By August Bembel | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-03-31 01:35:34
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。
尽管输了球，但马刺的一些球员有力地证明了他们未来在球队中的角色。
随着不仅维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)而且达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox)都赛季报销，斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)和德文·瓦塞尔(Devin Vassell)接过了球队的指挥棒——并且取得了相当令人鼓舞的成绩。近几周，马刺赢了一些比赛，并与实力强大的骑士队和凯尔特人队展开了令人钦佩的竞争。
卡斯尔在这段时间里场均得到超过20分和5个以上的助攻。他还尝试场均接近5个三分球，命中率接近30%——在产量方面有了显著提高。
德文·瓦塞尔的情况也是如此，自从福克斯缺阵以来，他场均得到接近20分。此外，他以接近8次的出手次数，三分球命中率超过45%——达到精英水平，这正是他应该达到的水平。
卡斯尔和瓦塞尔都没有在周六晚上对阵凯尔特人的比赛中发挥出最佳水平，但两人都表现得相当不错。关键问题是：当他们下赛季与文班亚马和福克斯同时在场时，他们是否能够保持他们的生产力？
要点总结：
- 凯尔特人试图利用克里斯塔普斯·波尔津吉斯(Kristaps Porzingis)和杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)之间的身高错位，波尔津吉斯为波士顿队拿下了前五分。然而，由于克里斯·保罗(Chris Paul)和瓦塞尔的一些精彩传球，索汉得以用两个近距离投篮做出回应。这是一种让他参与进攻的方式——这是必要的，因为防守者继续忽视他在外线的存在，而且他的投篮仍然既慢又不准确。他12次走上罚球线可能是一个异常值。
- 在防守端，马刺队在比赛初期很难限制凯尔特人队优秀的外部射手。仅在第一节，波士顿就在右侧底角投中了三个空位三分球。与此同时，凯尔特人队让马刺队很难获得清晰的投篮机会。尽管如此，圣安东尼奥队仍然在整场比赛的大部分时间里保持在触手可及的范围内。考虑到第三阵容的布雷克·韦斯利(Blake Wesley)和桑德罗·马穆凯拉什维利(Sandro Mamukelashvili)的出场时间大大高于他们的赛季平均水平，而凯尔特人队几乎全员出动，这样的表现是值得称赞的。这也表明韦斯利和马穆凯拉什维利都表现出了明显的进步。
- 马刺队最艰难的时期之一发生在第二节上半段，当时凯尔特人队派出了两名七尺长人，波尔津吉斯和卢克·科内特(Luke Kornet)。在没有文班亚马的情况下，圣安东尼奥队在防守端无法应对他们的身高优势，也无法在另一端利用他们缺乏机动性的弱点。马刺队在本节开始时落后9分，并在7分钟时落后16分，这很大程度上是由于科内特的影响。然而，一旦他下场休息，马刺队在不到两分钟的时间里迅速将分差缩小到8分。看到两名七尺长人同时在场上对一支小个子球队造成多大的伤害，让我想让马刺队再得到一名七尺长人。
- 哈里森·巴恩斯(Harrison Barnes)仍然是马刺队可靠先生，在年轻核心需要他的时候提供稳定的支持。他及时的三分球和老将的领导能力非常宝贵。考虑到马刺队几乎没有付出任何代价就得到了他，布莱恩·莱特(Brian Wright)的这一举动必须被认为是本垒打。巴恩斯还有一年合同在身也是一个积极因素。
- 在本赛季初，我有点不看好凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)作为一名球员（但从未质疑过他的人格魅力），但他已经重新赢得了我的心。如果他能够恢复一些外线投篮的稳定性，他将具备成为一名理想的替补得分手的所有条件。他的突破非常扎实。
- 瓦塞尔从第二节开始让位于约翰逊，这是一个正确的决定。即便如此，看到他的六次三分球尝试中有四次命中仍然令人鼓舞。对他来说，今年是一个下滑的年份，因此看到他在他最有价值的技能方面呈现上升趋势是很有希望的。
- 对于斯蒂芬·卡斯尔来说，这并不是一个下滑的赛季（怎么可能呢？）。马刺队在2024年选秀大会上用4号签选中的他超出了所有人的预期。即使作为一名射手，他也表现出了进步。在大学里，他场均只出手2.2个三分球，命中率为26.7%。作为一名NBA新秀，他场均出手4.1个三分球，命中率为28.5%。虽然他的命中率仍然很低，但他尝试的投篮次数明显增多，并且命中率略有提高。他似乎正在成为一名更好的射手，尽管昨晚的比赛提醒人们，他还有很长的路要走。他的很多失误都很糟糕。但是，德里克·怀特(Derrick White)在早期效力于马刺队时也有很多糟糕的失误——看看他现在已经成为什么样的射手了！卡斯尔会很棒的。他会非常棒的。
点击查看原文：What We Learned from the Spurs’ Loss to the Celtics
What We Learned from the Spurs’ Loss to the Celtics
Despite the loss, some Spurs players made a strong case for their future roles on the team.
