By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2025-12-16 12:30:46
拉斯维加斯 — 你如何定义道德？这是一个衡量是非对错的主观标准，而在过去一年里，随着对手和球迷对卫冕冠军俄克拉荷马雷霆队“造犯规”和“过于粗野的防守”的抱怨声四起，这个词也进入了NBA的语汇。
赢得总冠军需要坚韧、决心以及将核心原则推向极限的意愿。无论你如何看待雷霆队的争胜方式，它确实取得了历史性的成功。
无论是有意还是无意，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 正在将自己和他的圣安东尼奥马刺队定位为挑战者，篮球正义的捍卫者。
在周六的NBA杯半决赛中带领马刺战胜雷霆后，文班亚马被问及，面对宿敌内线切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren) 和这支人人追赶的球队，用一场胜利终结比赛感觉如何。他说这感觉不可思议，并且很高兴自己能够融入球队在他缺阵期间形成的新风格。
然后，文班亚马在三天内第二次使用了那个能点燃火药味的神奇词汇。
“我很高兴能成为这件正变得如此美丽的事物的一部分，”他说。“如此纯粹且合乎道德的篮球。”
马刺队目前还没有资格来定义何为“道德篮球”。这份殊荣属于那些已经走到最后，或者至少接近成功的球队，比如雷霆队。
但即便在周六的胜利之前，马刺的表现就已经超出了预期。如今，他们距离赢得NBA杯仅一步之遥，已经开始思考更宏大的蓝图。他们迅速跳过了“我们够强吗？”的阶段，直接进入了“我们能击败最强者吗？”的阶段。
这种转变来之不易，因此马刺必须选择自己的标准并为之奋斗。文班亚马对于球队应该呈现的面貌有着一个理想的蓝图。
“在现代篮球中，我们看到很多篮球风格在给对手制造威胁方面缺乏多样性。大量的单打，有时甚至是一些生硬的打法，”文班亚马说。“我们试图呈现一种有时可被描述为更复古的篮球风格，也就是‘马刺之道’。在我看来，这是一种战术上更正确的篮球。”
表层数据和主流论调或许并不完全一致。这两支球队在单打使用上确有差异，但雷霆队并非异类；根据Synergy Sports的数据，他们以场均16.0次单打排在联盟第七，而马刺则以12.1次位列第十五。并列联盟榜首（场均18.5次）的凯尔特人和快船，本赛季的表现却截然相反。雷霆队在这些单打回合中的得分效率领跑联盟，而马刺队排名第十。
尽管如此，雷霆队的打法一路走来还是引发了不少争议。当队内的MVP愿意为了在一次突破中获得本不存在的哨子而倒地时，这种情况在所难免。这种执着正是谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 伟大的基石。他榨干了每一次进攻回合的最后一滴价值，并且愿意比任何人都更进一步去争取那最后的收益。这惹恼了对手，但从某种程度上说，这也是几乎每一位MVP想要最终登顶所必须做到的。
对于文班亚马和马刺来说，参照已经深入人心的“雷霆品牌”来定义自己是可以理解的。既然他们已经在与最强者的对抗中证明了自己，并在西部季后赛高顺位种子的竞争中站稳了脚跟，马刺队正在发展属于自己的真正品牌形象。如今，这个形象看起来比他们赛季初预期的要严肃得多。
在训练营期间，许多马刺球员被问及他们的赛季目标。几乎所有人都给出了类似“打进季后赛”的回答。而文班亚马则脱颖而出，他明确表示目标是“第六名”，并声称马刺队强于一支附加赛球队。在拥挤的西部，这看起来有些遥不可及，但到目前为止，有两件事对他们有利。首先，勇士、灰熊、独行侠和快船的表现从混乱不堪到彻底失控。其次，进入周二的比赛前，森林狼、马刺、湖人、火箭和掘金在战绩上差距微乎其微。他们本赛季基本上都在同一个梯队竞争。
随着他们与附加赛区的距离日益稳固，马刺队不再满足于“足够好”的心态。他们必须开始思考，在四月、五月甚至六月的生死战中，球队会是什么样子。
对于外界观察者来说，这或许是个新鲜的问题。但马刺队的资深侧翼、更衣室里为数不多拥有总冠军戒指的球员之一哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes)，很早就推动他们去思考这个问题。
“每当我们讨论这个话题时，大家都在说季后赛。但HB（巴恩斯）走过来说，‘那意味着什么？’”德阿龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 在周一说道。“‘是指拿到第八号种子然后在首轮出局吗？那算一个成功的赛季吗？还是指打到西部决赛然后输球？这到底意味着什么？’”
福克斯在回答这个问题上扮演了重要角色。文班亚马因小腿拉伤缺阵一个月，迫使马刺队在他之外找到了自己的身份。也许在不久的将来，文班亚马能够以一己之力将整支球队带入竞争者行列，并在最高水平的舞台上持续产生巨大的影响力。但这位21岁的年轻人还未完全达到那个境界。无论“不久的将来”是指几个月还是几年，马刺都需要建立一个超越他个人，但又因他而更强大的团队身份。
在周六的胜利之前，马刺队取得了一波9胜3负的战绩，这个过程也随之加速。当文班亚马说他很高兴成为美好事物的一部分时，他指的就是队友们在他袖手旁观的那一个月里所建立起来的东西。
当他们的大个子倒下、福克斯回归后，球队终于跑了起来。
除了福克斯，“突破兄弟”斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 展示了一支球队如何依靠三名投射不精但擅长直杀篮下的控卫赢球。当然，福克斯场均以6.5次出手命中率达到生涯新高的39.2%，这对球队帮助巨大。这支球队杀入禁区、策应分球并找到空位射手的能力已经取得了长足的进步。卡斯尔和哈珀已经展现出足够的前景，以至于扬尼斯·阿德托昆博 (Giannis Antetokounmpo) 出现在NBA交易流言中的消息，在圣安东尼奥掀起的波澜比预期要小得多。
文班亚马的回归让马刺队多了一个选择——既可以通过他高举高打，也可以让他终结队友创造出的任何禁区进攻机会。马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 面临的挑战，是找到一个能让球队势头全速前进的平衡点。
他们在周六做得足够好，终结了雷霆队的16连胜，并成功晋级NBA杯决赛。即使马刺在周二的NBA杯冠军赛中输给纽约尼克斯，圣安尼奥在半决赛中战胜雷霆，也已是他们标准得以提升的最明确信号。
周一，福克斯解释说马刺队仍在探索季后赛对他们究竟意味着什么。这和篮球道德一样主观，但他们可以开始发挥想象力了。
