By Son Trinh | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-12-04 22:48:38
2008年，克里斯·保罗 (Chris Paul) 是那个在我脑海中“免租金”常住的、最令人讨厌的家伙。在当年的西部半决赛中，保罗面对我心爱的圣安东尼奥马刺队，场均砍下极其烦人的23.7分和10.7次助攻。他和 大卫·韦斯特 (David West) （也是一位未来的前马刺球员）是马刺队眼中的一根刺，将系列赛拖入了艰苦、激烈且令人疲惫的七场大战。马刺队出人意料地以0-2落后于这支新贵新奥尔良鹈鹕队（当时还叫黄蜂队，但他们本该是新奥尔良爵士队！）。如果不是 马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginóbili) 的英雄般表现——在最后两场比赛中合计砍下51分并凭借一些幸运的篮板球锁定系列赛——马刺队很可能早已被淘汰出局。
在2015年季后赛首轮的第七场比赛中，保罗再次让我烦到了极点。尽管一条腿有伤（这家伙在季后赛的伤病运气的确糟糕），CP3依然投中了一记令人心碎的制胜球，淘汰了在2014年经历神奇之旅后正寻求卫冕的马刺队。卫冕之梦在首轮就被这位“道富先生”（Mr. State Farm）无情击碎。回想起来，他几乎是单枪匹马地掐灭了三巨头冲击又一座总冠军——以及那座遥不可及的卫冕冠军——的最后希望。
说到梦想破灭，让我们坐上“时光机”回到2005年，特别是2005年的NCAA锦标赛。克里斯·保罗和维克森林大学恶魔执事队是2号种子，我当时预测他们会赢得整个锦标赛的冠军，因为我爱 蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) ，而维克森林大学是他的母校。如果你和朋友们玩“疯狂三月”竞猜，在春假期间痴迷于你的对阵图而不是复习《有机化学II》期中考试，这可不是什么赢钱的好策略。恶魔执事队在第二轮就被西弗吉尼亚大学淘汰，毁了我的竞猜对阵图，这让我极度恼火，我对克里斯·保罗这个人的深恶痛绝也由此而生。
客观地说，克里斯·保罗是NBA历史上最出色的球员之一。在他巅峰时期，他就是一台行走的助攻机器。他是一名纯粹的组织后卫：带球过半场，发动进攻，指挥队友跑位，并在需要时通过突破、中距离或及时的三分球提供即时火力。尽管是联盟中身材最矮小的球员之一，保罗同样也是一名顶级的防守者。
周三，当洛杉矶快船队突然裁掉克里斯·保罗时，这一举动或许不仅预示着保罗传奇NBA生涯的终结，也可能意味着一种来自旧时代篮球的球员原型将淡出我们的视野，短期内难再重现。在一个大个子能投篮、进攻围绕大前锋和中锋展开的联盟里，保罗代表了一个只有他自己才能胜任的独特角色。他是一名纯粹的组织后卫。 詹姆斯·哈登 (James Harden) 、 斯蒂芬·库里 (Steph Curry) 、 凯德·坎宁安 (Cade Cunningham) 、 德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 、 贾马尔·穆雷 (Jamal Murray) 和 杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson) 等人，也都是组织后卫。但可以说，他们中的一些人可以兼任得分后卫，打无球，或者通过自己单打强投来创造进攻机会。尽管巅峰时期的保罗也能得分，但他骨子里是 约翰·斯托克顿 (John Stockton) 、 贾森·基德 (Jason Kidd) 和 史蒂夫·纳什 (Steve Nash) 那种传球第一的组织后卫。他能在历史总助攻榜上仅次于斯托克顿，位列第二，这绝非偶然。他在处理球时极为无私。
如果你是一个擅长扣篮的大个子，你会渴望与克里斯·保罗并肩作战。“控卫之神”热爱传空接（这句话你快速说五遍试试），而当时联盟里没有比快船队的“空接之城”更具观赏性的表演了。当 布雷克·格里芬 (Blake Griffin) 不忙于拍摄有趣的起亚汽车广告，或者 德安德烈·乔丹 (DeAndre Jordan) 不忙于躲着马克·库班时，这两位大个子就在忙着接住克里斯·保罗送出的所有完美空接传球，完成一个个精彩集锦式的扣篮。
当他不为那些震撼全场的扣篮做嫁衣时，保罗就是一个不折不扣的、能点燃对手挫败感的“导火索”，他和我们自家的马努·吉诺比利师出同门。也就是说，他们是那种如果为对手效力会让我们无比厌烦，但如果为我们主队效力则会让我们爱不释手的球员。上赛季马刺签下保罗时，我简直爱死这个操作了。我已经准备好见证 格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 和克里斯·保罗的联手。这感觉就像终于看到尼古拉斯·凯奇和肖恩·康纳利联手勇闯夺命岛一样。我想波波维奇和保罗也已准备好携手合作，但可惜的是，这份缘分未能持续整个赛季。
尽管如此，从一个带有偏见的马刺球迷视角来看，克里斯·保罗在他短暂的马刺生涯中，展现了无与伦比的职业精神。他职业生涯第二次实现82场全勤。在球队领袖和标志性主教练因健康问题缺阵、最好的预期也只是争夺一个附加赛席位的情况下，他每场比赛都全力以赴。保罗对于球队未来—— 维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和 斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) ——的影响，或许在多年后会被人忽视，但我们这些狂热球迷的职责，就是不让这样的事情发生。
