By Jeph Duarte | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-12-18 12:00:00
恭喜尼克斯赢得NBA阿联酋航空杯。
作为一名马刺球迷，我当然希望我的主队能赢。但同样作为马刺球迷，尼克斯能闯入杯赛决赛确实让我印象深刻，老实说甚至有些惊讶。我此前并未真正意识到这一点，而且在过去几年里，我并没有太关注这项杯赛。
我并非输不起。昨晚乐队排练时，我的一位队友说“是裁判把胜利送给了尼克斯。”我并不同意这种说法，并且完全接受比赛的结果。
但我无法苟同的是，将一场2025年季中锦标赛的胜利，包装成对1999年NBA总决赛的救赎。
帕特里克·尤因 (Patrick Ewing)，阿兰·休斯顿 (Allan Houston)，拉特雷尔·斯普雷维尔 (Latrell Sprewell)…杰夫·范甘迪 (Jeff Van Gundy)…1999年？谁还在乎拉特雷尔·斯普雷维尔呢？
得了吧。
首先，尼克斯现有名单上的18名球员中，有8人在当时还未出生。米切尔·罗宾逊 (Mitchell Robinson) 那时还穿着尿布（想象一下那得是多大号的帮宝适）。另外7人还不到五岁。只剩下两名球员：乔丹·克拉克森 (Jordan Clarkson) 当时七岁，一年前刚搬到圣安东尼奥，很可能当时是在为马刺队加油；以及P.J. 塔克 (P. J. Tucker)，当时他十四岁。
而在马刺这边，现在的阵容里只有七名球员当时在世，并且年龄都在九岁以下。
所以，如今这些球员自己，与1999年NBA总决赛的结果根本没有任何利害关系。
听着，要让马刺以外的篮球世界尊重这支银黑军团已经够难的了，我们花了不止一个总冠军的代价才做到这一点，因为1999年的总决赛发生在一个缩水赛季，其成色并不被所有人认可。（我说的就是你，菲尔·杰克逊 (Phil Jackson) 先生，来亲吻我的‘星号’吧。）
NBA杯本身就是一项独立的赛事。所有球队打四场比赛，然后晋级的球队再多打三场。总共七场比赛。这和在82场常规赛后需要赢下16场才能夺冠的季后赛之旅完全不是一回事。它理应获得它所得到的尊重，获胜的球队能拿到奖金，也赢得了一些炫耀的资本。
它无法弥补四分之一个世纪前的旧憾，也无法为那个逝去时代的球员们正名。
所以，拜托了，别再用“救赎”这个词来形容赛季第26场比赛的结果了。
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：Open Thread: The Knicks winning the NBA Cup is not redemption for 1999
Open Thread: The Knicks winning the NBA Cup is not redemption for 1999
Kudos to the Knicks for winning the NBA Emirates Cup.
As a Spurs fan, I obviously wanted them to win. But as a Spurs fan, I was impressed and honestly slightly astounded they made it to the Cup Finals. It hadn’t dawned on me and in previous years, I had not given the Cup competition much thought.
I am not bitter. Last night at rehearsal one of my bandmates said the “refs gave the win to the Knicks.” I don’t agree and fully accept the outcome for what it is.
But what I don’t agree with is turning a win in a midseason competition in 2025 into redemption for the 1999 NBA Finals.
Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Latrell Sprewell…Jeff Van Gundy…1999? Who is looking out for Latrell Sprewell?
C’mon.
First of all, eight of the eighteen currently rostered Knicks weren’t born yet. Mitchell Robinson was in diapers (imagine the size of those Pampers). Another seven were under the age of five. Leaving two players: Jordan Clarkson, who was seven and had moved to San Antonio the previous year and most likely would have been roosting for the Spurs, and P. J. Tucker, who was fourteen at the time.
On the Spurs side, only seven current players were alive, and all under the age of nine.
So the players themselves had nothing vested in the outcome of the 1999 NBA Finals.
Listen, it was hard enough to get the rest of the non-Spursian basketball world to respect the Silver & Black, and it took more than one title since the 1999 Finals took place in a lockout year and were not considered legit by all. (I’m talking to you, Mr Phil “kiss my asterisk” Jackson.)
The NBA Cup is its own thing. It’s four games for all and then three more for those who sustain. Seven games total. It’s not a playoff run requiring 16 wins after an 82-game season. It deserves the respect it gets and the team that wins gets paid and has some bragging rights.
It does not right wrongs from a quarter century ago or validate the players from a bygone era.
So, please, let’s stop using the term redemption to describe the outcome of the 26th game of the season.
By Jeph Duarte, via Pounding The Rock