By Mike Finger, Columnist | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-10-21 15:23:49
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。
在2025年10月6日于霜冻银行中心举行的马刺队季前赛揭幕战中，圣安东尼奥马刺队的维克托·文班亚马（1号）在对阵广州龙狮队的比赛后，接受了主教练米奇·约翰逊的祝贺。在米奇·约翰逊执教生涯的开端，马刺队将迎来一段相对轻松的早期赛程，他们的目标是终结球队的季后赛荒。
达拉斯电 — 在过去的十年里，那还是圣安东尼奥能够举办季后赛系列赛、摄像机还不被允许进入格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 赛前走廊媒体群访区的年代，一个春天的傍晚，他摇着头走了过来。
他与全国电视转播团队的独家强制性专访刚刚结束，他说这一次的采访尤其折磨人。波波维奇厌倦了给出那些显而易见的答案，他告诉我们，他再也无法忍受听到任何一个“陈词滥调、毫无意义的问题”，并表示希望我们这些文字记者能准备些更明智的提问。
我嗅到了机会，没能忍住。
“取得一个好的开局，”我问道，“有多重要？”
这引来了一声响亮的嗤笑和不止一句脏话，并从此成了一个流传许久的笑话。“好的开局”这句台词成了波波维奇所厌恶的那种陈腐滥调的典型例子，而且几乎毫无例外地，他都用同样的方式回答每一个以“……有多重要？”开头的问题。
“非——常重要，”波波维奇会故作严肃地说道。
周三晚上，在美航中心球馆，马刺将做一件难以想象的事——在没有他的情况下开启新赛季。29年来，赛季揭幕战将首次在没有那个脾气古怪的老头儿有机会嘲弄那些令人头脑发麻的赛前讨论的情况下打响，人们会想念他的。
事实上，甚至可能会有人为了向波波维奇致敬，向他的继任者提出那个熟悉的问题。
毕竟，今年不正是那个陈词滥调、毫无意义的“良好开局”话题终于值得讨论的一年吗？
2021年9月27日，圣安东尼奥，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇在球队的媒体日上微笑。波波维奇经常对关于“良好开局”的问题嗤之以鼻，但在米奇·约翰逊执教的第一个赛季，面对相对轻松的早期赛程，年轻的马刺队若能抓住机会，将对他们终结季后赛荒大有裨益。
在某个地方，波波维奇正对着这个提议皱着鼻子、嗤之以鼻，他或许有理由这么做。在他一贯的观念里，第一节的任何一次球权，其重要性都不应比第四节的更高或更低，正如十月份的一场比赛，其重要性也绝不比三月份的更高或更低。
这在实际操作中意味着，他的马刺队从不对任何事情过早做出过度反应，通常会取得沉稳而持续的进步。他们在关键时刻和季后赛中的表现比大多数球队都好，但这并非因为他们强调了快速的开局、快速的中段或是快速的收尾。
而是因为他们深知不该那样去思考。用波波维奇的另一句口头禅来说，将一场比赛或一个赛季的某个部分置于其他部分之上，是一种“愚蠢之举”。
在马刺队争夺总冠军的大部分时代里，他的球员们从经验中理解了这一点。而现在的不同之处在于，米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 的球员们没有这种经验。
维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 从未进过季后赛。斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)、迪兰·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)、德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 和凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 同样如此。德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)、哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 和卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 虽然有过季后赛经验，但都不是在身穿马刺队服时取得的。
所以，当文班亚马正确地指出是时候结束连续六年的季后赛荒，当内部和外界的期望都合理地要求这支球队本赛季至少要打上第83场比赛时，我们就有必要好好审视一下实现这一目标的最佳途径。
简而言之，马刺队最好不要浪费任何时间。
从周三对阵独行侠开始，圣安东尼奥将在赛季初连续迎来六场比赛，对手均为上赛季战绩为负的球队。到十一月的最后一周，马刺队前17场比赛中的12场，对手都将是上赛季战绩不佳的队伍。
在看起来一如既往强手如林的残酷西部，如果马刺队不能利用好赛程中这唯一一段相对轻松的阶段，他们还有可能闯入季后赛吗？
也许吧。
但这绝对不是明智之举。
尽管对于一支围绕着仍在融入体系的年轻人和新援打造的球队来说，这听起来可能有些违反直觉，但这些赛季初的比赛恰恰是马刺队最不该搞砸的。到了一月和二月，他们会成为一支更强的球队。问题是，届时的赛程也会变得艰难得多。
2025年10月13日，印第安纳波利斯，在一场对阵印第安纳步行者队的NBA季前赛上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊正在向场上球员喊话。在米奇·约翰逊执教生涯的开端，马刺队将迎来一段相对轻松的早期赛程，他们的目标是终结球队的季后赛荒。
这并不是说，开赛几周输掉几场球就值得惊慌失措。自去年二月被诊断出腿部血栓以来，文班亚马还未打过一场正式比赛，他能够重返赛场本身就应被视为一个巨大的积极信号。
尽管如此，他最好能从一开始就延续季前赛的统治级表现；福克斯最好也能尽快从腿筋伤势中恢复过来；卡斯尔、瓦塞尔、约翰逊和朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 也最好能从一开始就充分发挥自己的作用。
然后是那位接替波波维奇位置的38岁教练。作为代理主教练，米奇·约翰逊赢得了管理层和更衣室的充分信任。但既然他已正式掌权，如果能在前17场比赛中取得11胜6负而非6胜11负的战绩，效果岂不是天差地别？
在过去的十年里，面对不同的阵容和不同的教练，这样的问题既陈腐又无聊。但对于这支球队来说，取得一个好的开局有多重要呢？
“非——常重要，”一位马刺队的教练或许会这样回答。
而这一次，他可能真的是这个意思。
点击查看原文：As post-Popovich era begins, why Spurs are rethinking an old question
As post-Popovich era begins, why Spurs are rethinking an old question
San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama (1) gets congratulation from San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson in a Spurs preseason opener vs. Guangzhou Loong-Lions on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 at Frost Bank Center. The Spurs have a lighter early schedule to begin Mitch Johnson’s tenure as they aim to end their playoff drought.
