凯尔特人和爵士选中后几天，灰熊就通过交易得到了这两位曾经的30号秀。
- 灰熊的另一个显著特点是，没有人，即使是贾·莫兰特(Ja Morant)或德斯蒙德·贝恩，场均上场时间达到30分钟；他们都在这个门槛以下。骑士队似乎也采取了类似的做法。据报道，两支球队都限制了他们球星的上场时间。这其中有什么值得学习的地方吗？很有可能。毕竟，我们谈论的是联盟中最好的两支球队。（看看季后赛的出场时间如何分配将会很有趣。骑士和灰熊都拥有相当足智多谋的主教练。）
- 我们需要谈谈维克托。我指的是维克托的进攻。比赛开始仅10秒，文班就投了一个试探性的三分球，在接下来的回合中，他在哈里森·巴恩斯喜欢出手三分球的区域附近投了一个单腿抛投。维克托浪费了两个回合来弄清楚，“我的手感热吗？”不，他没有。在比赛后期，他面对圣地亚哥·阿尔达马的防守投了几个有对抗的中距离投篮，但也没有成功。
- 在另一端也有一些情况下，文班看起来不太好。最引人注目的时刻出现在马刺崩溃，灰熊打出一波高潮的时候：文班在弧顶对阿尔达马进行了防守。阿尔达马出手，文班预测会出现快攻，并继续向进攻端移动，但克拉克(Clarke)抢到了阿尔达马投失球的进攻篮板，并将球传回给阿尔达马，后者随后冲向篮筐得分。与此同时，文班处于无人区。这不是认真的篮球，必须停止。
- 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔在某些时间段打出了非常精彩的篮球。在第一节和第二节，马刺看起来是他的球队，而不是文班的。他的突破技术已经非常出色，他甚至可以背身单打，并且冷静地命中了一记中距离投篮。然而，当他在三分线外接球时，灰熊的防守球员甚至懒得去补防。另一方面，卡斯尔从右侧罚球线区域向左底角送出了一些令人印象深刻的长传。尽管他的投篮存在问题，但我仍然相信他在马刺的未来一片光明。
- 德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)的第一节表现糟糕，第二节表现被动，但他在第三节彻底爆发了。他火热表现的高潮——也许甚至是我个人认为本赛季马刺的高潮——是他抢到查尔斯·巴塞(Charles Bassey)对杰克·拉拉维亚(Jake LaRavia)的盖帽，持球奔袭，用背后运球过掉拉拉维亚和贝恩，然后在威尔斯和布兰登·克拉克(Brandon Clarke)头上完成一记势大力沉的扣篮。德文让马刺在接下来的几个回合中保持住了比分，但很快，一切都彻底崩溃了。
- 除了一个人之外，所有马刺球员都只是在某些时间段给人留下深刻印象。然而，有一个人再次充分利用了他的上场时间：查尔斯·巴塞。他在本赛季剩余时间里作为主要替补中锋的角色应该得到巩固。巴塞并不完美，但他就是能在攻防两端都有贡献。而这是扎克·柯林斯(Zach Collins)无法始终如一做到的事情。
- 我的最后一点更多地与像我这样的欧洲马刺球迷有关，因为我们将要经历一些我们从未经历过的事情。连续三场比赛，我们将能够在晚间黄金时段观看马刺的直播：晚上9点对阵热火，晚上8点在巴黎对阵步行者，以及晚上6点再次对阵步行者。加油马刺！
点击查看原文：What We Learned from the Spurs’ Loss to the Grizzlies
What We Learned from the Spurs’ Loss to the Grizzlies
The Spurs and Wemby have found their kryptonite, but they’ve also found their backup big.
This season had been fun until we ran into that baseball series at home. Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes have proven to be the catalysts the Spurs needed to start winning more consistently. Victor Wembanyama, after a rough start, has developed nicely. Stephon Castle has been a much better rookie than anyone could have expected. The Spurs have significantly outperformed their Vegas over/under projections. And then they ran into the Grizzlies.
For the second game in a row, they conceded a whopping 78 points in the second half. I can remember the days when the Spurs won games by scoring 78 points. Maybe happy days are lurking around the corner. Maybe the season will continue to be a fun season next week when they play another baseball series on, as far as Victor Wemabnyama is concerned, home court. But for now, they’ve hit rock bottom. They and their best player have found their kryptonite in the Memphis Grizzlies.
