By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-01-14 13:00:40
2025年12月31日，星期三，在圣安东尼奥举行的一场NBA比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) (5号) 在上半场持球单打纽约尼克斯队后卫乔丹·克拉克森 (Jordan Clarkson) (00号)。最终马刺队以134-132击败尼克斯队。
有时候，马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 看着斯蒂芬·卡斯尔像一名寻求身体对抗的NFL跑卫一样横冲直撞地杀入禁区，都会为自己这位年轻后卫的身体状况捏一把汗。
“他有时候可能会一头撞上堵墙，”约翰逊说，“然后耸耸肩，若无其事。”
NBA二年级赛季已近半程，卡斯尔就是这样的球员。
他无所畏惧，坚韧不拔，有时也有些不计后果。
而有时候，那堵墙会是赢家。
每当卡斯尔在一次次直杀篮下的过程中痛苦地摔倒，重重地摔在背上、肩膀上或是臀部上时，约翰逊都希望这位去年的NBA年度最佳新秀能从中吸取教训。
“有时候你可以直接走门进去，”约翰逊说。“不必非得撞墙而入。”
马刺队的赛季已正式进入了疲劳期，而卡斯尔就是这一状况的鲜活写照——一个行走的，有时甚至是一瘸一拐的象征。
伤痕累累、浑身是伤——就像某个扎着脏辫的埃维尔·克尼维尔 (Evel Knievel)——卡斯尔仍然坚持出战，即便他在场上的表现呈现在比赛录像或技术统计上并不总是那么光鲜。
“赛季就是这样，”20岁的卡斯尔说道。“你必须咬牙坚持下去。你不能真的缺席比赛。你的身体感觉如何并不重要。你只需要上场去打出表现。”
马刺队即将带着27胜13负的出色战绩，在周四坐镇主场冰霜银行中心迎战密尔沃基雄鹿队。他们目前与丹佛掘金队并列西部第二。
然而，在过去六场比赛中他们输掉了四场，包括周二以98-119不敌西部领头羊雷霆队，那也是他们本赛季分差最大的一场失利。
自圣诞节以来，马刺队的战绩为4胜6负。而在圣诞节当天，他们客场大胜俄克拉荷马城雷霆，为一波常规赛八连胜画上了圆满的句号。
对于球队近期的状况，约翰逊有自己的解释。
“现在是NBA的一月，”约翰逊说。“你随便挑一支你最喜欢的球队，他们很可能在过去一个月里也经历了一段艰难的时期。”
的确，一月篮球的恐怖似乎是席卷联盟的通病。
在周三的比赛开始前，全联盟只有三支球队的连胜场次超过两场——俄克拉荷马城雷霆（四连胜）、洛杉矶快船（三连胜），以及令人费解的印第安纳步行者队，他们取得了三连胜，战绩提升至9胜31负。
“我认为现在每个人，在某种程度上都处于精神、情绪和身体上的疲劳状态，”约翰逊说。“不只是我们。整个联盟都是如此。”
如果说马刺队在过去几周看起来尤其步履蹒跚，那是因为他们确实如此。
2026年1月2日，星期五，在印第安纳波利斯举行的一场NBA篮球赛下半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (5号) 在印第安纳步行者队后卫本尼迪克特·马图林 (Bennedict Mathurin) 的防守下突破上篮。(美联社照片/道格·麦克斯库勒)
从十一月底开始，马刺队经历了一段赛程，他们在34天里有26天都在客场奔波。
紧接着，一月份的赛程又以三次背靠背拉开序幕。
“现在是赛季中期，每个人都很累，但这不能是借口，”后卫德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 说。“我们必须打得更好。”
这段疲劳期似乎对马刺队备受赞誉的后场组合打击最为沉重。
当马刺队高歌猛进时，卡斯尔、福克斯和新秀后卫迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 是球队取胜的三大功臣。
圣诞节过后，这个三人组和球队其他人一样，基本上都陷入了挣扎。
在12月25日以来的10场比赛中，福克斯场均得到尚可的17分。然而，他的效率却出现了断崖式下滑。
在此期间，福克斯的投篮命中率仅为47.2%，三分命中率更是低至惨淡的17.2%。
卡斯尔场均得到14.5分，整体命中率为35.3%，三分线外命中率为21.6%。哈珀场均7.1分，投篮命中率为32.6%，三分命中率为25%。
由于马刺队正经历全队范围的三分失准，对手得以派遣更多防守球员收缩到禁区，从而遏制了后卫们在前两个月所能获得的大量禁区触球机会。
“对手研究了我们赛季初的打法，并尝试用不同的方式来防守我们，”卡斯尔说。“赛季就是进行到了这个阶段，我们必须挺过这些比赛。每支球队都会经历这些。我不认为这是什么值得我们过度反应的事情。”
毫无疑问，比赛、旅途和恼人的小伤正在累积。
周二在俄克拉荷马城，哈珀出战了他本赛季的第30场比赛，比他去年在罗格斯大学整个大一赛季的出场次数还要多一场。
卡斯尔则正带着一系列伤病坚持比赛，包括在12月29日对阵克利夫兰的比赛中扭伤的左手拇指。
“赛季第一个月过后，没人是100%健康的，”福克斯说。“到了季后赛，没人是精力充沛的。所以这不能成为任何人的借口，因为你知道每个人都在经历同样的事。你必须想办法挺过去。”
约翰逊说，这正是一支年轻球队必须通过亲身经历来学习的又一课。
“这个月考验的是你的精神、身体和意志，”约翰逊说。“这些比赛将是我们必须经历的学习过程。它们会让我们受益匪浅。”
要想熬过赛季的疲劳期，并坚持到下个月全明星周末的喘息之机，马刺队唯一的出路就是勇往直前。
“我们必须不断为自己充电，然后回到工作中来，”约翰逊说。
