By Lee Dresie | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-06-17 01:09:04
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。
从全场防守到精妙进攻，这对于纯粹篮球爱好者来说，无疑是一个扣人心弦的系列赛。
当掘金队在他们的第二轮系列赛中以2-1领先雷霆队，并且在第四场比赛下半场主场占据优势时，我便认定掘金队会晋级NBA总决赛，甚至巧妙地订了一张飞往科罗拉多州的机票。虽然这个预设后来证明是错误的，但我以探望住在科罗拉多州的哥哥并参加他6月6日的生日庆祝作为旅行的借口，这才避免了取消往返机票的尴尬。
然而，我在总决赛开始阶段的科罗拉多之行，使得我难以像往常一样对总决赛进行逐场报道。事实上，我的报道生涯早在十多年前加入Pounding the Rock（PtR）之前就已经开始了。当年，我在加入PtR前撰写了一篇关于2013年总决赛“马努之战”的文章（第五场主场比赛，马刺队在马努·吉诺比利（Manu Ginobili）的带动下取得一场大胜，但不幸的是，那场胜利之后便出现了雷·阿伦（Ray Allen）的那场比赛），正是这篇文章为我带来了与PtR签约的丰厚奖金，而剩下的便是历史了。
印第安纳步行者队与俄克拉荷马城雷霆队之间的本届NBA总决赛也同样具有历史意义，即便它远未结束。在第三场比赛中，T.J.麦康奈尔（T.J. McConnell）成为总决赛历史上第一位单场贡献10分、5助攻和5抢断的替补球员。在第四场比赛中，亚历克斯·卡鲁索（Alex Caruso）成为NBA总决赛历史上第一位砍下20分和5抢断的替补球员。当然，在总决赛中得到5次抢断已是惊人之举，即使对于首发球员而言亦是如此。历史上只有八名球员——而且他们全部是首发球员——在总决赛单场比赛中完成过5次以上的抢断。
虽然我稍后会再多谈一些数据，但我们都应该庆幸本届总决赛如此精彩。系列赛开始前，许多专家（一个有趣的英文词汇）曾预测雷霆队将以4-1轻松取胜。而如今系列赛战成2-2平，这显然不会发生了。在第四场比赛前，当时步行者队以2-1领先，我曾快速调查了一下我的篮球圈朋友们，询问他们认为哪支球队会赢得总冠军。大家的共识，尽管并非一致，都指向了步行者队。（我当时仍然认为雷霆队会赢。）而到了第四场比赛第三节结束时，这个共识似乎是正确的。
然而，步行者队突然哑火（第四节仅得到18分），而萨迪克·贝·亚历山大（Shai Gilgeous-Alexander）则命中了一些关键球（包括那个看起来既像推人犯规又像走步的制胜球）。
你认为除了亚历山大之外，还有多少球员会被允许做出这样的动作？pic.twitter.com/YmqZFpx129
— Bad Sports Refs (@ BadSportsRefs) June 14, 2025
结果是，在大约8分钟的时间里，步行者队从感觉上90%能以3-1领先并极有可能夺冠的优势局面，转变为现在必须在客场至少赢下一场，并且在第六场比赛中捍卫主场。3-1领先无疑会是更好的选择。
我当然仍然支持步行者队，但如果他们能在第四场比赛的第四节像第一节（35分）那样得分的话，我对于他们夺冠的机会会更有信心。
其他观察
- 常规赛后期和季后赛初期，多位顶尖球员遭遇重伤，其中包括独行侠队的凯里·欧文（Kyrie Irving）、雄鹿队的达米安·利拉德（Damian Lillard）、勇士队的斯蒂芬·库里（Stephen Curry），以及最具毁灭性的是卫冕冠军凯尔特人队的杰森·塔图姆（Jayson Tatum）。然而，本届总决赛至今尚未受到“伤病潮”的侵袭，两支球队的轮换球员都保持健康。不过，在第四场比赛中，切特·霍姆格伦（Chet Holmgren）的脚踝似乎严重扭伤了片刻。这一点值得密切关注。一旦肾上腺素消退，肿胀出现，那只脚踝可能会在第五场比赛中成为一个更大的影响因素。
- 霍姆格伦的问题引出了一个我在其他地方未曾见过的不同问题。虽然步行者队拥有出色的阵容深度，但他们没有替补中锋。他们的首发中锋迈尔斯·特纳（Myles Turner）是一名非常优秀的球员，尽管他在总决赛中表现起伏不定（多数时候表现不佳——过去两场比赛21投6中）。但当特纳不在场时，他们根本没有替补中锋。相反，当他下场时，步行者队会用那些更像是三号位/四号位（小前锋/大前锋）而不是四号位/五号位（大前锋/中锋）的球员来替代他——帕斯卡尔·西亚卡姆（Pascal Siakam）和奥比·托平（Obi Toppin）。尽管雷霆队拥有真正意义上的五号位哈滕施泰因（Hartenstein）以及7英尺1英寸（约2.16米）的霍姆格伦作为四号位/五号位，但步行者队的身高劣势至今未成问题。（但请看下一条评论。）
- 我加入PtR后最早发布的文章之一，标题是《教练如何解读技术统计》。其中我写道的一个主要观点是，总篮板数并不能说明太多比赛情况——投篮命中率更高的球队理应在篮板上占据优势。相反，我更关注进攻方对投失球的二次争抢率（即进攻篮板率）。大致而言，25%到33%之间的百分比是相当正常的。在第四场比赛中，雷霆队在41次投失球中抢到了12个进攻篮板——接近正常的29%。但步行者队在46次投失球中却只抢到了7个进攻篮板：一个糟糕透顶的15%。换句话说，这为雷霆队多创造了五次进攻机会。雷霆队还比步行者队少两次失误，总共多出七次进攻机会——这在比赛胶着时是巨大的差异。
- 在胶着的比赛中，另一个关键差异在于罚球。两支球队在常规赛的罚球命中率都达到了80%。周五晚上，雷霆队罚球38中34，命中率高达89.5%。这比他们根据该罚球次数的赛季平均得分多出了大约4分——而且是在客场，整个球馆发出震耳欲聋的声浪下完成的。而步行者队则在相对安静的环境下罚球，命中率仅为76%，比预期少了大约1分，尽管他们在罚球时，球馆并没有对他们发出嘘声。与进攻篮板一样，那额外的5分在胶着的比赛中至关重要。（当我还在高中打球时，主场观众在任何一方罚球时都会保持尊重的沉默。这种礼仪在今天看来是如此奇怪。当然，那已经是很久以前的事了。）