Over two games, the Grizzlies attempted 27 more shots than the Spurs, totaling 200, and made 26 more, finishing with 106. Wemby, on the other hand, took a total of 38 shots for just 32 points. The Grizzlies have the perfect players to defend against him. And it’s not just Jaren Jackson Jr.; it’s also, perhaps even more so, Santi Aldama from Spain, who effectively covered Wemby very closely last night – and for whom Wemby and the Spurs couldn’t find an antidote yet again.
A first-round playoff matchup with the Grizzlies remains a remote possibility for the Spurs, but I must say: Anything but a clean sweep would come as a complete surprise to me.
Takeaways
- It feels strange to start the takeaways with the opposing team, but in the case of the Grizzlies, I can’t resist. The Spurs are envied by the league for having Victor Wembanyama, but when it comes to identifying and signing talent others overlook, is there any team doing as well as the Grizzlies? Jaylen Wells is firmly in the race for Rookie of the Year, and he’s a second-round pick. Jay Huff was waived three times before signing with the Grizzlies, and now, in his age-26 season, he’s emerged as a stretch rim protector in a backup role (both the Lakers and Nuggets must be kicking themselves now, seeing what they failed to recognize before). Scotty Pippen Jr. is another major find. Most strikingly, the Grizzlies traded for former number-30 picks Desmond Bane and Santi Aldama just days after these players were drafted by the Celtics and Jazz, respectively.
- Another remarkable thing about the Grizzlies is that no one, not even Ja Morant or Desmond Bane, is averaging 30 minutes per game; they’re all below that threshold. The Cavs seem to follow a similar approach. Reportedly, both teams limit their stars to shorter stints. Is there something to be learned from this? Very likely. After all, we’re talking about two of the league’s best teams. (It’ll be interesting to see how the minutes will be distributed in the playoffs. Both the Cavs and the Grizzlies have rather resourceful head coaches.)
- We Need to talk about Victor. And by that, I mean Victor’s offense. The Spurs started the game with Wemby taking a heat-check three just 10 seconds in, and on the next possession, he took a one-legged floater from around the area where Harrison Barnes loves to take his three-point attempts. That’s two possessions wasted for Victor to figure out, “Do I have a hot hand?” No, he didn’t. Later in the game, he took contested mid-range shots against Santi Aldama, which didn’t work out either.
- There were also instances on the other end where Wemby didn’t look good. The most striking moment came when the Spurs fell apart, and the Grizzlies went on a big run: Wemby closed out on Aldama at the top of the arc. Aldama fired, Wemby speculated on a fast break and kept moving toward the offensive end, but Clarke grabbed the offensive rebound from Aldama’s miss, passed it back to Aldama, who then charged toward the basket and scored. Meanwhile, Wemby was in no-man’s land. That’s not serious basketball, and it has to stop.
- Stephon Castle played some serious Basketball during stretches. In the first and second quarters, it looked like the Spurs were his team, not Wemby’s. His driving game is already excellent, he can even work with his back to the basket, and he coolly converted a mid-range shot. However, when he catches the ball behind the arc, the Grizzlies’ defenders don’t even bother closing out. On the other hand, Castle has been making some impressive whip passes from the right side of the key to the left corner. I continue to be convinced he has a bright future with the spurs, despite his Shooting struggles.
- Devin Vassell had a sloppy first quarter and a passive second quarter, but he completely exploded in the third. The highlight of his hot stretch — and maybe even the Spurs’ highlight for me personally this season — was when he collected a block by Charles Bassey on Jake LaRavia, ran the court, dribbled behind his back to get past LaRavia and Bane, then dunked powerfully over both Wells and Brandon Clarke. Devin kept the Spurs in the game for a few more possessions, but soon after, things fell apart completely.
- All Spurs players, except one, only impressed in stretches. However, there was one who once again made the most of his minutes: Charles Bassey. His role as the primary backup center should be cemented for the rest of the season. Bassey isn’t perfect, but he simply manages to produce on both ends. And that’s something Zach Collins can’t consistently do.
- My last point concerns Spurs fans in Europe, like myself, more than anyone else, because we’re about to experience something we’ve never ever experienced before. For three consecutive games, we’re going to be able to watch the Spurs live during evening primetime: against the Heat at 9 PM, the first Paris game versus the Pacers at 8 PM, and the second at 6 PM. Go Spurs Go!
By August Bembel, via Pounding The Rock