By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-01-12 13:26:36
2025年12月13日，在拉斯维加斯举行的一场NBA杯半决赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫德文·瓦塞尔（24号）与队友们在比赛结束时走向替补席，他们的对手是俄克拉荷马城雷霆队。(美联社图片/Ronda Churchill)
俄克拉荷马城——马刺后卫德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 不会说这是他收到过的最好的圣诞礼物，但也相差无几了。
圣诞节当天，当走出俄克拉荷马城Paycom中心球馆时，头顶的记分牌上显示着马刺对卫冕NBA总冠军的又一场酣畅淋漓的胜利，福克斯不禁沉浸在圣诞节日的欢乐气氛中。
“当你能赢下那场比赛时，”福克斯回忆道，“你的假期质量都会随之提升。”
马刺队在那天以117-102取胜，是他们在三天内第二次击败对手，也是本赛季第三次战胜此前看似不可战胜的雷霆。
周二，马刺队将重返俄克拉荷马城，开启这场正迅速成为NBA最引人入胜的宿敌对决之一的新篇章。他们预计将面对一支处于各种郁闷情绪之中的雷霆队。
马刺队希望证明他们找到的、用以挫败雷霆的“配方”依然有效。而雷霆队则希望证明，他们已经找到了克制马刺这块“氪石”的解药。
鉴于马刺队迄今为止对阵俄克拉荷马城时的成功，周二的比赛恐怕不会有什么温情脉脉的场面。马刺队最杰出的球员相信，雷霆周二会带着怒气出现在赛场上。
“任何球队都会这样，就像如果他们赢了我们三次，我们也会如此，”维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 说道，“他们或许会被激怒，但在被激怒之前，他们就已经是支强队了。”
本赛季，当马刺在NBA杯半决赛中首次与俄克拉荷马城交手时，雷霆的战绩是24胜1负。马刺以111-109取得一场激动人心的胜利，让雷霆的战绩变为24胜2负。更重要的是，这场胜利似乎戳破了雷霆看似不可战胜的神话。
在拉斯维加斯的失利标志着一个阶段的开始，在此期间，俄克拉荷马城在接下来的12场比赛中输掉了6场。雷霆队以联盟最佳的33胜7负进入周二的比赛——当然，其中三场失利都拜他们崛起中的新克星——圣安东尼奥马刺所赐。
“我们战绩不错，这些胜利为我们赢得了赞誉，我们在竞争性回应方面做得非常出色，”马刺教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 谈及球队对阵雷霆的成功时说，“但仅此而已。不多也不少。”
为了给圣诞大战“热身”，马刺队于12月23日在霜冻银行中心以20分的优势大胜雷霆，随后两天又用另一场两位数分差的大胜，证明了那并非侥幸，再次让卫冕冠军颜面扫地。
凭借他们高大、强壮的后卫群——当然还有坐镇中央的那位7英尺4英寸的法国人——马刺队看起来就像是在实验室里为击败强大的雷霆而专门设计的。
在与马刺交手的三场比赛中，雷霆的进攻效率为107，比NBA最差的球队（华盛顿奇才，108.5）还要糟糕。而他们对阵马刺时120.5的防守效率，则可以排在联盟倒数第三。
“他们和我们一样渴望赢得比赛，”俄克拉荷马城前锋杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams) 说，“关键在于谁能将这种渴望转化为富有成效的东西。我们在这方面做得不好，而他们做到了。”
在俄克拉荷马城经历了圣诞节的“屠杀”后，雷霆后卫谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 承认，马刺系列赛3-0的战绩证明，至少目前为止，他们是更强的球队。
在周二的重赛前，吉尔杰斯-亚历山大试图淡化这场西部头两名球队之间下一次交锋的重要性。
“我们必须赢——就像其他任何一个晚上一样，”上赛季NBA最有价值球员吉尔杰斯-亚历山大说，“你醒来，就是想赢得一场篮球比赛。”
和雷霆一样，马刺自圣诞节以来也有些萎靡。
他们的常规赛八连胜在两天后主场对阵犹他爵士时被终结。自上次与雷霆交手以来，马刺队的战绩为4胜5负，并且在此期间从未取得超过两场的连胜。
马刺队前往俄克拉荷马城，为他们为期三场的客场之旅收官。此前的两场比赛，他们以五分优势战胜了波士顿凯尔特人，并以一分之差惜败于明尼苏达森林狼。
福克斯表示，马刺周二的目标远不止是向雷霆和整个联盟再次传递信息。
“我们只是想重回正轨，”福克斯说。
为了实现对雷霆的四连胜，马刺队明白他们需要匹配雷霆标志性的身体对抗。
“我认为你只需要看看过去这两场比赛，就能意识到我们正处于赛季的哪个阶段，”前锋哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 在输给森林狼后说道。
“我们正在对阵两支优秀的球队。两场比赛都悬念迭起，对抗极其激烈。这就是我们目前所处的困境。同样的教训会一再出现在我们面前。如果我们通不过考验，那么结果就会是这样。”
马刺队希望再次与雷霆交手能提醒他们自己是谁，以及他们想如何打球。他们在12月那段10天的时间里表现得前所未有地出色，当时他们三次斩落了NBA世界里的“歌利亚”。
与祖母的水果蛋糕不同，马刺在圣诞大战中的胜利滋味，即便到了一月中旬，依然甜美。
“不是说这有什么特别的意义，因为它只是一场常规赛，”文班亚马说，“但那可能是我职业生涯至今感觉我们处于最佳状态的时刻。”
这正是马刺队重返他们本赛季巅峰之地时的目标。
他们只需要再一次，尽可能地做到最好。
“再次去那里将是一个很好的挑战，”文班亚马说，“我知道我们准备好了。”
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) and San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet (7) react after Castle assisted Kornet in making a basket against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Thunder, 130-110.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Kenrich Williams (34) shoots over San Antonio Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox (4) during the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Thunder, 130-110.
San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) looks to make a pass around Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams (8) during the first quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots the ball near Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams (8) in the second half of an NBA Cup semifinals basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill)