DALLAS — In a previous decade, way back when San Antonio hosted playoff series and cameras weren’t allowed at Gregg Popovich’s pregame hallway media scrums, he arrived one spring evening shaking his head.
His exclusive, mandatory sit-down interview with the national TV broadcast crew had just ended, and he said this one had been especially torturous. Weary of giving obvious answers, Popovich told us he couldn’t bear to hear one more “trite, inane question,” and expressed hope the print reporters had something more intelligent for him.
Sensing an opportunity, I couldn’t resist.
“How important is it,” I asked, “to get off to a good start?”
This elicited a loud snort of laughter and more than one expletive, and it turned into a long-running joke. The “good start” line became a go-to example of the clichéd banality Popovich hated, and almost without fail, he answered every question beginning with the phrase, “How important is…” the same way.
“Verrry important,” Popovich would say, feigning seriousness.
Wednesday evening at American Airlines Center, the Spurs will do the unthinkable and begin a season without him. For the first time in 29 years, an opener will tip off without the crusty old so-and-so getting a chance to poke fun at the mind-numbing pregame discourse, and he will be missed.
In fact, someone might even ask his successor a familiar question in Popovich’s honor.
After all, isn’t this finally the year the trite, inane “good start” topic might be worth discussing?
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich smiles during the NBA basketball team’s media day, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021, in San Antonio. Popovich often scoffed at questions about “good starts,” but with a lighter early schedule in Mitch Johnson’s first season, it would benefit the young Spurs to take advantage as they seek to end their playoff drought.
Somewhere, Popovich is crinkling his nose and scoffing at that suggestion, and he might be right to do so. The way he always saw things, no possession in the first quarter should be taken any more or less seriously than one in the fourth, just as no game in October was any more or less important than one in March.
What this meant in practical terms is that his Spurs, never overreacting to anything too soon, generally made quiet, steady progress. They were better in crunch time and in the playoffs than most teams were, but not because they’d emphasized a fast start, or a fast middle, or a fast finish.
It was because they knew better than to think that way. Prioritizing one part of a game or a season over another, to borrow another of Popovich’s pet phrases, was a “fool’s errand.”
For the bulk of the Spurs’ era of championship contention, his players understood this from experience. The difference now is that Mitch Johnson’s players don’t.
Victor Wembanyama never has made the playoffs. Neither have Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Devin Vassell or Keldon Johnson. De’Aaron Fox, Harrison Barnes and Luke Kornet have, but not in a Spurs uniform.
So as Wembanyama correctly points out that it’s time to end a six-year drought, and as both internal and external expectations appropriately call for this team to play, at minimum, an 83rd game this season? It’s worth taking a good look at the best way to make that happen.
In short, the Spurs had better not waste any time.
Beginning Wednesday against the Mavericks, San Antonio opens its season with six games in a row against opponents who posted a losing record last year. By the last week of November, 12 of the Spurs’ first 17 games will have come against teams coming off losing seasons.
In a brutal Western Conference that looks as deep as ever, is it possible for the Spurs to make the playoffs without taking advantage of the only real soft spot on their schedule?
Maybe.
But it sure isn’t advisable.
As counterintuitive as it might sound when talking about a team built around young guys and new additions still working their way into the system, these early-season games are the ones the Spurs best had not blow. They’ll be a better team in January and February. The problem is the schedule will be a lot tougher then, too.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson calls to his players during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. The Spurs have a lighter early schedule to begin Mitch Johnson’s tenure as they aim to end their playoff drought.
This isn’t to say a handful of losses over the first couple of weeks will be reason to panic. Wembanyama hasn’t played a game that’s counted since his blood clot diagnosis last February, and the mere fact he’s on the court at all should be seen as a huge positive.
Still, it would behoove him to continue his dominant preseason from the get-go, just as it would behoove Fox to return from a hamstring injury before too long, just as it would behoove Castle, Vassell, Johnson and Julian Champagnie to make the most of their roles from the beginning.
Then there’s the 38-year-old taking Popovich’s place. Mitch Johnson earned tons of trust and belief from the front office and the locker room as an acting head coach. But now that he’s officially in charge, wouldn’t it do wonders to get through those first 17 games at, say, 11-6 instead of 6-11?
In a previous decade, with a different roster and a different coach, such a question was both trite and inane. But how important is it for this team to get off to a good start?
“Verrry important,” a Spurs coach might answer.
This time, he might even mean it.
By Mike Finger, Columnist, via San Antonio Express-News