克里斯·保罗所加盟并扮演重要角色的每一支球队，都取得了进步：新奥尔良爵士黄蜂队、洛杉矶快船队、俄克拉荷马城超音速队（在另一条时间线里，没有保罗的指导， 谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 不会成为MVP，而且西雅图依然拥有一支篮球队）、休斯敦火箭队和菲尼克斯太阳队。我常常认为，有时候以“从未赢得总冠军”而闻名，在某种程度上比赢得一个可能在多年后被淡忘的总冠军要更好，因为岁月漫长，冠军无数。 查尔斯·巴克利 (Charles Barkley) 就以此（尽管非他所愿，但他似乎也过得不错）建立了自己的传奇地位。也许幸运之神总是与他们擦肩而过，但像巴克利和保罗这样的竞争者可以毫无愧色地说，他们已经倾其所有，将一切都留在了赛场上。
虽然我们不知道克里斯·保罗的下一站会是哪里（也许他会加盟湖人，或者重返雷霆或火箭，为总冠军戒指做最后一搏），但我更愿意相信，他最自豪的是那些他指导过的年轻球员，或是那些他无数次调侃 托尼·帕克 (Tony Parker) 不知何故卷入德雷克和克里斯·布朗之间恩怨的趣事（我是说，保罗和帕克是铁哥们）。
如果你告诉2008年的我，有一天克里斯·保罗会穿上马刺队的球衣，我的头恐怕会（比喻意义上地）原地爆炸。我大概会以为他跟蒂姆·邓肯打赌输了，或是大卫·斯特恩把他发配到这里，作为对我的惩罚——因为他曾让我好奇克里夫·保罗（Cliff Paul，保罗广告中的角色）穿着毛背心打球，在NBA到底能不能场均送出至少5次助攻。有人曾说，你要么以反派的身份退役，要么就活得足够久，直到看见自己身穿嘉年华配色的球衣在场上打球。
你知道《速度与激情》系列电影里的反派最终都成了盟友吗？克里斯·保罗就是这样。对于我们马刺球迷这个大家庭来说，他就是那个德卡特·肖（然后像范·迪塞尔一样，用一种奇怪的姿势举起啤酒瓶）。敬家人。
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。
点击查看原文：Chris Paul: from rival to forever respected Spur
Chris Paul: from rival to forever respected Spur
In 2008, Chris Paul was the most annoying person living rent-free in my head. During the Western Conference Semifinals, Paul averaged a very annoying 23.7 points and 10.7 assists per game in that series against my beloved San Antonio Spurs. He and David West (also a future former Spur) were the thorn in the Spurs’ side that took them to a grueling, hard-fought, and tiring seven games. The Spurs were inconceivably down 0-2 to these upstart New Orleans Pelicans (Hornets at the time, but they should be the New Orleans Jazz!). If not for Manu Ginóbili’s heroics, scoring a combined 51 points in the final two games to seal the series and some lucky bounces, the Spurs could easily have been eliminated.
Paul also annoyed me to no end again in Game 7 of the first round of the 2015 playoffs. Playing on one leg (dude has had some bad injury luck in the postseason), CP3 still drained a heart-wrenching game winner to eliminate the Spurs, who were seeking a back-to-back title after 2014’s magical run. Those dreams were dashed quickly in round one thanks to Mr. State Farm. Looking back, he single-handedly snuffed out the Big Three’s last gasp shot at another title—and the ever elusive repeat title.