与此同时，那位总是横冲直撞的卡斯尔，周四来上班时或许该带个头盔——橄榄球头盔、防撞头盔，或者两者都要。
卡斯尔发誓，他并非有意在每一次埋头冲向另一堵墙时，都让他的教练心脏受到一次小小的惊吓。
这一切只是自然而然地发生了。
“我不是故意的，”卡斯尔说。“我尽可能地避免摔倒，但这很难。这就是那种你必须咬牙挺过去的事情之一。”
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) tries to save a loose ball during the first half of an NBA game with the New York Knicks in San Antonio, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. The Spurs beat the Knicks 134-132.
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) dunks over Cleveland Cavaliers forward Dean Wade (32) during the second half of an NBA game at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. The Spurs fell 113-101 to the Cavaliers.
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) drives past Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren (7) during the second quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.
San Antonio Spurs Stephon Castle (5) loses control of the ball In the second half on Saturday, Dec. 27,2025 at the Frost Bank Center. Utah Jazz defeated the San Antonio Spurs 127-114.
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：Why the struggling Spurs have hit a wall since Christmas win
Why the struggling Spurs have hit a wall since Christmas win
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) drives the ball on New York Knicks guard Jordan Clarkson (00) during the first half of an NBA game in San Antonio, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. The Spurs beat the Knicks 134-132.
There are times Spurs coach Mitch Johnson watches Stephon Castle careen into the paint, like an NFL running back heat-seeking contact, and fears for his young guard’s physical well-being.
“At times he may run into brick walls,” Johnson said, “and shrug his shoulders afterwards.”
Nearing the midway point of his sophomore NBA season, Castle is who he is.
He is fearless. He is relentless. He is sometimes reckless.
And sometimes, the wall wins.
With every painful tumble Castle takes on his constant beelines to the rim, landing hard on his back or his shoulder or his backside, Johnson hopes last year’s NBA Rookie of the Year will learn a lesson.
“Sometimes you can walk through the door,” Johnson said. “And you won’t have to run into the brick wall.”
The Spurs’ season has officially hit the dog days, and Castle is a walking — and sometimes limping — emblem of that.
