By Charlie Thaddeus | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-12-24 19:35:57
我开始觉得，马刺队可能真的是那支狠角色了，你懂吗？
听着，我此时此刻激动得手都不知道往哪儿放了。短短几周内两胜雷霆，这让我感觉自己像个疯子。这一切本不该是这样发生的。还没到那个时候。不是现在。我们还没准备好——这里的“我们”，指的是那些对圣安东尼奥马刺队的成功投入了真情实感的人们。我们的进度超前了，而我不知道这意味着什么。我很困惑。我很快乐。我很警惕。我正努力让自己不要慌张。
因为，你看，让我们快速梳理一下。这些胜利，尽管令人印象深刻，但它们的意义可能比我们所期望的要小。这只是常规赛，常规赛的中段。认为这两场比赛能够直接转化为季后赛的成功是不切实际的，因为坦白讲，季后赛是完全不同的战场。强度不同，灯光更加耀眼，球员们也积累了更多的疲劳。你当然宁愿赢下这些比赛而不是输掉，但我们也不要假装这超出了它本身的意义。这是一场漂亮的胜利，一场不错的胜利。但在卫冕冠军被击败之前，他们依然是卫冕冠军。
而且我们或许应该承认那个显而易见的事实：马刺队的下一场比赛就在明天下午，在俄克拉荷马城，在圣诞节，在全美直播。雷霆队就像一头被我们戳了两次眼睛的巨熊，而整个篮球界都已转过身来，想看看接下来会发生什么。我猜，那头熊会非常、非常生气。
所以，考虑到所有这些，并且考虑到在发表这篇文章时，我们只有不到24小时的时间来继续沉浸在我们眼前这份既令人困惑又充满喜悦的奇妙氛围中，让我们试着保持清醒，理清我们到底在想些什么。
我们认为马刺能和任何强队掰手腕。无论是雷霆、掘金还是火箭……你能想到的任何对手。无论明天发生什么，我们都可以放心，这支球队，以其目前的阵容配置，能够与联盟派出的任何对手竞争。他们可能不会赢，但……他们也可能赢？这就不同了。这是一个全新的竞争层面，一个我们在南德州近十年来都无缘享受的层面。显然，任务尚未完成，但我认为为此感到兴奋是完全可以的。这个赛季不再是一次可爱的小规模试运行。它现在至关重要。赌注是真实存在的。
我认为我们现在可以接受的另一件事是，马刺队不再需要维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 每晚都化身超级英雄才能参与竞争。昨晚他得到12分、5个篮板和几次助攻，并且没有送出一次盖帽。马刺队赢了二十分。这是全新的局面。他绝对可以在需要时开启他的“外星人”模式，但这支球队给人的感觉不再是仅仅为了运转而依赖于此。这不再是文班一个人拖着整支球队前进，而是马刺队作为一个真正的团队在运作。场上不再是文班和他的伙伴们在战斗，而是马刺队，整个马刺队，纯粹的马刺队。
感觉比赛的胜负手正在由其他方面决定。当他不得分时，有其他人站出来。当他不盖帽时，有其他人在干扰传球路线。当他没有吸引防守时，场上也有足够多有能力的球员，确保进攻回合不会无疾而终。这支球队不再感觉头重脚轻，而是层次分明。昨晚，这种层次感如潮水般涌现，不仅仅体现在数据统计上，更体现在这支球队在球场两端 relentless 地冲击雷霆队的方式上。
正因如此，你才能在这样的夜晚感觉到像斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 这样的球员，在面对眼前的关键时刻时完全从容不迫。你看到德阿龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 闲庭信步般地在场上穿梭，指挥交通，寻找自己的出手机会。德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 悄无声息地进入投篮位置，并自信地命中。然后，在毫无征兆的情况下，某个开关被打开，突然之间，凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 蜕变为一名顶级的篮球掠食者，这一切都显得再自然不过。
所以，让我们再次享受这一切。这是一个令人愉悦的山巅时刻，希望这只是我们未来深情回望的众多巅峰之一。我们现在手上拥有了一支真实、有活力的篮球队。我们不必再去想象。他们不完美，也尚未成型，但他们是真实存在的。这本身就足以令人兴奋。
明天的比赛可能会急转直下。马刺可能会输，而且可能输得很难看。那也没关系。我的意思是，那肯定不会有趣，但也可以接受。这不会抹杀任何已经取得的成就，不必打破这个美好的魔咒，也不必毁掉圣诞节（即使它真的感觉像毁了）。
这个赛季本应是关于学习如何赢球的，但不知不觉中，它悄然变成了学习如何再次与期望共存。我不知道我们中是否有人为此做好了准备，但无论准备与否，马刺球迷们，是时候准备好迎接挑战了。
几点观察：
- 球场上的嘉年华配色Logo看起来真棒。每次看到它都让我心情愉悦。你开心吗？你从我这里得到你想要的了吗？我就是个老千禧一代，只要眼前晃过一丝怀旧元素，我就会像只训练有素的海豹一样拍手叫好。我完蛋了。我没救了。我彻底沦陷了。把我射向太阳吧，同时请播放那首《Mr. Brightside》。
- 说真的，凯尔登·约翰逊到底是怎么回事。我一直在等他的火热状态冷却下来，但它就是没有。他在场上霸凌雷霆队，他不断命中三分。回过头看，16投10中得到25分似乎不算太多，但他的每一分都感觉至关重要。这种事情无法量化，但谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 的每一次得分都感觉很微妙，而KJ的每一次得分都声势浩大，震耳欲聋。我完全承认这可能是近因偏见，但我也不能排除凯尔登·约翰逊是有史以来最伟大的篮球运动员的可能性。有没有一个电话号码可以让我打过去确认一下这是不是近因偏见？热线电话？什么都行？
- 即使在维克托打出一场“安静”的比赛时，他仍然能做出像面对亚历克斯·卡鲁索 (Alex Caruso) 命中一记后撤步绝命三分这样的事情，这真是太酷了。那个球让我像电影里那些南方老太太一样，戏剧性地瘫倒在我的贵妃榻上。
- 同样很酷的是，我们过去总对维克托大喊的那件事——“老兄！别老是满足于投三分！”——现在感觉像是他正在主动地将其武器化。第四节那个回合，他先是投篮假动作，后撤一步，再次做出假动作，然后送出一记手术刀般的精准低位传球给凯尔登，这个球感觉意义重大。这不再是将就出手，而是一种操纵。这种类型的表现让我觉得，世界上的一切可能都会好起来的。
好戏上演，庆祝别错过
投票 #NBAAllStar: https://t.co/frD28T3bmx
@ FanDuelSN_SW pic.twitter.com/aHaFPAuCsZ
— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) December 24, 2025
- 联盟里没有谁比切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren) 更频繁地被打到脸了。真不忍心看到。为他的家人祈祷吧。
WWL赛后新闻发布会
– 你觉得马刺在圣诞节输球会真的毁了你的圣诞节吗？
– 无所谓，他们不会输的。
– 好吧，但假设，我们说如果他们真的输了呢。
– 对，但他们不会。
– 当然，我明白你很有信心，但我在问，万一，万一他们输了怎么办。
– 万一他们输了，我就会直接醒来，因为我会意识到我身处一个噩梦之中，而非现实。
– 因为在现实中他们不会输？
– 这下你明白了吧！
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 Thunder
What we learned from the Spurs Win over the Thunder
I’m starting to think the Spurs might just be that dude, you know?
Look, I don’t know exactly what to do with my hands at this point. Two wins over the Thunder in as many weeks has me feeling like an insane person. This isn’t supposed to be happening like this. Not yet. Not right now. We aren’t ready and, by “we,” I mean the people out here emotionally invested in the success of the San Antonio Spurs. We’re ahead of schedule and I don’t know what that means. I’m confused. I’m happy. I’m wary. I’m trying not to panic.
Because, like, let’s go through it real quick. These wins, impressive as they are, probably mean less than we want them to. It’s the regular season. The middle of the regular season. The idea that these two games will translate cleanly into playoff success is unrealistic because, frankly, the playoffs are a different animal. The intensity is different. The lights are brighter. Everyone has a few more miles on their odometer. You would obviously rather win these games than lose them, but let’s not pretend this means more than it does. It’s a good win. A fine win. But the champs are still the champs until they aren’t.
And we should probably acknowledge the elephant in the room: the very next game the Spurs play is tomorrow afternoon. In Oklahoma City. On Christmas. On national television. The Thunder are a very large bear we’ve now poked in the eye twice, and the entire basketball world is turning around in its seat to see what happens next. My guess is that the bear is going to be pretty pissed off.
So, with all that in mind, and considering that at the time of this posting we have less than 24 hours to keep marinating in this confusing yet joyful little stew we’ve got going on, let’s try to keep our wits about us and sort through exactly what we think we think.
We think the Spurs can hang. With the Thunder, the Nuggets, the Rockets… you name it. No matter what happens tomorrow, we can rest assured that this team, as it is currently constructed, can compete with whoever the league has to throw at them. They might not win, but also… they might? That’s different. That’s a whole new level to be operating on, and it’s not one we’ve had the pleasure of enjoying in South Texas for almost a decade now. Job’s not done, obviously, but I think it’s okay to be excited about that. This season is no longer a cute little trial run. It matters now. The stakes are real.
