By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-04-07 13:05:55
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——斯蒂芬·卡斯尔(Stephon Castle)在亚特兰大州立农场竞技场突破内线，摆脱外线防守队员，准备上演一出YouTube上的高光时刻。
如果卡斯尔的教练不了解情况，他可能会认为他的新秀后卫在空闲时间兼职球队的空中飞人吉祥物。
“看起来他像从蹦床上跳起来一样，”马刺代理教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)说。
是鸟？是飞机？是郊狼？
都不是。只是卡斯尔，做着他最擅长的事情。
二月份那记双手重扣老鹰队加里森·马修斯(Garrison Mathews)的精彩扣篮，仍然是卡斯尔首个职业赛季中令人难忘的时刻之一。
那次扣篮如此大胆，以至于即使是面无表情的卡斯尔，在回到场上的路上也不禁露出了笑容。
“他似乎在自言自语地偷笑，”约翰逊说。“对于一个我们经常谈论他如何不表现出任何反应的人来说，那一次让我印象深刻。”
对于本赛季的马刺来说，扣篮不仅是质量的问题，也是数量的问题。
在周日波特兰开始的四场客场之旅之前，马刺已经完成了435次扣篮，这是球队历史上单赛季最多的一次。
这个数字在本赛季的NBA中排名第五，对于一支曾经以不离地统治联盟而闻名的球队来说，这是一种相当大的审美转变。
“脚踏实地非常准确，”马刺解说员兼前球员肖恩·埃利奥特(Sean Elliott)说。
近二十年来，马刺一直是蒂姆·邓肯的打板投篮的代名词，这很无聊，但非常有效。
马刺的冠军时代之后，拉马库斯·阿尔德里奇(LaMarcus Aldridge)和德玛尔·德罗赞(DeMar DeRozan)这两位跳投中距离大师相继到来。
在历史总扣篮次数上，马刺在NBA 30支球队中排名第30位，总共6,975次。
相比之下，洛杉矶湖人队将表演带到了“Showtime”，他们的11,618次扣篮在该榜单上排名第一。
底特律活塞队本赛季以540次扣篮领跑NBA。洛杉矶快船队将在周二在直觉穹顶与马刺队交锋，以452次扣篮排名第四。
2023年的选秀为马刺带来了一个身高7英尺3英寸的外星人——维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)，他扣篮就像呼吸一样容易。
圣安东尼奥可能永远不会一样了。
“我们今年是一支运动型的球队，”后卫凯尔登·约翰逊(Keldon Johnson)说。“我们只是尽量在空间中跑动，知道会发生好事。当你冲到篮筐上，感到兴奋，诸如此类的事情，那就是篮球比赛的真谛。”
人员配备在马刺队在NBA扣篮排行榜上的上升中发挥了关键作用。
过去三次选秀带来了年轻、腿脚灵活的球员，他们似乎用弹簧代替了小腿肌肉——文班亚马、杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)和卡斯尔。
毫不奇怪，这三人是俱乐部中扣篮次数最多的球员。
文班亚马以91次扣篮领先全队，尽管他在二月中旬因血栓问题而赛季报销。
索汉以77次排名第二。卡斯尔以63次排名第三，在周日输给波特兰的比赛中，他又增加了三次扣篮。
“我认为这反映了他们的侵略性，他们有意识地想要到达篮筐，并且不会被第一次阻力或第一次身体对抗所阻止，”约翰逊说。
扣篮次数的激增并没有对马刺在积分榜上的位置产生太大影响——以32胜46负的战绩，他们将连续第六个赛季遭遇失利，并在周日被淘汰出附加赛的争夺。
不过，马刺队扣篮次数的激增至少让失利变得更有趣了。
“我喜欢看扣篮，”埃利奥特说。“我觉得它们是比赛中最有力的宣言。”
一个不喜欢乐趣的愤世嫉俗者可能会指出，扣篮的价值与12英尺的跳投一样。
从数学上讲，这可能是真的。但从心理上讲，球员们并不这么认为。
“如果你扣了别人，如果你在关键时刻扣篮，有时它的价值超过两分，”埃利奥特说。“它会让观众兴奋起来。它会让替补席上的球员投入比赛。”
更不用说，扣篮只是很酷。
马刺前锋桑德罗·马穆克拉什维利(Sandro Mamukelashvili)在格鲁吉亚共和国长大，后来又在意大利长大，他的墙上贴满了各种NBA球员的海报。
他们中没有一个人被描绘成在执行教科书般完美的防守滑步训练。
他们都在某个地方的体育馆里猛烈地扣篮。
“我一直在想，‘哦，我必须用力扣篮，这样我才能得到一张自己的海报，’”马穆克拉什维利说。“每个人都想扣篮。每个人都想完成某种终结。”
20岁的卡斯尔是马刺队最终实现起飞的关键组成部分。
在二月份的全明星周末，卡斯尔成为自1988年凯迪拉克·安德森(Cadillac Anderson)以来，球队首位参加NBA扣篮大赛的球员。
卡斯尔差点成为马刺队首位扣篮冠军，在有争议的比赛中输给了奥兰多魔术队发展联盟球员麦克·麦克朗(Mac McClung)，最终获得第二名。
卡斯尔赞同这样一种观点，即扣篮对球队的意义超过了一般的投篮。
“无论你在主场还是客场，它都会给你的球队带来能量，”卡斯尔说。“这确实是两分，但感觉比两分更多。这是一个巨大的精神转变。”
扣篮的力量是不可否认的。
一次精彩的扣篮甚至可以让难以捉摸的卡斯尔微笑。
随着本赛季马刺队扣篮次数的不断增加，他并不是唯一一个咧嘴笑的人。
“如果你的一次精彩扣篮引发了一波攻势或一次逆转，它会打击对手的士气，”埃利奥特说。“在比赛中，没有什么比扣篮更好的了。没有什么。”
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) dunks against the Portland Trail Blazers during the second half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) reacts as fans cheer following his dunk over Phoenix Suns center Bol Bol (11) during the first quarter at Moody Center on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) dunks on the Dallas Mavericks during the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Mavericks, 126-116.
