By Lee Dresie | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-06-05 21:00:00
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。
马刺球迷应该支持实力强大的统治者，还是支持具有马刺精神的前 ABA 球队？答案似乎很简单。
长期读者都知道我对英语很着迷。英语具有奇特本质的原因之一是，它来源于许多其他语言。例如，“pajama（睡衣）”一词来自波斯语，而“ketchup（番茄酱）”来自中文，“lemon（柠檬）”来自阿拉伯语，“chocolate（巧克力）”来自西班牙语，而“ballet（芭蕾）”则来自法语——或许这解释了为什么维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在球场上如此具有芭蕾舞般的优雅。
其他英语单词则来源于其他单词，其中一些很明显——例如“windshield（挡风玻璃）”，它可以在驾驶时保护车内乘客免受风的侵袭。另一些单词则不那么明显。“fan（粉丝）”（如“Spurs fans（马刺球迷）”）一词来源于“fanatic（狂热者）”，这不一定是赞美。
语言的不同起源也意味着英语有很多意思完全相同的单词。例如，“buy（购买）”和“purchase（购买）”具有相同的含义。你还可以通过查看该单词的其他形式来判断哪些单词具有日耳曼语起源：“buy”的过去式是非常具有日耳曼语色彩的“bought”。
再想想那些表示“非常好”的词：wonderful（精彩的），terrific（极好的），marvelous（了不起的），等等。在乔治·奥威尔的小说1984中，他创造了一个政府试图通过限制人们可以使用的词汇数量来限制思想的世界。所有表示“非常好”的词都被淘汰了，所以人们只能说“good（好）”或“double good（双倍的好）”，对于真正伟大的事情，则说“doubleplus good（双倍加的好）”。
说了这么多，最终是为了引出一个人们用来形容本赛季俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的词：Juggernaut（势不可挡的力量）。我好奇地想知道这个词是从哪里来的。因为它与“bought”押韵，所以听起来当然是日耳曼语起源。如果你的猜测和我一样，那我们就都大错特错了：
“一种需要盲目奉献或无情牺牲的想法、习俗、时尚等”，1854 年，是 Juggernaut 的比喻用法，1630 年代 (Iaggernat)，“载有克里希纳神像的巨型马车”，尤其是在普里镇，每年在游行中拉动，在此期间（根据杜撰的说法）信徒允许自己被车轮碾压牺牲。由 Jaggernaut 演变而来，是克里希纳（毗湿奴的化身）的称号，来自印地语 Jagannath，字面意思是“世界之主”。
不，我不会猜到“juggernaut”来源于印地语，描述的是印度普里镇的一辆巨型马车，你也不会。但除了其他球队没有自愿允许自己被俄克拉荷马雷霆队的战车碾压之外，2024-25 赛季的雷霆队无疑符合“juggernaut”的定义：
“一种巨大的、强大的、压倒性的力量或机构”
俄克拉荷马雷霆队以联盟最佳的 68 胜 14 负战绩结束了赛季（比印第安纳步行者队领先 20 场）。更令人印象深刻的是，雷霆队每场比赛的净胜分达到 12.9 分，比排名第二和第三的球队骑士队和凯尔特人队高出 3 分。如果你好奇的话，步行者队每场比赛的净胜分只有 2.3 分，每场比赛比雷霆队少 10 分。所有这些都解释了为什么雷霆队是赢得总决赛的 6-1 大热门（取决于你在哪里下注——我没有），并且在今晚的第一场比赛中被看好赢近 10 分。
但我不预测比赛或系列赛，主要是因为我不太擅长。相反，我支持其中一支球队，无论专家预测哪支球队会赢（在这种情况下，每个人都选择雷霆队）。尽管如此，或者可能部分原因在于此，我将支持步行者队。（关于“rooting for（支持）”的来源的题外话，这也是我不会猜到的：“‘Rooting for’ 是一个短语动词或习语，据信起源于英国动词 rout，该动词用于牛，意思是‘吼叫’。因此，该短语的最初意思是向参赛者或团队发出可听见的鼓励或掌声；欢呼。”）
我将为步行者队呐喊助威，原因如下。你可以添加你自己的理由：
- 步行者队是弱者。如有疑问，支持弱者。正如有人曾经说过的那样，“支持洋基队就像支持美国钢铁公司”。
- 步行者队和马刺队一样，都起源于古老的 ABA 联赛。马刺球迷应该支持他们的 ABA 兄弟。
- 步行者队打的是一种非常具有马刺风格的篮球。我喜欢最近一篇 Ringer 文章中对步行者队的描述，这可以用来形容 2014-15 赛季的美丽篮球马刺队：“他们冲刺地板，识别错位，迫使轮换，然后开始传来传去，直到有人获得空位投篮机会。这是一种无情的、无私的、万花筒般的篮球，以随机的驱动、空切、掩护和手递手传球的方式展开。”
- 步行者队没有从一个美好的城市（西雅图）和同样美好的球迷那里偷走一支球队。