Another thing I think we can probably sit with now is that the Spurs don’t need Victor Wembanyama to be a superhero every night anymore just to compete. Last night he had 12 points, five rebounds, a handful of assists, and didn’t block a shot. The Spurs won by twenty. That’s new. He can absolutely go full alien when he wants to, but this team no longer feels dependent on it just to function. It’s not Wemby dragging a roster behind him. It’s the Spurs, operating as an actual team. It’s no longer Wemby and the fellas out there duking it out. It’s the Spurs, the whole Spurs, and nothing but the Spurs.
It just feels like the margins of the game are being handled elsewhere. When he’s not scoring, someone else is. When he’s not blocking shots, someone else is disrupting passing lanes. When he’s not bending the defense, there are enough capable bodies on the floor to make sure possessions don’t die on the vine. This team doesn’t feel top-heavy anymore. It feels layered. And last night, that layering showed up in waves, not just in the box score, but in how relentless this team was, battering away at the Thunder up and down the court.
That’s how you end up with a night where you can sense guys like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper being completely unbothered by the moment unfolding in front of them. You see De’Aaron Fox casually darting around the court, directing traffic and picking his spots. Devin Vassell is quietly stepping into shots and confidently draining them. And then, without much warning, a switch flips and all of a sudden it doesn’t feel weird at all that Keldon Johnson has turned into an apex basketball predator.
So once again, let’s enjoy this. It’s a fun crest at the top of a hill that, hopefully, will be just one of many we look back on fondly. We have a real, live basketball team on our hands now. We don’t have to imagine it. They aren’t perfect. They aren’t finished. But they are real. That’s something to be excited about.
Tomorrow might go sideways. The Spurs might lose, and they might lose by a lot. That’s okay. I mean, it certainly wouldn’t be fun, but it would be okay. It wouldn’t undo anything. It doesn’t have to break the spell. It doesn’t have to ruin Christmas (even if it does).
This season was supposed to be about learning how to win and then, somewhere along the way, it quietly became about learning how to live with expectations again. I don’t know if any of us are ready for that but, ready or not, it’s time to saddle up Spurs fans.
Takeaways:
- The Fiesta logo on the court looks good. It makes me happy every single time I see it. Are you happy? Have you gotten what you wanted out of me? I am an elder millennial who claps like a trained seal whenever a scrap of nostalgia is dangled in front of my face. I’m cooked. I’m chopped. I’m unc. 6–7. Shoot me into the sun and play Mr. Brightside while you do it.
- Seriously, what happened out there with Keldon Johnson. I kept waiting for whatever he was doing to wear off and it just never did. He was bullying the Thunder. He was burying threes. 25 points on 10 of 16 shooting doesn’t feel like a lot in hindsight, but every single point felt huge. It’s impossible to quantify something like this, but every Shai Gilgeous-Alexander bucket felt subtle and every KJ bucket was loud as hell. I fully acknowledge this might be recency bias, but I’m also not ruling out the possibility that Keldon Johnson is the greatest basketball player who has ever lived. Is there a number I can call to confirm whether that’s recency bias? A hotline? Anything?
- It is extremely cool that even when Victor has a “quiet” game, he can still do things like hit a step-back dagger three over Alex Caruso that makes me collapse onto my fainting couch like one of those little old southern ladies in the movies.
- It’s also cool that the thing we all yell about with Victor — “My guy! Stop settling for threes all the time!” — now feels like something he’s actively weaponizing. That fourth-quarter sequence where he upfakes, steps back, upfakes again, and then fires an absolute laser down low to Keldon felt important. That’s not settling. That’s manipulation. That’s the type of of play that simply makes me feel like everything in the world might turn out alright.
Watch for the play, stay for the celly
— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) December 24, 2025
- No one in the league gets hit in the face more than Chet Holmgren. Hate to see that. Thoughts and prayers to his family.
WWL Post Game Press Conference
– Do you think the Spurs losing on Christmas day would actually ruin your Christmas?
– Doesn’t matter, they aren’t going to lose.
– Okay, but hypothetically, let’s say they do.
– Right, but they won’t.
– Sure, I get that you’re confident, but I’m asking if like, on the off chance they were to lose.
– In the off chance that they lose I would simply wake up because I would realize I was in a bad dream instead of reality.
– Because in reality they wouldn’t be losing?
– Now you’re getting it!
By Charlie Thaddeus, via Pounding The Rock