San Antonio Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox (4) goes for a shot over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins (21) in the first half of an NBA Cup semifinals basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) stands on court before film crews after playing in an NBA Cup semifinals basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill)
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) signals to Spurs’ head coach Mitch Johnson to challenge a foul called on him as he was guarding Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) during the second quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. The foul call was reversed.
San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3) reacts after making a three-pointer against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Thunder, 130-110.
San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3) reacts after making a three-pointer against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Thunder, 130-110.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts after making three-pointer over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) during the fourth quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. The Spurs defeated the Thunder, 130-110.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) beats on a large drum as the crowd claps in unison following the Spurs’ 130-110 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama (1) drives against Oklahoma City Thunder guard/forward Jalen Williams (8) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)
San Antonio Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox (4) shoots against Oklahoma City Thunder Chet Holmgren (7) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)
San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots against Oklahoma City Thunder center/forward Chet Holmgren (7) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) block against San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)
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：Can the Spurs make it four in a row over the vaunted Thunder?
Can the Spurs make it four in a row over the vaunted Thunder?
San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) and teammates walk towards their bench at the end of an NBA Cup semifinals basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox won’t call it the best Christmas gift he has ever received, but it was pretty close.
Walking out of Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center on Christmas Day, the scoreboard overhead registering another resounding victory for the Spurs over the reigning NBA champions, Fox couldn’t help but be filled with the yuletide spirit.
“The quality of your holiday goes up,” Fox recalled, “being able to win that game.”
The Spurs’ 117-102 triumph that day was their second in the span of three days and third of the season over the theretofore invincible Thunder.
As the Spurs return to OKC on Tuesday for another chapter in what is rapidly becoming one of the NBA’s most compelling rivalries, they are expecting to find a Thunder team in various throes of bah-humbug.