Banged up, beat up, bruised up — like some dreadlocked Evel Knievel — Castle keeps showing up on the job, even if his night’s work doesn’t always look pretty on film or in the box score.
“That’s just how the season is,” the 20-year-old Castle said. “You’ve got to fight through it. You can’t really take games off. It really doesn’t matter how your body is feeling. You just have to go out there and perform.”
The Spurs head into Thursday’s game against Milwaukee at the Frost Bank Center at a healthy 27-13, tied with Denver for second place in the Western Conference.
Yet they have lost four of their past six, including a 119-98 decision at conference-leading Thunder on Tuesday that ranks as their most lopsided of the season.
The Spurs are 4-6 since Christmas Day, when a resounding victory at Oklahoma City capped an eight-game regular-season winning streak.
Johnson has an explanation what has been going on with his team lately.
“It’s January in the NBA,” Johnson said. “You can probably pick your favorite team and they’ve probably had a rough patch in the last month.”
Indeed, the horrors of January basketball seem to be a league-wide epidemic.
Entering Wednesday’s slate of games, only three teams could boast a winning streak of longer than two games — Oklahoma City (four), the Los Angeles Clippers (three) and, inexplicably, the Indiana Pacers, who have won three in a row to improve to 9-31.
"I think everybody right now, they’re mentally, emotionally, physically fatigued in some capacity,” Johnson said. "Not just us. The whole league.”
If the Spurs look like they have been particularly dragging for the past few weeks, it’s because they are.
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) drives to the basket while being defended by Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
Beginning at the end of November, the Spurs went through a stretch in which they spent 26 of 34 days on the road.
That folded into a January slate that began with three back-to-backs.
“It’s the middle of the season and everybody is tired, but that’s no excuse,” guard De’Aaron Fox said. “We have to be able to play better.”
The dog days appear to have hit the Spurs’ celebrated backcourt hardest of all.
When the Spurs were rolling, Castle, Fox and rookie guard Dylan Harper were among the top three reasons why.
That trio has largely struggled — along with the rest of the team — since Christmas.
In 10 games since Dec. 25, Fox is averaging an acceptable 17 points. His efficiency, however, has dropped off a cliff.
Over that span, Fox has made 47.2% of his shots, including a woeful 17.2% from 3-point range.
Castle is averaging 14.5 points, making 35.3% overall and 21.6% from beyond the arc. Harper is averaging 7.1 points and shooting 32.6% from the field and 25% from the 3-point line.
With the Spurs going through a team-wide 3-point outage, opponents have been able to send extra defenders to the paint to stymie many of the paint touches the guards were getting for the first two months.
“Teams watch how we’re playing earlier in the season and trying to guard us different,” Castle said. “It’s just that point in the season where we’ve just got to get through these games. Everybody goes through it. I don’t think it’s anything we’re overreacting about.”
There is no doubt the games and the travel and the nagging ailments are adding up.
Harper played in his 30th game of the season Tuesday in Oklahoma City, one more than he logged all of last season as a freshman at Rutgers.
Castle is playing through a host of bumps, including a sprained left thumb he suffered in a Dec. 29 game against Cleveland.
“After the first month of the season, nobody’s 100%,” Fox said. “When you get to the playoffs, nobody’s fresh. So that’s not an excuse for any singular person, because you know everybody’s going through it. You have to find ways to push through it.”
That is just another lesson a young team must learn by experience, Johnson said.
“This is the month that tests you mentally, physically, and emotionally,” Johnson said. “These games will be learning experiences that we need to go through. They will serve us well.”
When it comes to surviving the season’s dog days and making it to the respite of next month’s All-Star break, the Spurs’ only way out is through.
“We’ve got to just keep filling our cups up and coming to work,” Johnson said.
The ever-careening Castle, meanwhile, might want to bring a helmet to work Thursday — either football or crash or both.
Castle swears he doesn’t mean to give his coach a mild heart attack on every headlong drive into another brick wall.
It just kind of happens.
“I ain’t trying to do it on purpose,” Castle said. “I try to stay off the floor as much as I can, but it’s hard. It’s one of those things you just have to push through.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News