By Jacob Douglas | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-12-26 15:33:39
NBA卫冕冠军俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的球迷们在圣诞节收获了一份糟心的礼物。圣安东尼奥马刺队则对雷霆道了声“圣诞节见鬼去吧”，他们深入客场龙潭虎穴，仍然拿下了本赛季对雷霆的第三场胜利，并且同样是以一场大胜。
此前马刺在NBA杯中战胜雷霆，曾被许多人视为侥幸。第二次在圣安东尼奥取胜也情有可原，因为当时雷霆人员不整，而且正值背靠背第二场。而这次圣诞大战在俄克拉荷马城取得的胜利则预示着一种趋势——一个足以让联盟其他球队警惕的趋势。卫冕MVP、雷霆后卫谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gligeous-Alexander) 的话一针见血：
“你不可能在短期内连续三次输给同一支球队，除非他们真的比你强。”
今天，马刺比卫冕冠军更强。从最近这段赛程来看，很难得出其他结论。这并不意味着他们在季后赛中也会更胜一筹，或是已经锁定了NBA总决赛的席位，但就目前而言，他们确实强于雷霆，甚至可能是当下联盟中最出色的球队。
仅仅一年前，圣安东尼奥的实力还更接近联盟垫底而非顶尖。那么，是什么改变了这一切？马刺的成功很大程度上归功于他们的后场三巨头。德阿龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 在圣诞大战中展现了精英级别的表现，他砍下29分，随心所欲地杀入禁区，并命中了三记三分球。斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 拥有强悍的身体素质，能够顶住雷霆的防守压力，并在另一端给对手制造麻烦。而迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 在他的新秀赛季表现得令人印象深刻，即使面对NBA历史上最顶尖的外线防守之一，他依然镇定自若。
除了人员变动，圣安东尼奥在心态上也发生了重大转变。这不再是那支抱着“哎呀，我们能打到这里就很开心了”心态的幸运年轻球队。如今的马刺身上带着一股真正的杀手本能。他们看起来想在比赛的每一个方面都亲手击溃雷霆。从上到下，他们在这组对决中表现出的紧迫感，远超其他一些比赛。
目前马刺以23胜7负的战绩位列联盟第三，仅落后底特律活塞队一场，落后雷霆2.5场。他们正带着一波8连胜进入连续主场赛程，对手分别是犹他爵士、克利夫兰骑士和纽约尼克斯。在年底之前，圣安东尼奥完全有可能登顶联盟战绩榜。是时候正式将这支球队视为真正的争冠者了。
要点回顾：
- 马刺主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 即使尚未进入年度最佳教练的讨论，也理应获得提名。这几场对阵雷霆的比赛堪称执教杰作。比赛计划和赛前准备都无懈可击，他的暂停和挑战时机精准。你可能会说雷霆只是投丢了对阵马刺时的大量空位三分，但这些空位机会是圣安东尼奥防守体系有意放出的。他们宁愿让像亚历克斯·卡鲁索 (Alex Caruso) 这样的球员出手12次三分，也不愿让亚历山大获得20次罚球。这与2024年达拉斯独行侠在西部决赛中击败雷霆时所采用的防守策略如出一辙。突击测验！那年谁在独行侠的教练组？没错，正是马刺的首席助教肖恩·斯威尼 (Sean Sweeney)。
- 哈珀整个赛季都表现出色，但在最近两场对阵雷霆的比赛中尤其令人瞩目。已经有无数文章和视频分析过卡森·华莱士 (Cason Wallace) 的精英级外线防守。然而当哈珀持球时，他让华莱士看起来不过是个普通球员。这并非说哈珀的控球技术像凯里·欧文 (Kyrie Irving) 那样华丽炫目，而是他处理球时异常稳健出色，并且利用身体创造空间的能力比近代任何一位新秀后卫都强。他得到的12分在技术统计表上并不起眼，但他在场上的影响力巨大。
- 维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在周四出战了26分钟，这是他伤愈复出以来出场时间最长的一次。在连续几场比赛只打20分钟后，他现在似乎正在逐渐增加比赛负荷。和往常一样，他的表现很出色，替补出场贡献了19分和11个篮板。雷霆在迫使文班亚马成为一名外线球员，而非在内线击败他们方面做得相当不错。但问题在于，文班自伤愈归来后投篮手感极其火热。周四的比赛中，他用两记三分和一些中距离跳投让雷霆付出了代价。
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 against the Thunder
What we learned from the Spurs win against the Thunder
Fans of the defending NBA Champion Oklahoma City Thunder were left a lump of coal on Christmas Day. The San Antonio Spurs said “bah humbug” to OKC as they traveled into hostile territory and still pulled out their 3rd win against the Thunder this season, again in blowout fashion.