The Spurs are looking to prove the formula they’ve found for humbling the Thunder still works. The Thunder are hoping to show they’ve found the antidote for the Spurs’ kryptonite.
Given the Spurs’ success against Oklahoma City so far, Tuesday probably won’t produce a campfire moment. The Spurs’ most prominent Spurs player believes the Thunder will show up to work grumpy on Tuesday.
“Just like anybody would be and just like we would be if they had beaten us three times,” Victor Wembanyama said. “Maybe they’re going to be pissed off, but they’re already a good team before getting pissed off.”
At the time the Spurs drew their first meeting with Oklahoma City this season in the NBA Cup semifinals, the Thunder were 24-1. A stirring 111-109 Spurs victory sent OKC to 24-2. More than that, it seemed to puncture the Thunder’s veneer of inevitability.
The loss in Las Vegas marked the beginning of a stretch in which Oklahoma City dropped six of their next of 12 contests. The Thunder enter Tuesday at a league-best 33-7 — Mwith three of those defeats of course coming against their rising new nemesis in San Antonio.
“We have a good record and we get credit for those wins and we’ve done a great job in our competitive response,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of his team’s success against OKC. “And that’s just what it is. It doesn’t mean anything more. It doesn’t mean anything less.”
The Spurs tuned up for the Christmas Day extravaganza by waxing the Thunder by 20 points on Dec. 23 at the Frost Bank Center, then turned around two days later and showed it wasn’t a fluke with another double-digit de-pantsing of the champs.
With their blend of big, physical guards — and of course a 7-foot-4 Frenchman in the middle of it all — the Spurs appeared genetically engineered in a lab to defeat the vaunted Thunder.
In the three games against the Spurs, the Thunder produced an offensive rating of 107, worse than the worst team in the NBA (Washington, 108.5). OKC’s 120.5 defensive rating against the Spurs would rank as the third-worst in the league.
“They want the games just as bad as we do,” Oklahoma City forward Jalen Williams said. “It’s just about who can nurture that into something (productive). And we just didn’t do a good job of it, and they did.”
After the Christmas Day massacre in Oklahoma City, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander admitted the Spurs’ 3-0 record in the series proved, for now, they were the better team.
Heading into Tuesday’s rematch, Gilgeous-Alexander attempted to downplay the significance of the next meeting between the top two teams in the Western Conference.
“We gotta win — just like every other night,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, last season’s NBA Most Valuable Player. “You wake up and you want to win a basketball game.”
Like the Thunder, the Spurs have been wilting a bit since Christmas Day.
An eight-game regular-season winning streak ended two days later at home against Utah. The Spurs are 4-5 since last seeing the Thunder, and have not won more than two games in a row during that stretch.
The Spurs head to Oklahoma City to conclude a three-game road trip that began with a five-point victory at Boston and a one-point loss at Minnesota.
Fox said the Spurs’ goals for Tuesday are bigger than sending another message to the Thunder and the league at large.
“We just want to be back on the right side of things,” Fox said.
To make it four in a row over the Thunder, the Spurs understand they need to match the Thunder’s patented physicality.
“I think you only have to look at these last two games to realize where we’re at in the season,” forward Harrison Barnes said after the loss to the Timberwolves.
“We’re playing two good teams. It comes down to the wire both games, extremely physical. That’s the stretch that we’re in right now. This same lesson going to keep showing up for us. And if we don’t pass the test, then this is going to be the result.”
The Spurs are hopeful another meeting with the Thunder will remind them of who they are and how they want to play. They have never been better than during the 10-day stretch of December when they slayed the NBA’s version of Goliath three times.
Unlike grandma’s fruitcake, the Spurs’ Christmas Day victory still tastes sweet two weeks into January.
“Not to say it means anything because it’s just a regular-season game,” Wembanyama said, “but that’s probably the moment in my career where I felt we were at our best so far.”
That is the aim for the Spurs as they return to the scene of their season’s zenith.
They just have to be as good as they can possibly be, one more time.
“It’s going to be a good challenge to go there again,” Wembanyama said. “I know we’re ready.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News