By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2025-11-12 13:34:29
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。
圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋卢克·科内特（左）在2025年11月10日星期一于芝加哥举行的一场NBA比赛下半场，与前锋维克托·文班亚马一同庆祝。(美联社照片/Nam Y. Huh)
斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 有一个秘密。
当谈到为马刺“法式香草”双人前场的任何一端送出空中接力助攻时，他更偏爱“香草”那部分。
对于那些不熟悉球队最新绰号潮流的球迷来说，这意味着卡斯尔喜欢将球抛给卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 的意愿，甚至超过了维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)。
这绝不是对文班亚马的贬低。
“卢克（在空接时）可能机会更好一些，”卡斯尔说。“面对文班，对手总是在防他的空接。卢克得到的可能是更轻松的机会。”
这个选择乍看之下或许有些违背直觉。文班亚马身高7英尺4英寸，如同一个弹簧人，而他对队友传空接球的指示也似乎足够简单。
“把它扔到月亮上去就行了，”后卫德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 说。
科内特身高7英尺1英寸，比文班亚马矮了至少3英寸，并且不具备这位法国天才的运动能力。要想够到月亮，科内特恐怕得需要一个梯子。
然而，在周一于芝加哥的比赛中，正是科内特接到了来自卡斯尔的四记空中接力传球，这占据了他全场六次运动战进球的三分之二，帮助马刺最终以121-117取胜。
在波士顿度过四个赛季后，这是科内特在马刺的第一个赛季，他为自己能成为卡斯尔的首要空接目标而感到自豪。
他很清楚，自己之所以能获得如此多的机会，正是因为文班亚马太过出色。
“我认为，维克托吸引了大量的防守注意力，”科内特在周三于霜冻银行中心对阵金州勇士的赛前说道。“当其他防守球员被他牵制时，是的，或许就出现了更多的空隙。”
当科内特和文班亚马以内线组合“法式香草”同时在场时，这些空隙就变得更加明显。
“文班吸引了太多的注意力，而且通常由一个更高大的球员防守他，”卡斯尔说。“所以当卢克顺下时，通常没有防守人去补防他。这样一来，传球可能就更容易了。”
就在过去几个赛季，马刺还曾一度挣扎于给文班亚马传空接球，即便他拥有覆盖整个邮政编码那般夸张的接球范围。
本赛季，马刺球员们似乎已经找到了为队内两名七尺长人传空接的诀窍。
自从文班亚马在2023年到来后，后卫与大个子球员之间的化学反应一直在持续培养中。
“球员们并非生来就会传空中接力，”马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说。
“这有时远比看上去要难得多，”约翰逊说。“很多时候，你不是在看到队友处于空位时才传空接——而是要预判出空接的机会。这里面有一个预判因素，如果你不习惯，那将是一个全新的信息处理和决策过程。”
文班亚马理解为什么给他传空接从来都不是一件理所当然的事。
“我们正在学习如何在一起打球，我也在学习如何更好地跑位，以便队友能找到我，”他说。“但我整个赛季一次空接都得不到也正常，因为那是防守者最先考虑的事情。”
上赛季当马刺引进了空接大师克里斯·保罗 (Chris Paul) 时，人们理所当然地认为，这位12届全明星控卫将立即把拥有文班亚马的马刺队打造成“空接之城2.0”。
谁能想到，实现这一切竟要等到科内特的到来？
而科内特则不忘将功劳归于卡斯尔，称赞他在缔造NBA这对最新（某种程度上）的空中连线组合中所扮演的角色。
“斯蒂芬传的球很好接，”科内特说。“所有伟大的四分卫都能做到这一点。”
瓦塞尔因偏头痛问题已获准出战
马刺后卫德文·瓦塞尔在周三对阵金州勇士的比赛中能够出战。此前，他在周一战胜芝加哥的比赛中因偏头痛在第三节提前离场。
瓦塞尔长期受到慢性偏头痛的困扰，通常依靠药物进行治疗。
San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet (7) tries to make a move against New Orleans Pelicans center Derik Queen (22) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III, center, attempts a layup between San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet (7) and forward Julian Champagnie (30) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Peter Forest)
San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama (1) gets congratulates to San Antonio Spurs Luke Kornet (7) in a Spurs preseason opener vs. Guangzhou Loong-Lions on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 at Frost Bank Center.
