By Mateo Mayorga | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-12-11 13:31:07
在缺少维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的情况下，圣安东尼奥马刺队仍在关键比赛中不断取胜。如果他们在阿联酋航空杯季中赛中止步于此，每位球员的奖金也已翻倍至106,187美元，而双向合同球员则获得该数额的一半。周六，他们将在拉斯维加斯的中立场地上迎来与俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的半决赛，并力争上演一场以下克上的好戏。
马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginóbili) 发帖称，他很高兴为了这场赛季最佳胜利之一而熬夜。马刺队成功遏制了湖人队的转换进攻，在保护球和篮板方面也表现得十分出色，不过，最引人注目的数据或许是，他们在半场结束领先12分时，快攻得分已高达20分。
要知道，为了获得丰厚的奖金，马刺需要击败两支声名显赫的球队——丹佛掘金和洛杉矶湖人，而他们每次都是在客场完成任务。在此值得一提的是，马刺队（8胜5负）是联盟中仅有的十支客场胜率超过五成的球队之一。有时这或许只是偶然，但真正的强队通常是那些能够在客场持续取得成功的队伍。
这些比赛虽非季后赛，但其激烈程度已无限接近十二月份所能达到的最高水平。马刺队在季中赛中取得了4胜1负的战绩，几乎完美地通过了这项考验。洛杉矶队对马刺的转换进攻以及他们如雨点般的外线远投束手无策。凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 在第一节便用13分（包括3记关键三分）把对手折磨得筋疲力尽，而哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 则接管了第二节。
更重要的是，当马刺队不再习惯性地在第三节崩盘时，事情就变得简单多了。湖人队拥有三位顶级得分手，但他们无法抵消马刺队的速度优势，并在下半场开始时显露出精神疲劳的迹象，此时斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 迅速命中一记三分，并切入禁区连下两城，用行动宣告马刺不会重蹈过去两场比赛第三节合计丢掉89分的覆辙。即便带着17分的领先优势进入第四节，凭借卡斯尔的得分爆发力以及德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 的两记进球，马刺始终没让湖人队将分差缩小到8分以内，哪怕马库斯·斯马特 (Marcus Smart) 在外线手感滚烫。
马刺队展现出了比湖人更强烈的求胜欲，并且总能在对手试图掀起波澜时予以回应。他们正在我们眼前迅速成熟，在经历了多年的沉沦之后，这一幕令人赏心悦目。
赛后要点
- 缺少维克托·文班亚马让马刺队打得更快，充分发挥了他们的运动能力，在他缺阵的12场比赛里，球队的比赛节奏排名联盟第11。他们在周三的比赛中延续了这一策略，以几乎是联盟最快的节奏来攻击湖人队中那些年纪偏大、运动能力较弱的球员。此外，大量的罚球和稳定的三分命中率——包括五名马刺球员命中了两到五记三分——让他们看起来势不可挡。
- 卡斯尔在NBA的成长速度惊人，周三晚上他是场上最出色的球员。主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 称赞他驾驭了自己无穷的能量，这让他成为了当晚球队的内线得分王、篮板王（10个）和助攻王（6次）。
- 马刺队45%的三分命中率是本赛季的第四高纪录。第一节是他们表现最出色的时段，投中了六记三分。
- 当马刺采取沉退防守时，湖人队的策略是攻击低位的防守者，可怜的卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 就在上半场末段接受了勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James) 的隔扣洗礼。尽管如此，科内特的贡献依然巨大，他罚中了八球，包括最后几分钟的关键两罚，并抢下了八个篮板。这只是他本赛季第二次出场时间超过30分钟（33.3分钟）。他的四次掩护也直接促成了进球。
- 福克斯似乎对湖人队在2017年没有用榜眼签选择他，而是挑了朗佐·鲍尔 (Lonzo Ball) 这件事耿耿于怀。他完全掌控比赛的最佳标志就是当他的三分球开始命中时，因为到那时任何防守策略都无济于事。他命中的最后一球是在比赛还剩不到四分钟时的一记无人防守的三分，这也是当晚最重要的两个进球之一，另一个由卡斯尔投进。
- 马刺队本赛季拥有得分排名前八的替补席（场均39.3分），而在文班缺阵期间，他们的替补得分排名第四（场均43.5分）。本场比赛，他们替补得分比洛杉矶队高出15分，约翰逊是头号替补，贡献17分和8个篮板。迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 得到13分，朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 得到16分。需要注意的是，斯马特是湖人替补席唯一获得真正上场时间的球员，他得到了26分。
- 马刺队打得很好，但任何人都不应因一场对湖人的胜利而过度兴奋，因为湖人近期的赛程相对轻松，即便詹姆斯缺席了一些比赛。他们的成色究竟是紫金还是紫锈，时间会给出答案。但本次锦标赛的真正挑战很可能是雷霆队，他们是NBA的卫冕冠军，也是去年季中赛的亚军。他们还追平了2015-16赛季金州勇士队创造的NBA历史最佳开局纪录（25场24胜1负），并且在与马刺比赛开始前，以49分的巨大优势血洗菲尼克斯太阳队，尽显王者风范。当马刺对阵OKC时，我们或许能更好地了解他们是否已为迎接大场面做好了准备。
- 闯过OKC这一关意味着，即使在季中赛决赛中失利，奖金也将跃升至212,373美元。而赢得最终的冠军将带来530,933美元的奖金。
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：What we learned from the Spurs win over the Lakers
What we learned from the Spurs win over the Lakers
The San Antonio Spurs keep winning high-stakes games without Victor Wembanyama. Each player has doubled their payday to $106,187 if they go no further in Emirates Cup Play, and the two-way contracts get half of that. A neutral court in Las Vegas awaits them for a date with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the semifinals on Saturday as they try to pull off the upset.