With not only Victor Wembanyama but also De’Aaron Fox out for the season, Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell have been handed the reins – with quite encouraging results. The Spurs have won some games in recent weeks and competed admirably against the heavily sontending Cavs and the Celtics.
Castle has averaged more than 20 points per game and over 5 assists per game during this stretch. He’s also attempting close to five three-pointers per game, making almost 30% of them – a significant step up in terms of production.
The same goes for Devin Vassell, who has averaged nearly 20 points per game since Fox went down. Additionally, he has been shooting over 45% from beyond the arc on almost eight attempts per game – an elite level, exactly where he should be.
Neither Castle nor Vassell had their best game Saturday night against the Celtics, but both performed reasonably well. The key question is: Will they be able to maintain their productivity next season when they share the court with both Wembanyama and Fox?
Takeaways:
- The Celtics tried to exploit the height mismatch between Kristaps Porzingis and Jeremy Sochan early on, with Porzingis scoring the first five points for Boston. However, thanks to some excellent passes from Chris Paul and Devin Vassell, Sochan was able to respond with two close-range buckets. That’s one way to keep him involved in the offense – a necessity, given that defenders continue to ignore him on the perimeter, and his shot remains both slow and inaccurate. His 12 trips to the free-throw line were likely an outlier performance.
- Defensively, the Spurs struggled early on to contest the Celtics’ elite outside shooters. In the first quarter alone, Boston made three wide-open threes from the right corner. Meanwhile, the Celtics made it difficult for the Spurs to get clean looks. Despite this, San Antonio managed to stay within striking distance for most of the game. Considering that third-stringers Blake Wesley and Sandro Mamukelashvili played significant minutes – well above their season averages – while the Celtics were nearly at full strength, the performance was commendable. It also suggests that both Wesley and Mamukelashvili have shown noticeable improvement.
- One of the Spurs’ toughest stretches came in the first half of the second quarter, when the Celtics deployed two seven-footers, Porzingis and Luke Kornet. Without Wembanyama, San Antonio had no answer for their size defensively, nor could they exploit the lack of mobility on the other end. The Spurs started the quarter down by nine and fell behind by 16 by the seven-minute mark, largely due to Kornet’s impact. However, once he went to the bench, the Spurs quickly cut the deficit to eight points in under two minutes. Seeing how much damage two seven-footers can do on the court together against a small team makes me wish for the Spurs to get another seven-footer.
- Harrison Barnes continues to be Mr. Reliable for the Spurs, providing a stabilizing presence when the young core needs him. His timely three-pointers and veteran leadership have been invaluable. Given that the Spurs acquired him at virtually no cost, this move has to be considered a home run for Brian Wright. It’s also a positive that Barnes still has another year left on his contract.
- At the start of the season, I was somewhat down on Keldon Johnson as a player (though never on his personality), but he has won me back over. If he can regain some consistency from beyond the arc, he’d check all the boxes for an ideal off-the-bench scorer. His driving game is super-solid.
- Vassell took a backseat to Keldon Johnson from the second quarter onward, which was the right call. Even so, it was encouraging to see four of his six three-point attempts find the net. It has been a down year for him, so seeing him trend upward in his most valuable skill is promising.
- It hasn’t been a down season for Stephon Castle (how could it be?). The Spurs’ No. 4 pick in the 2024 draft has exceeded expectations across the board. Even as a shooter, he has shown improvement. In college, he attempted just 2.2 threes per game, hitting 26.7%. As a rookie in the NBA, he’s attempting 4.1 per game and making 28.5%. While his percentage is still low, he’s taking significantly more shots and making slightly more of them. He appears to be on an upward trajectory as a shooter, though last night’s game was a reminder that he still has a long way to go. Many of his misses are bad misses. Then again, Derrick White also had plenty of ugly misses in his early days with the Spurs – and look at the shooter he has become! Castle will be good. He’ll be very good.
By August Bembel, via Pounding The Rock