By Mike Finger, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-01-30 16:33:37
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。
2025年1月29日星期三，在圣安东尼奥的弗罗斯特银行中心举行的与洛杉矶快船队的NBA比赛上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)（0号）和后卫德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)（24号）在文班亚马（1号）摔倒后将他扶起。快船队以128-116击败了马刺队。
维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)终于忍无可忍了。
这不会是最后一次。
这不会是他最后一次失去冷静，因为这不会是对手最后一次做得太过分。一个人能承受的撞击、推搡、飞肘和擒抱式摔倒的次数是有限的。
这不会是他最后一次怒火中烧地从地板上跳起来，因为这不会是最后一次有人把他放倒。这已经是关于这位NBA最年轻超级巨星的共识。你跳不过他，也跑不过他，但你绝对可以推搡、撞击他瘦长的7英尺3英寸的身躯，并不断尝试从他身上碾压过去。
这不会是文班最后一次想要自己解决问题，因为裁判不可能吹罚所有犯规。周三晚上，在短暂追逐快船队中锋伊维察·祖巴茨(Ivica Zubac)之后，文班看起来就像一个想要打架的法国人，他说他认为自己没有得到公平的哨声。从规则的字面上看，他是对的。
那天晚上晚些时候，当文班在弗罗斯特银行中心的更衣室里穿衣服时，几英尺外的一位队友做出了一个预测。
“你知道吗，他将在接下来的20年里为此苦苦挣扎，”马刺队前锋杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)说道。“每个人都会针对他……但偶尔，他必须向所有人表明那是该死的犯规，你最好冷静点。”
文班听到了索汉说的话，他并没有反驳其中的真意。他也没有否认，这正是他在一个多小时前试图证明的观点，当时在以128-116输给快船队的比赛中，他差一点就爆发了，这是他作为马刺队球员以来最接近爆发的一次。
到下半场，文班已经和多名洛杉矶球员发生了激烈的争执，包括祖巴茨和凯文·波特二世(Kevin Porter Jr.)。在第三节末段，文班在球场的一端封盖了祖巴茨的扣篮尝试后，这位魁梧的克罗地亚中锋向裁判抱怨，想要一个犯规判罚。然后，当他跑到球场另一端时，马刺队的哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes) 刚好投进了一个三分球。
当祖巴茨到达时，他狠狠地撞击了文班的侧面，将他撞向底线。这次也没有判罚犯规。文班一跳起来，就冲着祖巴茨跑去，惊呆了的队友和一位警觉的马刺队保安赶紧把他拦住，以免他成为自马努特·波尔(Manute Bol)与威廉·“冰箱”·佩里(William “Refrigerator” Perry)登上名人拳击台以来臂展最长的拳击手。
赛后，祖巴茨道歉了，但文班表示没有必要。
“这甚至与祖巴茨无关，伙计，”文班说道。“这只是沮丧，无论他是谁。但他是个好人。”
马刺队最近的低迷状态——他们在过去的六场比赛中输掉了五场，而且都是两位数的分差——无疑加剧了他的愤怒。但文班承认，一年半的持续身体对抗给他带来了精神上的打击。
他远不是第一个暗示对手逃脱太多惩罚的NBA大个子，而且这些抱怨并非只针对一种体型。在一个比赛比现在更加激烈的时代，联盟的执行者试图压制大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson)，他找到了主宰比赛的方法，但并不总是欣赏那些肘击。沙奎尔·奥尼尔(Shaquille O’Neal)也不喜欢，他并不一定是被推来推去，但他每晚都要忍受一连串的犯规却从未得到哨声。
文班明白，作为球场上最高的球员，这是生活的一部分，他在周三晚上承认，“变得强壮”是他可以帮助自己的一种方式。但他说，“有时感觉不公平”，因为他没有得到他认为自己应得的判罚，而游说裁判员并不是他的本性。
“这感觉不像是 我 应该去影响的事情，”文班说道。“我是一名篮球运动员。我来这里是为了打球。是的，这就是为什么它令人沮丧。搞政治不是我的工作。”
未来二十年，他很可能会在这方面做得更好，就像蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)一样。从长远来看，这可能比他周三晚上采取的做法更明智，当时有几秒钟，他差点创造出一个不仅令人难忘的精彩瞬间，但也可能招致长期禁赛。
也许他从未想过要挥拳。
但在那一刻的激情中，在经历了太多次前臂撞击和臀部撞击而没有听到哨声之后，如果他短暂地丧失了理智，有人会感到震惊吗？
正如马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)所说，“老实说，他之前没有这样反应，可能更令人惊讶。”
然而，通过最终宣告受够了，他给了对手——也许还有裁判——一些思考的空间。
在下一次之前。
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) blocksa a shot by Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac (40) during the first half of their NBA game at the Frost Bank Center on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 in San Antonio. The Clippers beat the Spurs 128-116.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) gets his arm stuck while trying to defend Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the first half of their NBA game at the Frost Bank Center on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 in San Antonio. The Clippers beat the Spurs 128-116.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots over Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac (40) during the second half of their NBA game at the Frost Bank Center on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 in San Antonio. Wembanyama led the Spurs with 23 points though the Clippers beat the Spurs 128-116.