- 说到罚球，泰瑞斯·哈利伯顿（Tyrese Haliburton）周五晚上罚了三次球。令人惊讶的是，那是他本届总决赛首次获得罚球机会。伟大的球员善于博取罚球。在常规赛期间，哈利伯顿场均只获得三次罚球。尽管我非常喜欢哈利伯顿这名球员，但他如果想成为一名真正的精英球员，就需要更多地制造罚球。例如，看看亚历山大在第四场比赛中的10次罚球。他全部命中。
- 在第三场比赛中，雷霆队整体投篮命中率47%，三分命中率45.5%，获得了30次罚球机会，并在篮板上比步行者队多抢了6个。在第四场比赛中，雷霆队三分球18投仅3中（19%），全场只有10次助攻。雷霆队输掉了第三场比赛，却赢得了第四场比赛。
- 我还没提到本届总决赛最精彩之处。这两支球队真正地在打每一场比赛都像抢七大战——而且是打满48分钟。步行者队全场紧逼，在球场上不断给雷霆队施压，一旦抢到球就立即快速反击。另一方面，雷霆队则打出了我所见过的一些最顶级的防守。在第四场比赛的第四节，步行者队的进攻（世界级水准）在多数进攻回合中，距离中线比距离篮筐还近。他们获得的投篮机会也常常是为了赶在24秒进攻时间结束前仓促出手。我执教时常常告诉我的球员，要像对待一场平局中的最后一攻那样去拼搏每一个回合。雷霆队和步行者队目前正在这么做。这就是为什么，即使这是一场“小球市球队”之间的较量，并且没有任何联盟的“历史级”球星，本届总决赛依然能让真正的篮球迷大呼过瘾。
我真希望这系列赛能打到抢七。除非步行者队今晚能在俄克拉荷马城客场赢下第五场。如果真的发生，我希望总决赛在第六场在步行者队主场球迷面前结束。印第安纳人（Hoosiers）万岁！
点击查看原文：Thoughts from the NBA Finals after four games
Thoughts from the NBA Finals after four games
From full-court defense to smart offense, this has been a thrilling series for fans of pure basketball.
When the Nuggets were up 2-1 over the Thunder in their second round match-up, and leading at home in the second half of Game Four, I booked the Nuggets into the NBA Finals, and also cleverly booked a flight to Colorado. While that assumption did not age well, I had the cover story of my brother (who lives in Colorado) and his June 6 birthday celebration as an excuse for the trip to Colorado, which meant I did not suffer the humiliation of cancelling the round trip ticket.
However, my journey to Colorado during the start of the Finals made it difficult to do my normal game-by-game reporting for the Finals. That reporting had started well before I joined Pounding the Rock over a decade ago. Indeed, my pre-Pounding the Rock piece about the Manu Game in the 2013 Finals (Game Five at home, a big Spurs win fueled by Manu, which unfortunately led to the Ray Allen Game) led to my big signing bonus with PtR, and the rest is history.
This NBA Finals between the Pacers and Thunder has also been historic, even though it is not close to over. In Game Three, T.J. McConnell became the first bench player in Finals history with 10 points, 5 assists and 5 steals in a game. In Game Four, Alex Caruso became the first bench player in NBA Finals history with 20 points and 5 steals. Of course, getting 5 steals in a Finals game is a lot, even for starters. Only eight players, all starters, have gotten more than 5 steals in a Finals game.
