By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-01-17 12:32:21
2026年1月15日，星期四，圣安东尼奥，在弗罗斯特银行中心，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊在对阵密尔沃基雄鹿队的比赛中向他的球队发出指示。
在马刺队痛击他执教的密尔沃基雄鹿队后，道格·里弗斯 (Doc Rivers) 对马刺给予了高度评价。
“他们阵容深厚，年轻有活力，运动能力出众，而且执教有方，”里弗斯说道，他以1179场胜利在NBA常规赛教练胜场榜上排名第六。
“这支篮球队的前途不可限量。就是现在。我知道人们都在说，未来可期，但未来就是现在。”
周四在弗罗斯特银行中心以119-101战胜雄鹿队后，马刺队迎来了本赛季的半程节点。他们以28胜13负的战绩与丹佛掘金队并列西部第二，同时也是联盟第三好的战绩，这也是自2016-17赛季（当时半程取得32胜，最终战绩61胜21负）以来，球队在赛季前半程取得的最多胜场。
对于一支上赛季仅取得34场胜利、并创队史纪录地连续第六年无缘季后赛的球队来说，这些都是令人振奋的数据，尤其是考虑到维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 因伤缺席了14场比赛。
但是，自激动人心的圣诞大战客场战胜俄克拉荷马雷霆以来，马刺队在进入周六晚主场对阵明尼苏达森林狼的比赛前，战绩仅为5胜6负。主教练米奇·约翰逊认为，在球队重建之旅的这个阶段，他们仍有巨大的提升空间，他将此过程称为“美丽的挣扎与有趣的战斗”。
“我们已经展现出做成一番大事的潜力，但现实是，我们还一无所成，距离我们真正想要达到的目标还有很长的路要走，”约翰逊说。“所以，一方面你不能跳过任何步骤，要保持清醒的认知；另一方面，你又充满竞争性，渴望立刻拥有一切。在这种状态下生活很有趣。”
尤其是当你拥有文班亚马作为你的建队核心时。
“他非常出色。他确实是，”里弗斯说。“他的投篮能力，他创造投篮机会的能力，让他几乎与众不同。很有趣，去年我认为他的低位进攻还不够多。今年，他两者兼顾。他找到了完美的结合点。”
但不仅仅是文班亚马让里弗斯对马刺充满信心。他也喜欢总经理布莱恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 围绕这位22岁的法国人所打造的阵容。
“维克托令人难以置信，他是球队的中枢，但他们拥有一支优秀的团队，”里弗斯说。“他们还有一群强硬、年轻、优秀的后卫和球员，你也必须去应对。”
将德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)（去年二月通过交易获得）和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)（去年六月以榜眼签选中）加入到已包含2024-25赛季年度最佳新秀斯蒂芬·卡斯尔的强大后场阵容中，是里弗斯看好马刺的另一个原因。
“他为球队增添了另一位关键先生，”里弗斯在谈到福克斯时说。“每个公司都需要一个能敲定生意的人。你必须完成交易，而他在整个职业生涯中都是最出色的关键先生之一。你有文班作为他们的关键先生，现在又有了福克斯，一支球队拥有两位关键先生，而且他们两人也都能传球。福克斯在比赛末段的中距离进攻能力无人能及。”
里弗斯在19岁的哈珀身上看到了未来的明星。
2026年1月15日，星期四，在圣安东尼奥的弗罗斯特银行中心，第二节比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫迪伦·哈珀（2号）在密尔沃基雄鹿队后卫小凯文·波特（7号）的防守下投篮命中。
“他是我很长一段时间以来见过的在篮下终结能力最强的年轻球员，”里弗斯说。“他能突到篮下并完成得分。你很少在年轻球员身上看到这一点。通常他们刚进联盟时，会因为身体对抗和对手的臂展而在篮下挣扎。但对他来说似乎轻而易举，所以他们不断在为球队补强。”
尽管如此，正如约翰逊所说，球队仍有很大的提升空间，文班亚马也认同这一观点。
“在41场比赛后，我的评估是我们可以击败任何对手，而且我们也几乎击败了所有强队，”他用他的母语法语对法国记者说。“但我们仍然太不稳定，我们仍然因自身失误而付出沉重代价。我感觉我们在赛季初取得的进步确实极大地提升了我们的上限，而现在，我们需要提高的是我们的下限。”
球队下半赛季的目标之一是继续提升防守。在周六的比赛前，马刺队的防守效率为112.1，排名联盟第三。但他们希望在防守端做得更好。
“对于那些进入季后赛并给自己机会赢球的球队来说，他们通常是联盟中防守更好的球队，”福克斯说。“所以，你必须能够以此为立身之本，因为当你投篮不中时，如果你的防守依然出色，无论对手是谁，你仍然有机会赢球。”
说到投篮，马刺队也希望在这一领域有所改善。自从圣诞大战战胜俄克拉荷马雷霆以来，马刺在10场比赛中的三分命中率仅为惨淡的28.4%。而在对阵密尔沃基的比赛中，他们投进了16记三分，是近12场比赛中最多的一次。他们在那场比赛中出手了37次三分，命中率高达43.2%，远超他们一月份的平均水平。
“继续投，”马刺队的第六人凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson)说。“你必须继续投，没有别的办法。没有什么特别的法子，就是继续投。当球都投进时，我们都很开心。现在当你处于空位时，你必须继续出手。没有别的可说的。我们需要每个人都带着自信去投篮。”