“我们想打季后赛。我们想让自己处于一个能赢得总冠军的位置，”他说。“显然，那一向是目标。但真正的争冠球队有几支？大多数人会说三支，或许还有第四支。但对我们来说，就像我说的，我们日复一日地努力。我们知道，凭借更衣室里的天赋，我们是一支季后赛球队，是的。但我们必须继续做好那些能帮助我们成为争冠者的小事。”
细节不仅能成就争冠者，也能摧毁他们。一旦季后赛的竞争变得激烈，那些微小优势的积累将决定胜负。雷霆队在过去18个月里打出了现象级的表现，因为他们阵容的多样性和深度都极为出色。马刺队的建队思路与之相似，尽管人员构成有所不同。
衡量这一切的标准只有一个。无论如何，赢下比赛。
“有些人是为这些时刻而生的，有些人则不是。但我们绝对是，而且事实也证明了这一点，因为我们赢得那场比赛并非侥幸，”文班亚马说。“我感到很幸运。我很高兴我们拥有这个团队，因为每个人都全情投入，并且都为这些大场面做好了准备。”
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：Victor Wembanyama and the ‘ethical’ Spurs are ready to think big
Victor Wembanyama and the ‘ethical’ Spurs are ready to think big
LAS VEGAS — How do you define ethics? A subjective measurement of what’s right and what’s wrong, it’s entered the NBA lexicon over the last year as opponents and fans have lobbed complaints of foul baiting and overtly scrappy defense at the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
Winning a title requires grit, determination and a willingness to push core principles to their limits. Whatever you may think of the Thunder’s approach to winning, it’s working to historic proportions.
Whether inadvertently or intentionally, Victor Wembanyama is positioning himself and his San Antonio Spurs to be the challenger, the champion of basketball justice.
After leading the Spurs to victory over the Thunder in Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal, Wembanyama was asked how it felt to close out the game with a win against rival big man Chet Holmgren and the team everyone has been chasing. He said it was incredible, and that he was glad he could slot into the emerging style his team developed with him on the sidelines.
Then, for the second time in three days, Wembanyama used the magical word that sets off the beef alarms.
“I’m just glad to be a part of something that’s growing to be so beautiful,” he said. “So pure and ethical basketball.”
The Spurs are not yet in a position to decide what qualifies as “ethical basketball.” That’s reserved for the teams that have gone the distance, or at least have gotten close. Teams like the Thunder.
But even before Saturday’s win, the Spurs were outpacing expectations. Now that they are one victory away from winning the NBA Cup, they are starting to think about the bigger picture. They have quickly skipped through the “Are we good?” stage and have gone straight to the “Can we beat the best?” phase.
That transition doesn’t come easily, so the Spurs have to choose their standards and fight to uphold them. Wembanyama has an ideal for what he wants them to look like.
“In modern basketball, we see a lot of brands of basketball that don’t offer much variety in the dangers they pose to the opponents. Lots of isolation ball. Sometimes kind of forced basketball,” Wembanyama said. “We try to propose a brand of basketball that can be described as more old school sometimes, the Spurs’ way, as well. It’s tactically more correct basketball, in my opinion.”
