By Tom Orsborn, Staff writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-03-16 11:05:49
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。
洛杉矶——马刺队代理主教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)形容德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)在周六以119-115战胜鹈鹕队的比赛中的表现“非常棒”，这不仅仅是因为他拿下了全队最高的22分，还命中了一记关键的三分球。
“我当然喜欢这一点，”约翰逊说，“但三次抢断，七次罚球尝试，五个篮板，他用各种方式影响着比赛的胜利。”
全方位表现是马刺队最近对这位五年级后卫的期望，他也以做到这一点为荣。
“赛季中期我的投篮表现挣扎，我从中吸取的最重要的教训就是能够在比赛的各个方面发挥作用，” 瓦塞尔说。
“即使是今晚，”他补充说，“我17投6中。这不是一个伟大的投篮之夜。但能够以其他方式影响比赛，无论是篮板、抢断，还是仅仅作为队友给予鼓励，无论情况如何，我都试图扮演这个角色，并在每场比赛中坚持下去。”
尽管马刺队很欣赏瓦塞尔渴望承担脏活累活，但他的主要任务仍然是得分，尤其是在他们将在本赛季余下的比赛中缺少维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)（血栓，右肩）和达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox)（左手小指肌腱受损）的情况下。
而他正在完成这项任务。周六的比赛是瓦塞尔连续第二场得到22分，也是过去四场比赛中第三次得到22分或更多，并且是连续第九场得分上双。
马刺队（28胜38负）在一场包括11次领先优势转换和8次平局的比赛中战胜了鹈鹕队（18胜50负），很大程度上是因为在球队以113-111领先的情况下，凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)努力拼抢到了斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)投失三分后的篮板，随后瓦塞尔命中了一记关键球。
在拿到球后，约翰逊将球传给了瓦塞尔，后者在七尺高的凯利·奥利尼克(Kelly Olynyk)伸出的手臂前命中了一记26英尺的急停跳投，使得马刺队在比赛还剩1分03秒时获得了五分的领先优势。
在那之前，瓦塞尔三分线外9投仅3中。但他并不打算放弃这个证明他可以在文班亚马（自2月20日起缺阵）和福克斯（上周四赛季报销，将于周二在洛杉矶接受手术）缺席的情况下成为球队终结者的机会。
“我需要那个球，” 瓦塞尔在谈到命中一记三分球，为马刺队赢得一些急需的喘息空间时说道。
“坚持下去，保持自信，保持侵略性，并犒劳自己，”他补充道。
瓦塞尔，马刺队在2020年选秀大会上以第11顺位选中了他，将在周一对阵湖人的比赛中迎来他本赛季可能打得最好的篮球。在二月份的七场比赛中，他场均仅得到9.7分，三分球命中率仅为20.0%（场均出手5次），而在过去的九场比赛中，瓦塞尔场均得到19.9分，三分球命中率接近39%（场均出手8次）。在那段时间里，他还场均得到5.3个篮板、3.4次助攻和2.0次抢断。
本赛季，24岁的瓦塞尔场均得到16.1分、3.8个篮板、2.9次助攻和1.3次抢断。他的三分球命中率为35.2%（场均出手6.5次），在对阵鹈鹕队的比赛中7罚6中，几乎达到了赛季最高的罚球尝试次数后，他的罚球命中率接近80%。
米奇·约翰逊说：“他有一段时间投不进球，每个人都在想是否世界末日了，并说，‘德文的比赛出了什么问题？’” “只是投篮不中掩盖了他所做的很多好事。”
“现在看到投篮又回来了，这真是太好了，我们从来没有怀疑过他的投篮能力。”
在很多方面，对于瓦塞尔来说，今年是充满挑战的一年。在2023年10月签署了一份俱乐部创纪录的五年续约合同后，本赛季他将获得2930万美元的薪水，这份合同保证支付他1.35亿美元，另外还有1100万美元的激励条款。
除了在去年6月接受脚部手术后缺席了本赛季的前九场比赛（他在2023-24赛季场均得到职业生涯最高的19.5分）之外，他还不得不适应文班亚马成为更具统治力的进攻力量，以及斯蒂芬·卡斯尔（第四顺位新秀）和高得分手福克斯的加入。福克斯是马刺队在2月3日通过一笔三方交易从萨克拉门托得到的。
米奇·约翰逊说：“现在场上有更多的人在创造进攻机会，而在过去几年里，他往往承担了其中的大部分。” “我认为现在能够让其他人创造机会，而你实际上只是受益于能够投进球，这是他现在真正接受的东西。但这并不意味着你只需打开开关，每次都能投进。”
至于瓦塞尔的队友们，他们尊重他想要在球场上各个方面都做出贡献的愿望。
“他以努力成为一名全面的球员为荣，努力做所有能帮助球队获胜的小事，而且他在这方面做得很好，”前锋哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)说，他在对阵新奥尔良的比赛中得到19分，鹈鹕队少了锡安·威廉姆森(Zion Williamson)（个人原因）。
“德文是我们进攻和防守的重要组成部分，很多晚上他都要承担防守对方最好的外线球员的任务。做到这一点，以及得分、抢篮板、做所有这些事情，这是他所承担的责任。”
Spurs guard Devin Vassell scored a team-high 22 points to go with five rebounds and three steals in San Antonio’s win Saturday night against the Pelicans at Frost Bank Center.