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) celebrates after a basket with teammate Luke Kornet (7) during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
点击查看原文：How Luke Kornet – not Wembanyama – turned San Antonio into Lob City
How Luke Kornet – not Wembanyama – turned San Antonio into Lob City
San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet, left, celebrates with forward Victor Wembanyama during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Stephon Castle has a secret.
When it comes to throwing alley-oop lobs to either end of the Spurs’ two-man “French Vanilla” frontcourt, he prefers Vanilla.
For those uninitiated in team’s latest nickname fad, that means Castle likes tossing those passes to Luke Kornet even more than to Victor Wembanyama.
That is no slight to Wembanyama.
“Luke is probably a little more open on it,” Castle said. “With Vic, teams are always playing him for the lob. Luke probably gets the easier ones.”
The choice might seem counterintuitive at first. Wembanyama is a 7-foot-4 pogo stick whose directive to teammates when it comes to throwing lobs seems simple enough.
“Throw it to the moon,” guard Devin Vassell said.
At 7-1, Kornet is three inches (or more) shorter than Wembanyama, and doesn’t possess the Frenchman’s athleticism. To reach the moon, Kornet would require a step ladder.
And yet there Kornet was Monday in Chicago, catching four alley-oop passes from Castle to produce two-thirds of his six field goals in the Spurs’ 121-117 victory.
In his first season with the Spurs after spending the past four in Boston, Kornet is proud to be tabbed as Castle’s primary target.
He realizes the reason he is getting many of his looks is because Wembanyama is so good.
“Victor, I think garners a lot of attention,” Kornet said before Wednesday’s game against Golden State at the Frost Bank Center. “There’s other (defensive) bodies kind of pulled in where yeah, perhaps there’s a little bit more gaps.”
Those gaps are even more noticeable in the minutes Kornet and Wembanyama spend on the floor together in the so-called “French Vanilla” combo.
“Vic draws so much attention, and usually has a bigger guy on him,” Castle said. “So when Luke rolls, there’s usually not a roll man (covering him). It’s probably easier to throw it.”
There was a time in seasons past when the Spurs struggled to throw lobs to Wembanyama, even with his anywhere-in-the-zip-code catch radius.
Spurs players appear to have deduced how to throw them to both of their 7-footers this season.
The growing connection between guards and big men has been an ongoing process since Wembanyama’s arrival in 2023.
Players don’t come out of the womb throwing alley-oops, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
“It is sometimes much harder than it looks,” Johnson said. “A lot of times you don’t throw a lob when someone’s open – you anticipate a lob. There’s just the anticipation factor that if you’re not used to it, it’s a whole new processing and decision-making thing.”
Wembanyama understands why lobs to him are never automatic.
“We’re learning to play together and I’m learning to position myself better to be available for my teammates,” he said. “But I could get zero up the whole season because it’s the first thing the defenders think about.”
When the Spurs added alley-oop maestro Chris Paul last season, the natural assumption was the 12-time All-Star point guard would immediately transform the Wembanyama Spurs into Lob City 2.0.
Who knew it took the arrival of Kornet to make that happen?
Kornet, for his part, is sure to give Castle his kudos for his role in the NBA’s newest (sort of) high-flying alley-oop connection.
“Steph throws a catchable ball,” Kornet said. “All great quarterbacks do it.”
Vassell cleared after migraine issue
Spurs guard Devin Vassell was active Wednesday against Golden State after leaving Monday’s win in Chicago in the third quarter with a migraine.
Vassell has long suffered from chronic migraines, which he typically treats with medication.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News