By august-bembel | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-11-09 02:27:01
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。
我已经很多年没真正去过剧院了——确实很多年了。或许是因为我的一些观剧经历并不那么愉快。我尤其记得2008年的一次。
当时，我正在伦敦一家大公司实习，职责包括企业客户招待——比如把欧冠决赛的门票，或是环法自行车赛巴黎站终点线附近的座位，赠送给那些即将与我们公司签约的管理层人士。我的工作还包括管理公司在温德姆剧院的企业会员资格。
与此同时，我那热爱莎士比亚的未来妻子哈丽特正在格拉斯哥学习。当她来伦敦度周末时，我给了她一个惊喜，带她去温德姆剧院观看了由裘德·洛主演的《哈姆雷特》。
演出结束后，当我们走下楼梯进入大厅时，我兴奋地期待着她会滔滔不绝地讲述她有多么享受这次体验，于是我询问了她的看法。她只用一句话就做出了评价。“大卫·田纳特演的哈姆雷特更好，”她说。
原来，大约一年前，她曾在莎士比亚的故乡埃文河畔斯特拉特福看过《哈姆雷特》。从那以后，我不确定自己是否还去过剧院。（除非你把我每年都会沉迷的NBA小样本剧场也算进去，至少在这件事上，我不是唯一一个上当的。）
到十月底，就连NBA的顶尖分析师们都称维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 是本年度MVP的领跑者。然而十天后，这种说法似乎显得为时过早。
揭幕战中文班遇到的对手显然准备不足，但此后联盟已经适应了他早期的得分爆发。对手害怕文班在转换进攻中彻底失控，于是立刻（甚至更早）就对他进行包夹，而且这招很管用。
但如果他们无法或没有对他进行包夹，那比赛基本就宣告结束了，周五晚上的比赛就充分证明了这一点——当时这位7尺5寸的巨人带球突破了联盟顶级单防球员之一的阿门·汤普森，直杀篮下。
尽管如此，文班还不是一个不可阻挡的进攻大杀器。但他迟早会达到那个高度——而且会比预想的更早。好消息是，他所在的球队正朝着正确的方向发展。
几点观察
- 我仍然是巴恩斯/尚帕尼锋线组合的坚定支持者。与一些人担心的相反，哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 并没有老迈不堪。事实上，他依然是上赛季马刺阵中的那个他——一个在关键时刻总能挺身而出的球员。对阵火箭时，他做到了。如果文班能砍下40分，马刺可以接受巴恩斯表现平平或手感不佳。但在文班的表现回归正常水平后，巴恩斯几乎没怎么投失过。过去五场比赛，巴恩斯三分出手32次，命中了19球。他就是马刺的首发大前锋——阵容中无人能对他构成真正的挑战。
- 鉴于德阿龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 即将复出，朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 的首发三号位生涯是否已屈指可数，仍有待观察。他昨晚在得分方面的表现可能只是个例，但我认为马刺让他打首发是完全可以的。诚然，他的三分球命中率未及预期，在场上也并非总是最机警的球员，但这已是他身披银黑战袍的第四个赛季——并且他的在场/不在场正负值从未出现过负数。基于一个可靠的样本量（自他2023年2月加盟以来），当他在场时，马刺队的表现总是更好。
- 尽管原始投篮命中率有待提高，但德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 在一个戏份较少的角色中继续发光发热。他的使用率自二年级赛季以来首次低于20%——或许正因如此，他在防守端终于表现得更加敏锐。他并非作为一名持球点防守者（那是卡斯尔的任务），但在协防端，他的表现非常出色。进攻端，三分球十投四中，这正是一支球队对首发得分后卫的期望——同时在防守端贡献四次抢断亦是如此。有趣的是，瓦塞尔目前在球队高阶数据上领跑：在场时+12.7，在场/离场净值为+15.7。他的首发位置毫无疑问。
- 至于斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)，我认为这位（截至周四晚）联盟中最擅长在转换进攻中制造犯规的球员理应获得首发位置。周五晚的比赛证明，作为持球点防守者，他几乎是不可替代的。但一旦福克斯回归，他作为首发球员的进攻角色必须改变。这是件好事。尽管他送出了13次助攻，但场均5次失误表明，他目前更适合担任第二持球手的角色。
- 联盟中还有比阿尔佩伦·申京 (Alperen Şengün) 更具90年代风格的球员吗？在远至三分线的位置就开始背身单打，背对篮筐、用力量碾压式地向油漆区凿——还穿着那些及膝的宽松短裤！他比赛的方方面面和个人风格，似乎都与Oasis乐队的Wonderwall和TLC组合的Waterfalls的背景音乐完美契合。
- 最后，我将以一点最大样本剧场来结束本文：马刺拥有世界篮球界最耀眼的年轻天才，他身边还有两位冉冉升起的新星，而且他们已经是一支胜利之师。但在篮球世界里，没有什么比看到——感谢那位不知名的摄影师！——大卫·罗宾逊 (David Robinson) 胸前印着马刺队标的模样更让我开心的了。
点击查看原文：What we learned from the Spurs win over the Rockets
What we learned from the Spurs win over the Rockets
It’s been years since I’ve been to an actual theater — many years. Maybe that’s because some of my visits didn’t exactly turn out to be great successes. I remember one in particular, back in 2008.