Manu Ginóbili posted that he was pleased to have missed his bedtime for one of the team’s top wins of the season. They derailed the Lakers’ transition offense and were sharp in ball security and rebounding, although the stat that might catch everyone’s attention is that they had 20 fastbreak points at intermission when leading by a dozen.
Consider how it took beating two reputable teams, the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers, to secure nice paydays, and the Spurs got it done each time on the road. This is a good time for a reminder that the Spurs (8-5) are one of ten teams with an above .500 road record. Sometimes there is an anomaly, but the serious teams are usually the ones that can find continued success away from home.
These are not playoff games, but it’s as close as it gets in December to that level of environment. The Spurs are nearly acing that test with a 4-1 record in Cup play. Los Angeles had no answers to stop the transition attack or the bevy of long-range missiles hurled their way. Keldon Johnson had worn them out with 13 points in the first quarter, including 3 huge threes, and Harrison Barnes took over the second.
On top of that, things are so much easier for the Spurs when they aren’t soiling themselves in the third quarter. The Lakers have three big-time scorers, but they couldn’t offset the Spurs’ pace advantage and were showing signs of mental fatigue at the start of the second half, as Stephon Castle nailed a quick triple and sliced into the lane for two baskets to show there would be no Spurs collapse in this third quarter after giving up a combined 89 points in the last two games. Even with a 17-point lead going into the fourth, Castle’s scoring punch, and two baskets from De’Aaron Fox, never allowed the Lakers to cut the lead lower than eight, even with Marcus Smart going wild from deep.
The Spurs showed that they were more determined to win this game than the Lakers and always had an answer when they threatened to make things interesting. They are maturing before our very eyes, and it’s been enjoyable to watch after years in no-man’s land.
Takeaways
- Being without Victor Wembanyama has made the Spurs play faster, leaning into their athleticism, ranking 11th in pace over the 12 games he’s missed. They followed up on Wednesday, playing at a pace right below the fastest in the NBA to take advantage of some of the older and less athletic legs of the Lakers. To boot, a high volume of free throws and a steady diet of made threes, which included five Spurs making between two and five treys, made them look like gangbusters.
- Castle’s NBA development is going at rapid speed, and he was the best player on the floor on Wednesday. Coach Mitch Johnson gave him props for harnessing his relentless energy, which resulted in him being the top paint-scorer of the night for the team, their leading rebounder (10), and top assist man (6).
- The Spurs’ 45 percent shooting on threes was the fourth-highest mark of the season. The first quarter was their best sequence, making six.
- The Lakers’ strategy was to attack the low man with the Spurs playing in drop coverage, and poor Luke Kornet got baptized by LeBron James late in the first half. Kornet was still a big contributor, making eight free throws, including two big ones in the last few minutes, and pulling in eight rebounds. It was only his second time logging over 30 minutes this season (33.3). Four of his screens led to baskets, too.
- It’s as if Fox takes it personally that the Lakers didn’t draft him second in 2017, instead choosing Lonzo Ball. The best indicator that he’s in total control is when his 3-point attempts are falling because there’s nothing coverages can do at that point. His last shot to go in was an unguarded triple with fewer than four minutes left and was one of the two biggest shots of the night. Castle made the other.
- The Spurs have a top-eight scoring bench (39.3) this year, and they’ve been fourth-best (43.5) without Wemby. They outscored LA’s by 15, and Johnson was the leading reserve with 17 points and eight rebounds. Dylan Harper added 13 points, and Julian Champagnie had 16. Keep in mind that Smart was the only Lakers reserve to log real minutes, and he had 26 points.
- The Spurs played well, but no one should get too high on a win against the Lakers because they’ve had a relatively weak schedule, even with James missing some time. They could could be closer to purple and mold instead of purple and gold. Time will tell, but the real challenge of this tournament is likely the Thunder, who are the NBA’s defending champs and the runner ups to last year’s Cup. They also matched the best start in NBA history through 25 games (24-1) with the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, doing so in maximum style by wiping out the Phoenix Suns by 49 points before the Spurs game started. We should learn a little bit about how ready the Spurs are for prime time when they see OKC.
- Getting past OKC would mean the pot jumps to $212,373 just for losing in the Cup final. Winning it all bring in $530,933.
By Mateo Mayorga, via Pounding The Rock