点击查看原文：Victor Wembanyama makes his point In a flash of frustration
Victor Wembanyama makes his point In a flash of frustration
San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (0) and guard Devin Vassell (24) pick up forward Victor Wembanyama (1) after a fall during the first half of their NBA game with the Los Angeles Clippers at the Frost Bank Center on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 in San Antonio. The Clippers beat the Spurs 128-116.
Victor Wembanyama finally had enough.
It won’t be the last time.
It won’t be the last time he loses his cool, because it won’t be the last time an opponent goes too far. There are only so many hip checks and forearm shivers and flying elbows and tackling-dummy takedowns a man can take.
It won’t be the last time he bounces up off the floor with fire in his eyes, because it won’t be the last time someone sends him sprawling. That’s already the book on the NBA’s youngest superstar. You can’t outjump him, and you can’t out-quick him, but you can darn sure push and shove and bang on his skinny 7-foot-3 frame and keep trying to go through him.
And it won’t be the last time Wembanyama feels like taking matters into his own hands, because the officials can’t call everything. After he gave brief chase to Clippers center Ivica Zubac on Wednesday night, looking very much like a Frenchman who wanted a fight, Wembanyama said he doesn’t think he gets a fair whistle. By the letter of the law, he’s right.
But as Wembanyama dressed at his locker in Frost Bank Center later that evening, a teammate sitting a few feet away made a prediction.
“He’s gonna struggle with that for the next 20 years, you know?” Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan said. “Everyone’s gonna go at him. … But here and there, he has to show everyone that that is a (bleeping) foul, and you better cool it.”
Wembanyama heard Sochan say this, and he didn’t dispute the truth of it. He also didn’t dispute that was exactly the point he tried to prove an hour or so earlier, when in a 128-116 loss to the Clippers he came as close as he ever has as a Spur to flipping out.
By the second half, Wembanyama already had shared testy exchanges with multiple Los Angeles players, including Zubac and Kevin Porter, Jr. Late in the third quarter, after Wembanyama blocked a Zubac dunk attempt at one end of the floor, the burly Croatian center complained to officials looking for a foul call, before reaching the other end just as the Spurs’ Harrison Barnes was draining a 3-pointer.
As Zubac arrived, he issued a hard, running body blow into Wembanyama’s side, sending him hurtling toward the baseline. No foul was called there, either. Once Wembanyama jumped to his feet, he sprinted after Zubac, prompting flabbergasted teammates and a heads-up Spurs security guard to wrap him up before he could become the longest-limbed fighter since Manute Bol climbed into the celebrity boxing ring against William “Refrigerator” Perry.
After the game, Zubac apologized, but Wembanyama said that wasn’t necessary.
“It’s not even about Zubac, man,” Wembanyama said. “It was just frustration, no matter who he was. But he’s a nice guy.”
The Spurs’ recent funk – they’ve lost five of their last six games by double-digits – undoubtedly compounded his ire. But Wembanyama has acknowledged that a year and a half of physical pounding has taken a mental toll.
He’s far from the first NBA big man to suggest that opponents get away with too much, and those complaints aren’t exclusive to one body type. In an era when the game was much more bruising than it is now, the league’s enforcers tried to outmuscle David Robinson, who found ways to dominate anyway but didn’t always appreciate the elbows. Neither did Shaquille O’Neal, who didn’t necessarily get shoved around but endured a nightly barrage of hacks that never got whistled.
Wembanyama understands that’s part of life as the tallest player on the court, and he conceded Wednesday night that “being strong” is one way he can help himself. But he said “it feels unfair sometimes” that he doesn’t get the calls he thinks he deserves, and it’s not in his nature to lobby the referees.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s something I should influence,” Wembanyama said. “I’m a basketball player. I’m here to play. And yeah, this is why it’s frustrating. It’s not my job to do politics.”
Chances are, he’ll get better at that over the next couple of decades, the same way Tim Duncan did. In the long run, it’s probably a wiser approach than the one he took Wednesday night, when four a couple of seconds he was on the verge of creating not only an unforgettable highlight, but perhaps also earning an extended suspension.
Maybe he never intended to throw a punch.
But in the heat of the moment, having been forearm-shivered and hip-checked one too many times without hearing a whistle, would anyone have been shocked if he took a brief leave from his better judgment?
As Spurs coach Mitch Johnson put it, “It’s probably surprising he hasn’t reacted like that earlier, to be honest.”
By finally declaring that enough was enough, though, he gave opponents – and maybe officials – something to think about.
Before the next time.
By Mike Finger, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News