Speaking of dashed dreams, let’s take the Wayback Machine to 2005, specifically the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Chris Paul and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons were the #2 seed, and I picked them to win the whole tournament because I love Tim Duncan, and Wake Forest is his alma mater. Not good process for winning if you joined your friend’s March Madness Pool and obsessed over your bracket during Spring Break rather than study for your Organic Chemistry II midterms. Annoyed that the Demon Deacons were bounced out of the second round by West Virginia and ruining my bracket, my supreme annoyance with one Chris Paul was born.
Objectively, Chris Paul is one of the best NBA players in history. In his prime, he was a walking assist machine. He was a pure point guard: bringing the ball up, initiating the offense, directing teammates into position, and providing instant offense when needed from drives to the basket, mid-range, or via timely three-pointers. Despite being one of the shorter players in the league, Paul was also an elite defender.
When the Los Angeles Clippers abruptly released Chris Paul on Wednesday, this move might have signaled not only the end of Paul’s storied NBA career, but also the archetype of player from an older version of basketball that we won’t see again anytime soon. In a league of bigs who can shoot and offenses that run through power forwards and centers, Paul represents a singular box that only he can check. He was a point guard pure and simple. James Harden, Steph Curry, Cade Cunningham, De’Aaron Fox, Jamal Murray, and Jalen Brunson, to name a few, are all point guards too. Arguably, some of them can serve as shooting guards, playing off ball, or creating offense by calling their own number and chucking it up. Although Paul in his prime can score, he was a pass-first point guard in the mold of John Stockton, Jason Kidd, and Steve Nash. He’s number two behind Stockton on the all-time assists leaderboard for a reason. He’s unselfish with the basketball.
If you were a big man who could dunk, you’d want to play with Chris Paul. Point God loved to lob (say that five times fast), and there was no more entertaining show in the NBA at that time than Lob City with the Clippers. When Blake Griffin wasn’t busy making funny KIA commercials or DeAndre Jordan wasn’t busy ducking Mark Cuban, those two bigs were busy corralling all of Chris Paul’s perfectly lobbed alley-oops for highlight dunks.
When he wasn’t facilitating show-stopping dunks, Paul was a certifiable lightning rod of frustration cut from the same cloth as our own Manu Ginóbili. That is to say, they are the type of player that we get annoyed by if they are playing against our favorite team, but we absolutely love them if they are playing for our favorite team. When the Spurs signed Paul last season, I absolutely loved it. I was ready for the Gregg Popovich, Chris Paul pairing. It was like finally seeing Nic Cage and Sean Connery team up to BREAK INTO Alcatraz. I think Popovich and Paul were ready to collaborate too, but alas it wasn’t meant to be for the entire season.
Nonetheless, from a biased Spurs fan perspective, Chris Paul was nothing short of the ultimate professional in his short time as a Spur. He played in all 82 games for the second time in his career. He showed up at every game and gave maximum effort—for a team at best hoping for a play-in spot after losing the services of their leader and iconic head coach due to health reasons. Paul’s impact on the future of the franchise, Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle, might be overlooked years from now, but it’s our job as fervid fans to not let that happen.
Every team Chris Paul joined where he played a significant role, that team improved: the New Orleans Jazz Hornets, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Oklahoma City Supersonics (in a different timeline, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander does not become MVP without Paul’s tutelage, and Seattle still has a basketball team), the Houston Rockets, and the Phoenix Suns. I’ve often argued that sometimes being known for never winning a title is somehow better than winning one title that might be overlooked years later because there are a lot of years and a lot of titles. Charles Barkley built a legacy out of this (involuntarily, but he seems to be doing OK). The ball may have bounced unluckily the other way, but competitors like Barkley and Paul can easily say they did all they could do and left it all out on the court.
While we don’t know what’s next for Chris Paul (maybe he joins the Lakers or rejoins the Thunder or Rockets for one final ride for a ring), I like to think he’s most proud of the young players he’s mentored or all the times he’s poked fun at Tony Parker for somehow getting involved in the beef between Drake and Chris Brown (the two are besties, Paul and Parker, that is).
If you told 2008 me that one day Chris Paul would be in a Spurs uniform, my head would metaphorically explode. I would have thought he lost a bet to Tim Duncan or David Stern sent him here as punishment for making me wonder if Cliff Paul could average at least 5 assists in the NBA while playing in a sweater vest. Someone once said you either retire a villain or live long enough to see yourself wearing Fiesta colors on a basketball court.
You know how every villain in the Fast and the Furious movies ends up being an ally? That’s Chris Paul. He’s the Deckard Shaw to our family of Spurs fans (holds bottle of beer in a weird way Vin Diesel-style). To family.
By Son Trinh, via Pounding The Rock