- 步行者队不会横扫雷霆队，但反过来可能会发生。如果我们想要更多篮球比赛，而且我们确实想要，我们希望步行者队赢得一些比赛，并尽可能延长系列赛。
- 俄克拉荷马雷霆队是一支势不可挡的球队，也是马刺队需要克服才能重返 NBA 等级制度中应有地位的球队。本赛季的雷霆队被比作 2015-16 赛季的勇士队，那支球队开启了他们长达 5 年的统治时期，期间他们每年都进入 NBA 总决赛，并赢得了三次冠军。与这支俄克拉荷马雷霆队一样，那支勇士队也有一位 26 岁的超级巨星，他刚刚赢得了 MVP 奖项，一个年轻的辅助阵容，以及几位关键的老将。虽然他们在后来加入凯文·杜兰特后很快成为了死星勇士队，但俄克拉荷马雷霆队在接下来的几个选秀中有许多选秀权。这意味着他们将能够在不增加像凯文·杜兰特这样的人的情况下重新储备球队。这些选秀权也可以帮助他们更换在 NBA 的“第一土豪线”和“第二土豪线”工资规则下被定价过高的球员。因此，就像那支勇士队一样，这支雷霆队将在未来的许多个赛季中成为联盟和马刺队的一个巨大问题。
因此，即使他们还没有这样做，马刺球迷不妨开始反对雷霆队。在可预见的未来，我们肯定会这样做。加油，步行者队！
点击查看原文：Who Spurs fans should root for in the 2025 NBA Finals
Who Spurs fans should root for in the 2025 NBA Finals
Should Spurs fans root for the juggernaut or the Spursian ex-ABA team? The choice seems easy.
Longtime readers know that I am fascinated by the English language. One of the reasons for the funky nature of English is that it is derived from numerous other languages. For instance, the word “pajama” comes from Persian, while “ketchup” is from Chinese, “lemon” is from Arabic, “chocolate” is from Spanish, and, “ballet” is French — perhaps explaining why Victor Wembanyama is so balletic on the court.
Other English words are derived from other words, some of which are obvious — such as “windshield”, something which shields car passengers from the wind while driving. Other words are not so obvious. The word “fan” (as in “Spurs fans”) is derived from the word “fanatic”, not necessarily a compliment.
The different origins of the language also means that English has many words that mean exactly the same thing. For instance, the words “buy” and “purchase” have identical meanings. You can also tell which was those words has a Germanic orgin by looking at other versions of the word: the past tense of “buy” is the very Germanic sounding “bought”.
Also think about the many words that mean “very good”: wonderful, terrific, marvelous, and so on. In his novel 1984, George Orwell created a world in which the government tried to limit thought by also limiting the number of words people could use. All the words that mean “very good” were eliminated, so people could only say “good” or “double good” or for something really great “doubleplus good”.