The Spurs’ NBA Cup win over the Thunder was considered a fluke by many. The second win in San Antonio had some excuses built in, as the Thunder were undermanned and playing the second game of a back-to-back. This Christmas win in Oklahoma City is indicative of a trend – an alarming one for the rest of the NBA. The reigning MVP and OKC guard, Shai Gligeous-Alexander, said it best:
“You don’t lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you.”
Today, the Spurs are better than the defending champions. It’s hard to have any other takeaway from this recent stretch than that. It doesn’t mean they will be better in the Playoffs, or are a shoo-in for the NBA Finals, but presently, they are better than the Thunder, and may just be the best team in the league right now.
Just a year ago, San Antonio was closer to the worst in the NBA than it was the best. So what changed? A lot of the Spurs’ success has been thanks to the ability of their guard trio. De’Aaron Fox was nothing short of elite on Christmas, scoring 29 points, getting to the paint at will, and nailing three triples. Stephon Castle has the physicality to withstand OKC’s defensive pressure and bother them on the other end. Dylan Harper has been so impressive in his rookie season. His poise never falters even in the face of one of the best perimeter defenses in NBA history.
On top of the personnel changes, there has been a major mindset shift in San Antonio. This isn’t a team playing like the plucky young group with an “ah shucks, we’re just happy to be here” mentality. The Spurs have a real killer instinct to them. They look like they want to personally dominate the Thunder in every aspect of the game. From top to bottom, there is a greater sense of urgency in this matchup than in some of the other games.
At 23-7, the Spurs have the third-best record in the NBA. They are a game behind the Detroit Pistons and 2.5 behind OKC. They are riding an 8-game winning streak into a home stand against the Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks. There is a universe where San Antonio has the best record in the league before the end of the calendar year. It’s time to officially start talking about this team like the contenders they are.
Takeaways:
- Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson should be in the Coach of the Year running, if he isn’t already. These games against OKC have been a coaching masterclass. The gameplan and preparation have been incredible. His timeouts and challenges have been well-timed and accurate. You could argue that the Thunder just missed wide-open threes against the Spurs, but those open looks were given intentionally by San Antonio’s defensive scheme. They want players like Alex Caruso to shoot 12 threes instead of SGA shooting 20 free throws. It’s the same defensive strategy that helped the Dallas Mavericks defeat the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals in 2024. Pop quiz! Who was on the Mavericks staff that year? That’s right, Sean Sweeney, associate head coach of the Spurs.
- Harper has been great all season, but has been particularly impressive in the last two games against OKC. Entire articles and videos have been made about Cason Wallace’s elite perimeter defense. Harper makes him look like just another guy when he’s handling the ball. It’s not like Harper is dazzling us with Kyrie Irving-esque ball-handling, but he’s just so solid and good with the basketball, and uses his body to create space better than any other rookie guard in recent memory. His 12 points won’t jump off the box score, but he was very impactful.
- Victor Wembanyama played 26 minutes on Thursday, the most he’s played since returning from injury. It seems like he’s getting ramped up now after logging multiple 20-minute games. His results were good, per usual. He had 19 points and 11 rebounds off the bench. OKC does a pretty good job of forcing Wembanyama to be a perimeter player, rather than beating them inside. The issue is Wemby has been shooting incredibly well since returning from injury. He made them pay on Thursday with a pair of threes and some mid-range jumpers.
By Jacob Douglas, via Pounding The Rock