Pelicans center Karlo Matkovic (17) drives to the basket against Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) and forward Jeremy Sochan (10) during the second half of Saturday’s game at Frost Bank Center.
点击查看原文：Vassell makes all-around impact
Vassell makes all-around impact
LOS ANGELES — Acting Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson described Devin Vassell’s play in Saturday’s 119-115 win over New Orleans as “fantastic,” and it wasn’t just because he had a team-high 22 points and hit a clutch 3-pointer.
“I obviously like that,” Johnson said. “But the three steals, the seven free throw attempts, five rebounds, it’s just the variety of ways of him impacting winning.”
All-around play is what the Spurs have come to expect lately from the fifth-year guard, and he takes pride in doing it.
“I struggled shooting the ball halfway through the season, and the biggest thing I took away from that was just being able to affect the game in all other aspects,” Vassell said.
“Even tonight,” he added, “I was six for seventeen. It’s not a great night shooting the basketball. But being able to affect the game in other ways, whether it’s rebounding, whether it’s steals, whether it’s just being encouraging as a teammate, whatever the case may be, I’ve tried to have that role and carry that over every game.”
But as much as the Spurs appreciate Vassell’s desire to do the dirty work, his main job is to score, especially since they will be without Victor Wembanyama (blood clot, right shoulder) and De’Aaron Fox (damaged tendon, left pinkie) for the remainder of the season.
And he’s getting the job done. Saturday’s game marked Vassell’s second in a row with 22 points, his third in the last four with 22 or more and ninth in a row in double digits.
The Spurs (28-38) emerged victorious over the Pelicans (18-50) in a game that included 11 lead changes and eight ties in large part because Vassell delivered a huge bucket after Keldon Johnson hustled his way to a rebound of Castle’s missed 3 with the Spurs clinging to a 113-111 lead.
After securing the ball, Johnson got it to Vassell, who sank a 26-foot pull-up jumper over the outstretched arm of 7-foot Kelly Olynyk to give the Spurs a five-point cushion with 1:03 remaining.
Up to that point, Vassell had missed 6 of 9 attempts from beyond the arc. But he wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to prove he could be the team’s closer in the absence of Wembanyama, who has been out since Feb. 20, and Fox, whose season ended last Thursday and will undergo surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles.
“I needed that one,” Vassell said of drilling a 3 that gave the Spurs some much-needed breathing room.
“Just sticking with it, staying confident, being aggressive and rewarding myself,” he added.
Vassell, who the Spurs drafted 11th overall in 2020, will enter Monday’s game against the Lakers playing perhaps his best basketball of the season. After a seven-game stretch in February in which he averaged just 9.7 points and shot only 20.0% from deep on five attempts per game, Vassell over the last nine games is averaging 19.9 points and shooting nearly 39% from distance on an average of eight attempts. He’s also averaging 5.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.0 steals in that span.
For the season, Vassell, 24, is averaging 16.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals. He’s shooting 35.2% from beyond the arc on 6.5 attempts and nearly 80% from the free throw line after hitting 6 of 7 against the Pelicans to match his season high for attempts.
"He had that stretch where he couldn’t make a shot and everybody was wondering if it was doomsday and saying, ‘What’s wrong with Devin’s game?’ " Mitch Johnson said. "It’s just the shot making wasn’t happening for him and it was overshadowing so much of the good he was doing.
“It’s just nice now to see the shot making, which we never had a question about, just jump back into the fold.”
In many ways, it’s been a challenging year for Vassell, who is making $29.3 million this season after signing a club-record five-year extension in October 2023 guaranteed to pay him $135 million with an additional $11 million in incentives.
In addition to missing the first nine games of the season after undergoing foot surgery last June after averaging a career-best 19.5 points in 2023-24, he had to adjust to Wembanyama becoming an even more dominant offensive force, and the additions of Castle, the fourth overall pick, and the high-scoring Fox, who the Spurs acquired from Sacramento in a three-team trade Feb. 3.
“There’s more basketball creating by a lot of other people on the floor, where a lot of times in the past years he took the lion’s share of that at times,” Mitch Johnson said. “And I think to be able now to have someone else create and you actually be the benefactor of just being able to have to knock down a shot is something he’s really embraced now. But it doesn’t mean you just hit a switch and you knock it down every time.”
As for Vassell’s teammates, they respect his desire to try to contribute all over the floor.
“He prides himself on trying to be a complete player, trying to do all the little things to help our team win, and he’s been doing a great job of that,” said forward Harrison Barnes, who had 19 points against New Orleans, which played without Zion Williamson (personal reasons).
“Devin is a big part of what we do offensively and defensively, and a lot of nights he takes on guarding one of the best perimeter guys. To do that, as well as to score, make a rebound, do all of that stuff, it’s a responsibility he’s embraced it.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff writer, via San Antonio Express-News