By August Bembel | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2025-12-30 18:45:00
在连续三次爆冷击败俄克拉荷马城雷霆之后，圣安东尼奥马刺队如今又回到了现实。他们先是输给了正在摆烂的犹他爵士，现在又败给了苦苦挣扎的克利夫兰骑士。一方面，这或许令人意外。但另一方面，在团队体育的历史上，有太多年轻球队先学会了如何撼动豪门，却迟迟学不会如何应对寻常比赛的例子。
近期的案例可以参考哈维·阿隆索 (Xabi Alonso) 治下的德甲俱乐部拜耳勒沃库森。这家俱乐部因在九十年代末四年内三次屈居亚军而被称为“千年老二 (Vizekusen)”——后来又在2001-02赛季同时获得德甲、德国杯和欧洲冠军联赛的亚军——尽管常年位居联赛前四，但他们始终未能迈过那道坎。直到2022年10月，哈维·阿隆索被任命为主教练。
阿隆索的勒沃库森通过在对阵顶级强队时的宣言式表现宣告了自己的到来，其中最引人注目的是他们在2023年3月德甲联赛中对阵拜仁慕尼黑的酣畅大胜，以及对阵多特蒙德时的统治级发挥。在那些比赛中，勒沃库森依靠着比赛节奏、充满勇气的跑位和团队信念高歌猛进。但他们在其他比赛中却步履维艰：面对那些深度退防的积分榜下游球队，他们屡屡遭遇平局或憾负。当时的勒沃库森已经足以击败最强的对手，但还不够成熟，无法将卓越变为常态——直到一年后，他们终于做到了这一点，赢得了队史首个德甲冠军。
在拉塞尔·威斯布鲁克 (Russell Westbrook) 时代早期的俄克拉荷马城雷霆，也曾出现过类似的模式。作为一支年轻且充满爆发力的球队，雷霆时常能在面对顶级对手时迸发出惊人的能量——无论是在常规赛还是季后赛系列赛中，他们都能爆冷击败像马刺和湖人这样成熟的竞争者。然而，也正是这支球队，在漫长的常规赛期间，却常常会莫名其妙地输给乐透区的对手。当舞台足够大时，他们能迸发出血性，但当挑战看似寻常时，他们却难以应对——与“千年老二”勒沃库森不同的是，雷霆在威斯布鲁克时代从未真正迈过那道坎。
关于其原因，众说纷纭，但我认为他们是在控球后卫的选择上押错了宝，让哈登在板凳上坐了三年，最终不得不将他交易。如今，我并非哈登的球迷——从未是过——但他毫无疑问地证明了自己是比威斯布鲁克更强的球员。马刺必须不惜一切代价避免在迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 身上犯下类似的错误。他们绝不能让他长期坐在替补席上（这个世界上只有一个马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginóbili)）。他已经非常出色了。而昨晚的比赛也暴露了福克斯/卡斯尔这对后场组合可能会遇到的问题。
几点观察
- 在当今的NBA，当一支球队三分球31投仅7中时，几乎不可能赢下比赛。这相当于每次出手得分低于0.7分——从进攻端来看，即便考虑到比赛节奏和场上空间，这也是灾难性的。
- 巴恩斯和瓦塞尔的首要进攻职责就是投篮命中。当两人手感冰凉时，马刺的容错空间就会变得极为有限。现阶段的卡斯尔还无法在远距离投篮上被寄予厚望，而福克斯——尽管赛季初手感火热——很可能会在数据上回归均值。他也可能需要稳定自己的投篮，因为他或许已不再是过去那个充满冲击篮筐威胁的球员了（空切做得不错，但突破去哪儿了？）。
- 不幸的是，作为一名经验丰富的老将，福克斯偶尔还是会做出糟糕的决策。在比赛的第一次进攻中，就在进攻时限还很充裕时，他用一记手感测试般的三分球终结了进攻。这种球，我愿意接受它来自那些成名的神射手——但他显然不是。另一个例子：在第三节大约8分钟的时候，福克斯和文班之间一次罕见的挡拆配合，最终以福克斯传球给外线空位的卡斯尔告终，而不是给文班亚马送出空中接力。为什么要把球传给一个投篮不佳的球员，而不是传给一个在篮筐附近几乎不会失手的大家伙？令人费解。
- 卡斯尔持续贡献高光表现，他的身体素质本身就是一大亮点。但高光表现往往伴随着失误，他迟早必须学会如何减少失误——并且命中一些远投。不过，他还有时间。而且，尽管他在进攻端效率不高，但马刺需要他作为持球点防守者。
- 卡斯尔可能是我个人情感上最偏爱的马刺球员，但我希望下赛季能看到迪伦·哈珀首发出战。尽管他昨晚的表现并非最佳，但他——和文班、科内特一起——或许是马刺阵中少数几个没有让人失望的球员。卡斯尔在第一节中段一上场，就明确展示了谁是队内最好的突破手，并且在球队打出了一场极其糟糕的末节比赛中，他或多或少地让马刺的心脏得以继续跳动。只给这样的球员17分钟？抱歉——这真的不够。
总而言之，这是一场糟糕的比赛，最终赢得比赛的只是表现得没那么糟糕的一方。但是，嘿，还是有值得庆祝的事情的：老鹰队正以一支乐透球队的身份迈入新的一年。
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’ Loss to the Cavaliers
What We Learned from the Spurs’ Loss to the Cavaliers
After upsetting the Oklahoma City Thunder three times in quick succession, the San Antonio Spurs now find themselves back in reality. First, they lost to the tanking Utah Jazz; now they’ve lost to the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers. On the one hand, this may have come as a surprise. On the other, the history of team sports offers many examples of young teams that learned how to shock powerhouses long before they learned how to manage the ordinary.
A recent example can be found in German Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso. Nicknamed “Vizekusen” for finishing second three times in four years in the late nineties — and later finishing runner-up in the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal, and the Champions League in 2001–02 — the club never quite got over the hump, despite regularly finishing in the top four. Then came Xabi Alonso, appointed manager in October 2022.
Alonso’s Leverkusen announced themselves with statement performances against elite opponents, most notably their emphatic Bundesliga win over Bayern Munich in March 2023 and dominant displays against Borussia Dortmund. In those matches, Leverkusen thrived on tempo, positional courage, and collective belief. But they faltered elsewhere: in draws and narrow setbacks against lower-table sides that defended deep. Leverkusen were already good enough to beat the best, but not yet mature enough to make excellence routine — which they finally did one year later, winning their first-ever Bundesliga title.
A similar pattern once defined the Oklahoma City Thunder during the early Russell Westbrook era. As a young, explosive team, Oklahoma City regularly rose to the level of elite competition — upsetting established contenders like the Spurs and the Lakers in regular-season games and playoff series alike. Yet those same teams were also prone to baffling losses against lottery-bound opponents during long regular-season stretches. They could summon ferocity when the stage was big, but struggled when the challenge felt routine — and unlike Vizekusen, OKC never got over the hump in the Westbrook era.
Opinions may differ as to why that was the case, but I would argue they bet on the wrong point guard, kept Harden on the bench for three years, and ultimately had to trade him away. Now, I’m not a Harden fan — never have been — but he sure as hell turned out to be a better baller than Westbrook. The Spurs must avoid a similar mistake with Dylan Harper at all costs. They must not keep him on the bench long-term (there’s only one Manu Ginóbili). He’s already too good. And last night’s game showed the problems a Fox/Castle backcourt might run into.
Takeaways
- It’s close to impossible to win a game in today’s NBA when a team combines for 7 made threes on 31 attempts. That’s less than 0.7 points per shot attempt — offensively disastrous, even when accounting for pace and spacing.
- Barnes’ and Vassell’s primary offensive duty is making shots. When both are cold, the Spurs’ margin for error becomes much slimmer. Castle, at this stage, cannot be relied upon from deep, and Fox — though he started the season hot — may very well regress to the mean. He’ll probably have to stabilize his shot, too, because he may no longer be the downhill threat he once was (the cuts are good, but where are the drives?).
- Unfortunately, Fox occasionally continues to make poor decisions for a seasoned veteran. Finishing the very first possession with a heat-check three early in the shot clock is something I’m willing to accept from proven deadeyes — but that’s not what he is. Another example: around the eight-minute mark of the third quarter, a rare pick-and-roll between Fox and Wemby ended with Fox passing to an open Castle on the perimeter instead of lobbing it to Wemby. Why pass to a poor shooter rather than lob it to a guy who can hardly miss around the rim? Dubious.
- Castle continues to make highlight plays, and his physicality is a highlight in itself. But highlight plays go hand in hand with turnovers, and sooner or later he has to learn how to cut those down — and hit some shots from deep. There is time, though. And despite his offensive inefficiencies, the Spurs need him as a point-of-attack defender.
- Castle might be the Spur I’m most emotionally attached to, but I want to see Dylan Harper start games next season. Even though he didn’t have his very best game last night, he — along with Wemby and Kornet — was probably one of the only Spurs not to disappoint. Castle made clear who the best driver on the roster is as soon as he entered the game midway through the first quarter, and he more or less kept the Spurs’ heart beating in an atrocious final quarter. Seventeen minutes for that guy? Sorry — that just isn’t enough.
All in all, it was an awful game, with the team that performed less poorly winning it. But hey, there is something to cheer about: the Hawks are entering the new year as a lottery team.
By August Bembel, via Pounding The Rock