I was working in London at the time as an intern for a major company. My duties included corporate hospitality — things like gifting Champions League Final tickets or seats near the finish line at the Tour de France in Paris to managers who were close to signing contracts with the company I worked for. It also included managing the company’s corporate membership at Wyndham’s Theatre.
Meanwhile, my Shakespeare-loving future wife, Harriet, was studying in Glasgow. When she came down to London for a weekend visit, I surprised her with tickets for us to see Hamlet at Wyndham’s — with Jude Law in the lead role.
After the performance, as we walked down the stairs into the hall, I was excited to hear her glow about how much she enjoyed it, so I asked for her thoughts. She has a single-sentence evaluation. “David Tennant is a better Hamlet,” she said.
Turns out that she had seen Hamlet about a year earlier in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace, and I’m not sure I’ve been to a theater since. (Unless you count my regular visits to the NBA’s small sample size theater, which I fall for every year. At least I’m not the only one.)
By the end of October, even the NBA’s analyst elite were calling Victor Wembanyama the frontrunner for this year’s MVP award. Ten days later, that talk seems a bit premature.
Wemby met an unprepared opponent in game one, but the league has since adjusted to his early scoring outbursts. The fear of Wemby running rampant through the open court has opponents sending double-teams right away (if not sooner) and it’s working.
But if they can’t or don’t double him, it’s over, as was on full display Friday night when the 7’5 giant drove to the basket past Amen Thompson, one of the best on-ball defenders in the league.
Still, Wemby isn’t yet an undeniable offensive force. But he’ll get there — sooner rather than later. The good thing is, he’s on a team that’s developing in the right direction.
Takeaways
- I remain a staunch supporter of the Barnes/Champagnie forward pairing. Contrary to what some feared, Harrison Barnes is not washed. In fact, he’s exactly what he was last season for the Spurs — a guy who steps up when it matters most. He did so against Houston. If Wemby goes for 40, the Spurs can live with Barnes being passive or missing shots. But he hasn’t missed many since Wemby came back down to earth. Over the last five games, Barnes has taken 32 threes and made 19. He is the Spurs’ starting power forward — and there’s no one on the roster who can credibly challenge him.
- It remains to be seen whether Julian Champagnie’s days as the starting three are numbered, given the imminent return of De’Aaron Fox. His performance last night was probably an outlier in terms of scoring, but I think the Spurs are fine with him as a starter. Sure, his threes haven’t fallen quite as expected, and he’s not always the league’s most alert guy on the floor, but the man is now in his fourth season in Silver and Black — and he’s never had a negative on/off plus-minus. Based on a solid sample size (since he arrived in February 2023), the Spurs have consistently been better with him on the court.
- Though his raw shooting percentages could be better, Devin Vassell continues to thrive in a smaller role. His usage rate is below 20 percent for the first time since his sophomore year — and maybe that’s why he’s finally looking sharper on defense. Not so much as an on-ball, point-of-attack defender (that’s Castle’s job), but as a nail helper he’s been very good. Offensively, hitting four of ten from deep is exactly what you want from a starting shooting guard — as are four steals on the other end. Interestingly, Vassell currently leads the team in play-by-play metrics: +12.7 on-court, +15.7 on/off. His starting spot is not in doubt.
- As far as Stephon Castle is concerned, I think the league’s best transition-foul taker (as of Thursday evening) deserves to start. Friday night proved that he’s practically irreplaceable as the point-of-attack defender. But his offensive role as a starter will have to change once Fox returns. And that’s a good thing. Despite his 13 assists, an average of five turnovers per game suggests he’s currently better suited for a secondary ball-handling role.
- Is there a more 90s-style player in the league than Alperen Şengün? Posting up guys as far out as the three-point line, bullying his way toward the paint with his back to the basket — and rocking those knee-long baggy shorts! Everything about his game and style seem like they’d fit perfectly to a soundtrack of Oasis’s Wonderwall and TLC’s Waterfalls.
- I’ll end this with a bit of maximum sample size theater: The Spurs have the brightest young talent in world basketball, two more rising stars alongside him, and they’re already a winning team. But nothing in the basketball world makes me happier than seeing — thank you, unknown cameraman! — David Robinson with a Spurs logo on his chest.
By august-bembel, via Pounding The Rock