By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-04-07 12:56:20
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——当凯尔文·桑普森(Kelvin Sampson)执教的休斯顿美洲狮队周一在阿拉莫巨蛋参加NCAA全国锦标赛决赛时，圣安东尼奥马刺队远在1300英里之外的洛杉矶，为周二对阵洛杉矶快船队的比赛做准备。
那些在2008年桑普森加入格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)教练组时就在队中的人，都在为他们的同事执教他人生中最重要的一场比赛而欢呼。
“你忍不住为这段旅程的敬意感到高兴，”马刺队资深助教布雷特·布朗(Brett Brown)谈到桑普森时说，“他为这项运动投入了大量时间，而距离全国冠军只差一场胜利，这真是太不可思议了。”
现年69岁的桑普森，在印第安纳大学的执教生涯遭遇挫折后，应波波维奇的邀请加入了马刺队。
由于违反NCAA规定，他于2008年被迫辞去在印第安纳大学胡希尔队(Hoosiers)的职务。
波波维奇向桑普森伸出了援手，允许他以顾问身份加入马刺队，直到他的事业重回正轨。
桑普森在马刺队的这段经历，为他带来了在密尔沃基雄鹿队和休斯顿火箭队的NBA助教职位，之后于2014年担任休斯顿大学的主教练。
周一与佛罗里达大学的比赛中，桑普森不仅瞄准了他的第一个全国冠军，还瞄准了他的职业生涯第800场胜利。
“他的球队打得很努力，”布朗说，“每个人都明白这一点，但这是真的。”
桑普森和他的家人非常感谢波波维奇在他的职业生涯复兴中所扮演的角色，他们甚至以他的名字给家里的狗取名为“Poppy”。
当美洲狮队通过精英八强战胜田纳西大学而获得今年最终四强资格时，他收到的祝贺短信之一就来自波波维奇，后者在遭遇中风后缺席了马刺队本赛季除了前五场比赛以外的所有比赛。
从某种意义上说，美洲狮队进入全国锦标赛决赛的征程始于夏天，当时桑普森是马刺队年度季前教练务虚会的嘉宾。
“我们与他有很多联系，现在看到他离800胜只差一场，而这正好是冠军赛，”布朗说，“我们非常尊重他如何看待这一切。”
季后赛荒正式延续
周日在波特兰以120-109输给开拓者队的比赛，从数学上消除了马刺队进入西部联盟附加赛的希望，这意味着球队历史上最长的季后赛荒将继续。
马刺队（32胜46负）已经连续六个赛季无缘季后赛。
尽管事实上马刺队进入季后赛的机会在二月中旬就已经结束了，当时全明星中锋维克托·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)因血栓问题赛季报销，但代理主教练米奇·约翰逊(Mitch Johnson)拒绝玩“如果”游戏。
“这毫无意义，因为每个人都有一个‘如果’，”约翰逊说，“真正的是我们正试图继续建设、改进和发展，而这正是我们多年来一直在做的事情。”
约翰逊表示，剩余四场比赛的目标，从周二在因纽特巨蛋开始，将是继续围绕受伤的球星文班亚马和达龙·福克斯(De’Aaron Fox)来塑造球队。
“维克托和达龙·福克斯和其他球员是这支球队的重要组成部分，”约翰逊说，“所以我们今天所做的事情会影响到他们，以及我们试图建立的东西。”
西索科与马刺队的重聚苦乐参半
波特兰开拓者队前锋西迪·西索科(Sidy Cissoko)仍然保留着马刺队在二月份把他作为福克斯交易的一部分送走的那天送给他的剪贴簿。
其中一张照片描绘了他身穿银黑战袍的第一天上班的情景。
“看到那张照片我差点哭了，”西索科说。
对于这位来自法国的21岁二年级职业球员来说，交易截止日是一场旋风。
西索科最初被送到芝加哥，作为将福克斯送到圣安东尼奥的三方交易的一部分。两天后，公牛队将西索科交易到华盛顿，换取约纳斯·瓦兰丘纳斯(Jonas Valunciunas)。
奇才队裁掉了西索科，最终他以双向合同加盟波特兰开拓者队。
“NBA是一门生意，”西索科说，他一直在处理脚踝扭伤，没有参加周日与老东家的重聚。“你必须保持昂首挺胸，保持坚强。”
西索科说，周日见到他的前队友是一种苦乐参半的经历。马刺队也同意这一点。
“这是这行最糟糕的部分——你有时不得不结束的那些关系，”约翰逊说，“我很高兴他能在其他地方有另一个机会，继续他成为一名伟大NBA球员的道路。”
Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson instructs his team In the first half. Houistonv Duke on Saturday, April 5, 2025 at the Alamodome.
Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson watches his team during the first half of the Men’s Final Four semifinals against the Duke Blue Devils at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson answers questions during a news conference at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Thursday, April 3, 2025. The Cougars will face the Duke Blue Devils in the Men’s Final Four semifinals on Saturday night.
点击查看原文：Spurs proud of connection to Kelvin Sampson
Spurs proud of connection to Kelvin Sampson
LOS ANGELES – As Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars were set to tipoff in Monday’s NCAA national championship game at the Alamodome, the Spurs were 1,300 miles away in Los Angeles getting ready for Tuesday’s contest against the Clippers.
Those who were around when Sampson joined Gregg Popovich’s staff in 2008 were rooting for their colleague coaching in the game of his life.
“You can’t help but have a great feeling about just the respect of the journey,” longtime Spurs assistant Brett Brown said of Sampson. “He’s invested a lot of time into the game, and to be one win away from a national championship is incredible.”
Sampson, now 69, joined the Spurs at the invitation of Popovich after his college coaching career went sideways at Indiana.
He was forced to resign from his position with the Hoosiers in 2008 amid NCAA violations.
Popovich threw Sampson a lifeline, allowing him to hook on with the Spurs as consultant until he got his career back on track.
Sampson parlayed his time with the Spurs into NBA assistant gigs with the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets before landing the head coaching job at the University of Houston in 2014.
Monday against Florida, Sampson was taking aim not only at his first national championship, but also career victory No. 800.
“His teams play hard,” Brown said. “Everybody understands that, but it’s true.”
Sampson and his family were so grateful for the role Popovich played in the resurrection of his career they named the family dog “Poppy” after him.
When the Cougars qualified for this year’s Final Four with an Elite Eight win over Tennessee, one of the congratulatory text messages he received was from Popovich, who has missed all but the first five games of the Spurs’ season after suffering a stroke.
In a way, the Cougars’ run to the national championship game began in the summer, when Sampson was a guest at the Spurs’ annual preseason coaches retreat.
“We’ve had a lot to do with him and now to see it be in a place now where he is one win away from 800, it happens to be the championship game,” Brown said. “We just having great respect of how he’s wired to see this all play out.”
Postseason drought officially continues
Sunday’s 120-109 loss at Portland mathematically eliminated the Spurs from Western Conference play-in contention, meaning the longest postseason drought in franchise history goes on.
The Spurs (32-46) have now missed the playoffs in six consecutive seasons.
Though for an intents and purposes the Spurs’ chances of making the playoffs ended in mid-February when All-Star center Victor Wembanyama was lost for the season with a blood clot issue, acting coach Mitch Johnson declined to play the “what if” game.
“It’s pointless just because everybody has a what if,” Johnson said. “What’s real is we are trying to continue to build, improve and evolve and that is what we’ve been doing for years.”
Johnson said the goal of the remaining four games, beginning Tuesday at the Inuit Dome, will be to continue to shape the program around injured stars Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox.
“Victor and De’Aaron Fox and other guys are big parts of this program,” Johnson said, “and so what we’re doing today has affect them and what we’re trying to build.”
Cissoko’s Spurs reunion was bittersweet
Portland forward Sidy Cissoko still keeps a scrapbook the Spurs gave him the day he was dealt as part of the Fox deal in February.
One of the pictures depicts his first day on the job in silver and black.
“I almost cried seeing that,” Cissoko said.
The trade deadline was a whirlwind for the 21-year-old second-year pro from France.
Cissoko was initially sent to Chicago as part of the three-team deal that delivered Fox to San Antonio. Two days later, the Bulls flipped Cissoko to Washington in a deal for Jonas Valunciunas.
The Wizards waived Cissoko, and he would up in Portland on a two-way deal.
“The NBA is a business,” said Cissoko, who has been dealing with an ankle sprain and did not play in Sunday’s reunion with his old club. “You got to keep your head up, keep your head strong.”
Cissoko said seeing his former teammates Sunday was a bittersweet experience. The Spurs agreed.
“It’s the worst part of the business – the relationships that you have to end sometimes,” Johnson said. “I’m just happy that he’s having another opportunity somewhere else to continue his path to becoming a great NBA player.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News