All of this is a long way to get to a word that people have used to describe this season’s Oklahoma City Thunder: Juggernaut. My curious mind wondered where that word came from. Because it rhymes with “bought”, it certainly sounds Germanic in origin. If your guess was the same as mind, we are both extremely wrong:
“An idea, custom, fashion, etc., that demands either blind devotion or merciless sacrifice,” 1854, a figurative use of Juggernaut, 1630s (Iaggernat), “huge wagon bearing an image of the god Krishna,” especially at the town of Puri, drawn annually in procession during which (apocryphally) devotees allowed themselves to be crushed under its wheels in sacrifice. Altered from Jaggernaut, a title of Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu), from Hindi Jagannath, literally “lord of the world.”
Nope, I would not have guessed that “juggernaut” is derived from Hindi describing a huge wagon in the town of Puri, India, and neither did you. But other than the fact that other teams did not voluntarily allow themselves to be crushed under the OKC wagon’s wheels, the 2024-25 Thunder team certainly fits the definition of a juggernaut:
“A huge, powerful, and overwhelming force or institution”
OKC finished with a league-best 68-14 record (20 games ahead of the Indiana Pacers). Even more impressive, the Thunder outscored their opponents by 12.9 points per game, 3 points better than the second and third best teams, the Cavs and Celtics. If you are curious, the Pacers outscored their opponents by just 2.3 points per game, 10 points less than the Thunder per game. All of this explains why the Thunder are favored by about 6-1 to win the Finals (depending on where you bet — I don’t) and are favored by almost 10 points in Game One tonight.
But I don’t predict games or series, primarily because I am not very good at it. Instead, I root for one team or the other, regardless of which team the experts predict will win (in this case, everyone is picking the Thunder). Despite that, or perhaps partially because of that, I will be rooting for the Pacers. (Side note on the derivation of “rooting for”, something else I would not have guessed: “‘Rooting for’ is a phrasal verb or an idiom which is believed to originate from the British verb rout, which is used of cattle and means ‘bellow.’ Hence the original meaning of the phrase which is to give audible encouragement or applause to a contestant or team; cheer.”)
I will be bellowing for the Pacers for the following reasons. You can add your own:
- The Pacers are the underdog. When in doubt, root for the underdog. As someone once said, “Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for U.S. Steel”.
- The Pacers, like the Spurs, originated in the old ABA. Spurs fans should root for their ABA brethren.
- The Pacers play a very Spursian brand of basketball. I love this description of the Pacers from a recent Ringer piece, which could be describing the 2014-15 Beautiful Game Spurs: “They sprint the floor, identify a mismatch, force a rotation, then start popping the ball around until someone gets an open shot. It’s relentless, selfless, kaleidoscopic basketball deployed with a random flurry of drives, cuts, screens, and dribble handoffs.”
- The Pacers did not steal a team from a wonderful city (Seattle) and its equally wonderful fans.
- The Pacers will not sweep the Thunder, but the converse may happen. If we want more basketball, and we do, we want the Pacers to win some games and extend the series as much as possible.
- OKC is a juggernaut, and a team the Spurs will need to overcome to regain their rightful place in the NBA hierarchy. This season’s Thunder have been compared to the 2015-16 Warriors, the team that kicked off their dominant 5-year stretch in which they made the NBA Finals every year, winning three times. Like this OKC team, that Warriors team had a 26-year old superstar who just won the MVP award, a youthful supporting cast, and several key veterans. While they soon became the Death Star Warriors when they added Kevin Durant, OKC has numerous draft picks in the next several drafts. This means they will be able to re-stock the team without adding anyone like KD. Those picks can also help them replace players who get priced out under the NBA’s “first apron” and “second apron” salary rules. So like that Warriors team, this Thunder will be a massive problem for the league, and the Spurs, for many seasons to come.
As a result, even if they aren’t already doing so, Spurs fan might as well start rooting against the Thunder. We certainly will be doing exactly that for the foreseeable future. Go Pacers!
By Lee Dresie, via Pounding The Rock