The surface-level data and the narrative may not align perfectly. There’s a difference in isolations among these teams, but the Thunder are not an outlier; they rank seventh in the NBA with 16.0 isolations per game, according to Synergy Sports, while the Spurs rank 15th with 12.1. The Celtics and Clippers, who are tied for the league lead with 18.5 a night, are having polar-opposite seasons. The Thunder lead the league in scoring efficiency in those actions, while the Spurs rank 10th.
Still, the Thunder’s play style has ruffled feathers along the way. It’s bound to happen when the MVP is willing to fall to the ground to get something out of a drive to the rim that otherwise wouldn’t exist. That persistence is the foundation of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s greatness. He squeezes every last drop of juice out of a possession and is willing to go further than anyone else to get those last drops. That pisses off opponents. It’s also what pretty much every MVP has to do, on some level, to finish on top.
It’s understandable for Wembanyama and the Spurs to define themselves in relation to what has become an established Thunder brand. Now that they have proven themselves against the best and sit firmly in the race for a high West playoff seed, the Spurs are developing a real brand identity of their own. It looks a lot more serious now than even they expected entering the season.
In training camp, many Spurs players were asked for their season goal. Almost everyone said some version of just making the playoffs. Wembanyama stood out when he specifically said “sixth,” claiming the Spurs were better than a Play-In tournament team. In the crowded Western Conference, that looked like a stretch, but two things have gone their way so far. First, the Warriors, Grizzlies, Mavericks and Clippers have all ranged from messy to maleficent. Second, the Timberwolves, Spurs, Lakers, Rockets and Nuggets have all been separated in the standings by a minimal margin entering Tuesday. They are all essentially playing on the same tier this season.
With their distance from the Play-In mix increasingly secure, the Spurs are no longer taking on the mindset of being good enough. They have to start thinking about what they look like in a do-or-die game come April, May and even June.
Maybe that’s a novel question for outside observers. But Spurs veteran wing Harrison Barnes, one of the few players in the building with a ring, pushed them to ponder it early on.
“Whenever we talked about it, everyone was saying Playoffs. And HB actually came in, and he’s like, ‘What does that mean?’” De’Aaron Fox said Monday. “‘Does that mean get the eighth seed and lose in the first round? Is that a successful season? Does that mean going to the Conference finals and losing? What does that mean?’”
Fox has played a big role in answering that question. Wembanyama’s month-long shelving due to a calf strain forced the Spurs to discover their identity beyond him. Someday soon, Wembanyama might be able to singlehandedly carry the whole team to contention and have a consistently outsized impact at the highest levels. The 21-year-old isn’t quite there yet. Whether “someday soon” is in a few months or a few years, the Spurs need to build an identity that is bigger than him but also becomes bigger with him.
That process accelerated in the 9-3 stretch the Spurs put together leading into Saturday’s win. When Wembanyama said he was glad to be a part of something beautiful, he was referring to what his teammates built in the month while he watched from the sidelines.
Once their big man went down and Fox returned, they finally got out and ran.
Along with Fox, the “Slash Bros” of Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper showed how a team can win with three downhill point guards who aren’t proficient shooters. It certainly helps that Fox is shooting a career-high 39.2 percent from deep on 6.5 attempts per game. This team’s ability to force its way into the paint, circle around and find open shooters has taken a big step forward. Castle and Harper have shown enough promise that Giannis Antetokounmpo’s appearance on the NBA trade radar has been a much smaller blip than expected in San Antonio.
Wembanyama’s return gives the Spurs the option to play through him over the top of the defense in addition to having him finish off whatever paint touches they can create. Spurs coach Mitch Johnson’s challenge is to figure out the balance that keeps their momentum at full speed.
They did it well enough Saturday to end the Thunder’s 16-game winning streak and make it to the NBA Cup final. Even if the Spurs fall to the New York Knicks in Tuesday’s NBA Cup championship, San Antonio’s semifinal victory over the Thunder was the clearest sign the bar has been raised.
On Monday, Fox explained the Spurs are still figuring out what the playoffs actually mean to them. That’s as subjective as basketball ethics, but they can start using their imagination.
“We want to play in the playoffs. We want to put ourselves in a position to win a championship,” he said. “Obviously, that’s always a goal. How many teams are true contenders? Most would say three, maybe a fourth team. But for us, we’re just, like I said, going day by day. We know with the talent that we have in our locker room that we are a playoff team, yes. But we have to continue to do the little things that help us become a contender.”
The little things don’t just make contenders — they break them as well. Once the competition gets fierce in the postseason, the morass of minuscule advantages makes the difference. The Thunder have been on a generational run the past 18 months because they are built with tremendous variety and depth. The Spurs are made in a similar image, albeit with a different composition.
There is only one way to measure it. However you can, just win.
“Some people are built for these moments, some aren’t. But we definitely are, and it shows, because it’s not against anybody that we won that game,” Wembanyama said. “I feel lucky. I’m glad we have this group because everybody buys into this and everybody is built for these moments.”
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic