By Devon Birdsong | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-03-29 02:42:22
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。
论隔绝的艰难乐趣
对我来说，视角很大程度上取决于环境，这真是令人着迷。我坚决不相信所谓的“虽败犹荣”，但马刺队在面对最近（以及整个赛季）势头强劲的骑士队时的表现，却让我感到一种奇怪的满意。
如果马刺队本身正处于争夺季后赛席位的边缘，那么输给一支几乎肯定会赢得60场以上比赛的球队，可能会让人感到沮丧。
相反，在这样一个相当灾难性的赛季背景下，这感觉有点像长途旅行快结束时爆了胎：实际上，你只是庆幸换轮胎时没下雨。
但我们要明确一点，一线希望纯粹是无稽之谈。我从未抬头看到乌云密布，然后心想：“哇，那些云看起来真像银子做的。”
然而，我有很多次端着一杯咖啡，看着聚集的乌云，庆幸自己待在室内。
这有点像我现在对这个赛季的感觉。马刺队在组织上正处于一个十字路口。他们那古怪而令人敬畏的球队基石因为一种奇怪的血液疾病倒下了。他们可能会因为年老体衰而失去他们过去稳定和卓越的最后一个象征。自从马刺得到那位“不可提及的前锋”以来，他们最引人注目的交易对象在被交易后不久就接受了手术。
然而，在某种程度上，我与这一切隔绝了，没有了真正的期望带来的压力。
当然，有一些球员需要评估，有一些努力需要被注意到。有一些角色球员的随机爆发，也有一些值得赞美的菜鸟成长。但如果我完全诚实地说，我大多只是感到麻木。
在缺乏真正利害关系的情况下，一切都混杂在一起。在这个节骨眼上，输赢又有什么区别呢？两者都不会带来什么真正的东西。
我想这就是为什么我一直憎恶摆烂的概念。我理解提高选秀顺位的价值，但在某种程度上，你会贬低胜利和失败的意义；从而贬低了参与体育运动的价值。
我们人类参与体育运动的方式，并不是因为我们对计算尺和精算表感兴趣。
体育运动将我们团结在我们集体内心世界的深处。我们参与那些激发我们热情的事物，反映我们最温暖和最迫切的信念——努力、牺牲和奉献将战胜一切困难、一切障碍、一切怀疑。真理、正义和胜利是密不可分的。
当我们的体育世界失去这种差异性时，它们就会失去使它们与现实区分开来的东西。我们需要失败意味着什么，才能让胜利也意味着什么。
别误会，我不是在这里自怨自艾。地平线上有很多希望。
但现在，我坐在温暖的办公桌前写这篇文章，看着别人躲避窗外的雨，我有点希望自己能和他们在一起。希望自己能有个去处，能更真切地感受到他们的紧迫感。
毕竟，电台司令唱的是在高处而又干旱的恐怖，而不是相反。
你无法在厨房的安全环境中感受到雨水落在你的皮肤上。你无法在舒适的沙发上被闪电击中。当然，被闪电击中对我来说一直是一个有争议的比喻。
但有时你只是想感受一些东西。
收获
- 不过，如果说有一个球员似乎永远不会失去他的激情，那就是凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)。我承认他可能会成为球迷中一个有争议的球员，他也有自己的局限性，但他真的能通过某种方式让我感到快乐。多年来，他不得不参与很多失败，但他从未失去他从第一次出现在球队时所带来的那种年轻的热情。对于许多处于这种情况下的球员来说，保持任何一丝激情是很困难的。失败会打击运动员。这不是他们在生活中所追求的，所以不难理解为什么。但凯尔登·约翰逊不是。他一直在咆哮、冲击和扣篮。在失败中，没有哪个球员像他这样坚不可摧，我感觉这对球队来说比我们完全理解的更重要。他不是那种需要被送到另一支球队去“找到他的快乐”的球员，这其中有一种令人愉快的老派风格。即使我知道最好别这样，但我私下里希望他永远在这里打球。
- 此外，在过去的十场比赛中，他替补出场的表现非常出色，马刺队非常需要这一点。我认为他花了一些时间才完全适应不再是首发的事实，但可能没有哪个球员比这位“瓷器店里的公牛”更适合以爆发性的方式上场。目前，他在场均仅24分钟的时间里，以36/46/87的投篮命中率贡献了近15分，同时还贡献了5.5个篮板和1.8个抢断和盖帽。圣安东尼奥的替补席最近看起来好多了，而他是其中的一个重要组成部分。
- 此外，斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)的菜鸟赛季表现如何啊。在所有的混乱中，他三月份场均差点拿到20/5/5，同时他的防守也远超他的年龄。真可谓是最后的冲刺！国家媒体已经尽了最大努力想把其他新秀也拉进来，但卡斯尔几乎已经关上了那扇门。按照他目前的速度，他最终将进入马刺队新秀出场时间的前5名，场均出场时间仅比托尼·帕克少几分钟。我在这里重复一下我昨晚在推特上发布的劲爆观点：我坚信他现在比当时的帕克更好，我们都知道那后来是怎么回事。如果你想谈论一线希望，卡斯尔应该成为讨论的中心。在选秀中，这是一次绝对的胜利，否则选秀看起来会越来越薄弱。你知道，我认为那些老家伙仍然很厉害。
播放本晚的主题曲：
电台司令乐队的 High and Dry
点击查看原文：What we learned from the Spurs loss to the Cavaliers
What we learned from the Spurs loss to the Cavaliers
On the difficult pleasures of insulation
It’s fascinating to me how much perspective is dictated by circumstance. I resolutely do not believe in the ‘good loss’, and yet I found myself oddly satisfied by the Spurs’ performance against the recently (and season-long) surging Cavs.
Losing a close game to a team that’s all but guaranteed to win 60+ contests this season could be deflating if the Spurs were themselves on the cusp of contention or a postseason appearance.
Instead, within the context of a fairly calamitous season, it feels a bit like blowing a tire near the end of a long road trip: realistically, you’re just happy it’s not raining while you’re on the side of the road changing it out.
Let’s be clear, though, silver linings are a bunch of nonsense. Never once have I looked up to see storm clouds and thought to myself, “Gee, those look silvery.”
I have, however, on many occasions looked out on gathering clouds with a cup of coffee in my hand and been glad to be inside.
And that’s a bit like what the season feels like to me now. The Spurs are at a crossroads organizationally. Their freakishly awesome franchise tent-pole went down with a freakish blood condition. They may lose one of their last totems of previous stability and excellence to age and infirmity. Their flashiest trade acquisition since The Forward That Must Not Be Named underwent surgery shortly after they were acquired.
And yet, in a way, I’m insulated from it all without the weight of real expectation.
Sure, there are players to assess and efforts to be noticed. There are random explosions from role players and rookie developments to be glorified. But if I’m being totally honest, I mostly just feel kind of numb.
Without the presence of real stakes, everything kind of blends together. How is a loss any different than a win at this juncture? Neither one is really going to result in much.
I think that’s why I’ve always abhorred the concept of tanking. I understand the value of improved chances, but at some point, you devalue both the win and the loss; and by proxy, the value of engaging with sports in the first place.
We, as human beings, do not engage with sports in the manner that we do because we’re enthusiastic about slide rules and actuarial tables.
Sports unite us at the depths of our collective inner worlds. We engage with that which fires our passions and reflects our warmest and most desperate beliefs – that effort and sacrifice and dedication will win out against all odds, all obstacles, all doubt. That truth, and justice, and victory are inextricably linked.
When our sporting worlds lose that quality of differentiation, they lose what separates them from reality. We need losing to mean something in order for victory to do the same.
Don’t get wrong, I’m not wallowing in despair here. There’s plenty of hope on the horizon.
But right now, writing this article from the warmth of my desk, watching others dodge the rain coming down outside my window, I kind of wish that I was out there with them. That I had somewhere to go, to be – that I could more truly feel the passion of their urgency.
After all, Radiohead sang about the horror of being high and dry, not the opposite.
You can’t feel the rain on your skin from the safety of your kitchen. You can’t be struck by lightning from the comfort of your couch. Of course, being struck by lightning has always seemed like a divisive metaphor to me.
Sometimes you just want to feel something, though.
Takeaways
- If there’s one player who never seems to lose his passion, though, it’s Keldon Johnson. I recognize that he can be a divisive player for the fan-base, and that he has his limitations, but damn it, he just fills me with joy by proxy. He’s had to be part of a lot of losing over the years, and yet he’s never lost that youthful fervor that he brought to the team from his very first appearance. For a lot of players in situations like that it’s hard to maintain any semblance of passion. Losing has a way of beating athletes down. It’s not what they strive for in their lives, so it’s not hard to understand why. Not Keldon Johnson though. He keeps roaring, and driving, and dunking with aplomb. No one player on the roster is so undefeatable in defeats, and I have a feeling that’s more important to the team than we can fully comprehend. He’s not one of those players who needs to be shipped out to another team to ‘find his joy’ and there’s something delightfully old school about that. Even though I know better, I privately hope he plays here forever.
- Also, he’s been playing fantastically off the bench over the last ten games, and the Spurs have sorely needed it. I think it took him some time to fully acclimate to not being a starter anymore, but there may be no player on the roster more suited to playing in explosive bursts than Mr. ‘Bull In A China Shop’ himself. Right now he’s averaging almost 15 points a game on a 36/46/87 shooting split while throwing in 5.5 rebounds and 1.8 stocks just for good measure, all in just 24 minutes a game. San Antonio’s bench has looked much better as of late, and he’s been a big part of that.
- Also, what a rookie season from Stephon Castle. Amidst all the chaos, he’s within a hair of averaging 20/5/5 for the month of March, while playing defense well beyond his years. Talk about a final push! National media narratives have done their best to try an insert other rookies into the mix, but Castle has all but slammed the door on that nonsense. At his current rate, he’s going to end up in the top 5 for minutes played by a Spurs rookie, coming in just a couple of minutes per game shy of a rookie Tony Parker. And I’ll repeat here the hot take I tweeted last night: I strongly believe he’s better now than Parker was then, and we all know how that turned out. If you want to talk about silver linings, Castle should be front and center in that discussion. What an absolute win by PATFO in a draft that’s otherwise looking thinner by the game. You know, I think those old fogies have still got it.
Playing You Out – The Theme Song of the Evening:
High and Dry by Radiohead
By Devon Birdsong, via Pounding The Rock