While I will talk a little bit more about stats in a bit, we should all be grateful that this Finals has been so entertaining. Going into it, a lot of pundits (another interesting English word) were predicting that OKC would win in a tidy five games. With the series at 2-2, that won’t happen. Going into Game Four, with the Pacers up 2-1, I did a quick survey of my hoops buddies as to which team would win the championship. The consensus, though not unanimous, was the Pacers. (I still thought OKC would win.) At the end of the third quarter of Game Four, the consensus seemed to be right.
But the Pacers simply stopped scoring (only 18 points in the fourth quarter) and SGA made some big shots (including the go-ahead shot on what looked like both a push-off and a travel).
How many players besides SGA do you think would be allowed to do this move? pic.twitter.com/YmqZFpx129
— Bad Sports Refs (@ BadSportsRefs) June 14, 2025
As a result, in the space of about 8 minutes, the Pacers went from what felt like a 90% chance to go up 3-1 and a likely championship, to having to win at least once on the road AND hold serve at home in Game Six. Going up 3-1 would have been the better choice.
I am still rooting for the Pacers, of course, but I would feel better about their chances if they had been able to score in the fourth quarter of Game Four like they did in the first quarter (35 points).
Other thoughts
- The latter part of the regular season and the early playoffs were dominated by serious injuries to top players. Kyrie Irving for the Mavs, Dame Lillard with the Bucks, Steph Curry on the Warriors and most devastating, Jason Tatum on the defending champion Celtics. But these Finals have not yet been cursed by the injury bug as both teams’ rotation players are all healthy. However, for a moment in Game Four it looked like Chet Holmgren might have seriously sprained his ankle. Keep an eye on that. That ankle might be more of a factor in Game Five once the adrenaline wears off and swelling replaces it.
- The Holmgen issue raises a different issue I have not seen discussed elsewhere. While the Pacers have excellent depth, they don’t have a backup 5. Their starting center, Myles Turner, is a very good player, even though he has been hit or miss in the Finals (mostly miss — 6-21 in the last two games). But when Turner is not in the game, they simply don’t have a backup center. Instead, when he’s out, the Pacers replace him with guys who are best described as 3/4 instead of 4/5 — Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin. Despite the fact that OKC has a true 5 in Hartenstein and the 7’1” Holmgren as a 4/5, the Pacers lack of size has not been a problem. (But see the next comment.)
- One of my first posts after I joined PtR was entitled “How a Coach Reads a Box Score”. One of the primary things I wrote was that total rebounds do not reveal much about the game — the team that shoots better should outrebound the other team. Instead, I look at percentage of missed shots that the offensive team recovers. Roughly speaking, a percentage between 25% and 33% is fairly normal. In Game Four, OKC had 12 offensive rebounds on its 41 missed shots — a normal-ish 29%. But the Pacers had only 7 offensive boards on 46 missed shots: an atrocious 15%. Put another way, that gave OKC five extra possessions. OKC also had two fewer turnovers, for a total of seven extra possessions — a big difference in a close game.
- Another crucial difference in close games is free throws. Both teams shot 80% from the line during the regular season. Friday night, OKC went 34-38, 89.5%. That is about 4 points more than their season average for that number of free throws — made while on the road with the entire arena at a million decibels. The Pacers, shooting in relative silence, shot 76%, about a point less than what would be expected even though the arena was not screaming at them as they shot. As with offensive rebounds, those 5 extra points are a huge deal in a close game. (When I played in high school, home crowds would maintain a respectful silence when either team shot free throws. That politeness seems so odd today. Of course, that was a long time ago.)
- Speaking of free throws, Tyrese Haliburton shot three of them Friday night. Amazingly, they were the first free throws he had taken the Finals. Great players get to the free throw line. During the regular season, Haliburton averaged only three free throws per game. As much as I like Haliburton as a player, he needs to get to the line more if he wants to be a truly elite player. See, for instance, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 10 free throws in Game Four. He made all of them.
- In Game Three, the Thunder shot 47% overall, 45.5% from three, took 30 free throws and outrebounded the Pacers by 6. In Game Four, the Thunder made only three 3-pointers on 3 for 18 shooting (19%) with only 10 assists for the entire game. The Thunder lost Game Three and won Game Four.
- I have not yet mentioned the best things about these Finals. These teams are truly competing as if each game is a game seven — for all 48 minutes. The Pacers are picking up full court, pressuring the Thunder all over the court and running it back the other way once they get the ball. On the other side, the Thunder are playing some of the best defense I have ever seen. In the fourth quarter of Game Four, the Pacers offense (which is world class), spent much of each offensive possession closer to the mid-court line than the basket. And the shots they did get were often rushed in order to beat the shot clock. When I was coaching, I used to tell my players to compete each possession as if it was the last possession in a tied game. The Thunder and the Pacers are doing that. Which is why, even though this is a battle between “small market teams” without any of the league’s legacy players, this Finals have been so entertaining for true hoops fans.
I really hope this goes to seven games. Unless the Pacers steal Game Five in OKC tonight. If that happens, I hope the Finals end in six, in front of the Pacers’ home crowd. Hoosiers.
By Lee Dresie, via Pounding The Rock