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle dunks the ball for a basket against the Denver Nuggets in the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle, center back, dunks the ball between Denver Nuggets guard Trey Alexander, back left, and center DeAndre Jordan as San Antonio forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, front, looks on in the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) dunks in the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
点击查看原文：For Spurs, winning is no slam dunk
For Spurs, winning is no slam dunk
LOS ANGELES – Stephon Castle burst through the lane at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, blowing past his defender on the perimeter and gathering himself for a YouTube highlight.
If Castle’s coach didn’t know any better, he would have assumed his rookie guard spent his downtime moonlighting as the team’s high-flying mascot.
“It looked like he jumped off a trampoline,” Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson said.
It’s a bird? It’s a plane? It’s the Coyote?
Nope. Just Castle, doing what he does best.
The rim-rattling two-hand slam over the Hawks’ Garrison Mathews in February remains one of the indelible moments of Castle’s inaugural professional season.
So audacious was the dunk it caused even the stone-faced Castle to break character afterward on his way back down the floor.
“He kind of chuckled to himself,” Johnson said. “For someone who, as much as we walk about how he doesn’t show a reaction, that one was one that sticks out for me.”
For the Spurs this season, dunking has become not just a matter of quality but also of quantity.
Heading into the four-game road trip that began Sunday at Portland, the Spurs had produced 435 dunks, the most in a single-season in team history.
That number ranks fifth in the NBA this season, quite a change in aesthetic for a franchise once known for dominating the league without leaving its feet.
“Grounded is exactly right,” said Spurs broadcaster and former player Sean Elliott.
For nearly two decades, the Spurs were synonymous with Tim Duncan’s bank shot, boring but devastatingly effective.
The Spurs’ championship era was followed by the arrival of a pair of jump-shooting mid-range maestros in LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan.
All-time, the Spurs rank 30th out of 30 NBA teams in total dunks with 6,975.
By contrast, the Los Angeles Lakers put the show in Showtime, as their 11,618 dunks rank first on the list.
The Detroit Pistons lead the NBA this season with 540 jams. The Los Angeles Clippers, who the Spurs are set to face Tuesday at the Intuit Dome, rank in fourth place with 452.
The 2023 draft delivered the Spurs a 7-foot-3 alien in Victor Wembanyama, who could dunk as easily as he could breathe.
San Antonio might never be the same.
“We’re an athletic team this year,” guard Keldon Johnson said. “We just try to get out in space, knowing good things happen. You get on the rim, be hyped and things like that, that’s just the game of basketball right there.”
Personnel has played a key role in the Spurs’ rise up the NBA’s dunk rankings.
The past three drafts have brought young, fresh-legged players who appear to have replaced their calf muscles with springs – Wembanyama, Jeremy Sochan and Castle.
Not surprisingly, that trio stands as the club’s three most prolific dunkers.
Wembanyama leads the team with 91 dunks despite being ruled out for the season in mid-February with a blood clot issue.
Sochan is second with 77. Castle sits third at 63, having added three more jams to his ledger in Sunday’s loss at Portland.
“I think it’s a reflection of their aggressiveness, their intentional desire to get to the rim and not be stopped by the first sign of resistance or first sign of physicality,” Johnson said.
The spike in slams has not made much of an effect on the Spurs’ place in the standings – at 32-46, they are headed for their sixth consecutive losing season and were eliminated from play-in contention Sunday.
Still, the Spurs’ surge in stuffs has at least made the losing a little more interesting.
“I love watching the dunks” Elliott said. “I feel like they’re the most emphatic statement in the game.”
A fun-hating cynic might point out that dunks are worth the same as a 12-foot jump shot.
Mathematically speaking, that might be true. Mentally speaking, players aren’t so sure.
“You dunk on somebody, you dunk in a key moment, sometimes it’s worth more than two points,” Elliott said. “It gets the crowd fired up. It gets the bench in the game.”
Not to mention, dunks are just cool.
Growing up in the Republic of Georgia, and later in Italy, Spurs forward Sandro Mamukelashvili adorned his wall with posters of various NBA players.
None of them were pictured executing a textbook-perfect defensive slide drill.
They were ripping the rim off a basket in some arena somewhere.
“I was always thinking, ‘Oh I’ve got to dunk hard so I can get a poster of myself,’” Mamukelashvili said. “Everybody wants to dunk. Everybody wants to make some type of finish.”
The 20-year-old Castle has been a key component in the Spurs at last achieving liftoff.
At All-Star weekend in February, Castle became the franchise’s first participant in the NBA Slam Dunk contest since Cadillac Anderson in 1988.
Castle nearly became Spurs’ first slam dunk champion, finishing second to Orlando Magic G-Leaguer Mac McClung in a disputed finish.
Castle echoes the notion that a slam dunk means more to a team than your average field goal.
“Whether you’re home or away, it just brings energy to your team,” Castle said. “It is two points, but it feels like more than two points. It’s a big mental swing.”
The power of the dunk is undeniable.
A really good one has the capacity to make even the inscrutable Castle smile.
As dunk after dunk has piled up for the Spurs this season, he isn’t the only one grinning.
“You have a big dunk that sparks a rally or a comeback, it demoralizes an opponent,” Elliott said. “There’s nothing like the dunk in the game. Nothing.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News