对阵雄鹿队的火热手感，源于米奇·约翰逊在周四上午的赛前走场训练中对投篮的强调。凯尔登·约翰逊和里弗斯都对这位38岁的教练在他执教马刺的第一个完整赛季中所做的工作表示赞扬。上赛季，格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 在赛季开始五场比赛后因中风缺阵，并最终结束了他长达29年的名人堂执教生涯，之后米奇·约翰逊便担任了代理主教练。
“米奇对我们这支年轻的队伍来说太棒了，”凯尔登·约翰逊说。“他允许我们做自己，允许我们用自己的方式建立化学反应和联系。我觉得他的个性非常适合我们这群年轻人。他会和我们一起欢笑、开玩笑，但当需要专注时，他就会全神贯注。”
里弗斯表示，在波波维奇手下担任了六个赛季的助理教练后，米奇·约翰逊“做得非常出色”。
“过去几天我很有幸能和波波维奇来回交流——天呐，我真想念这家伙在这里的日子。就是他的那种存在感，”里弗斯说道。他曾在1994-96年间为马刺效力，度过了他13年NBA球员生涯的最后两年，当时波波维奇是球队的总经理。
“（波波维奇）通过提拔米奇，为球队的未来做好了规划，这是一项了不起的工作。你可以在他们所做的每一件事中看到这一点——这支球队身上有马刺的烙印。”
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) and San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) talk after playing against each other at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. The Spurs defeated the Bucks, 119-109.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson talks to his team during a third quarter timeout against the Milwaukee Bucks at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. The Spurs defeated the Bucks, 119-109.
San Antonio Spurs guard De’aaron Fox (4) looks to make a pass during the second quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama (1) gets congratulation from San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson in a Spurs preseason opener vs. Guangzhou Loong-Lions on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 at Frost Bank Center.
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：Spurs reach midway mark of season marked by ‘beautiful struggle’
Spurs reach midway mark of season marked by ‘beautiful struggle’
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson signals to his team as they play against the Milwaukee Bucks at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
Doc Rivers gave the Spurs a ringing endorsement after they pounded his Milwaukee Bucks.
“They are deep, they are young, they are athletic, they are well-coached,” said Rivers, who ranks sixth in regular season NBA coaching wins with 1,179.
“The sky is the limit for this basketball team. It’s now. I know people are saying it could be now.”
The Spurs hit the halfway point of the season with their 119-101 victory over the Bucks on Thursday at the Frost Bank Center tied with Denver for second in the West and for the third-best record in the NBA at 28-13, which marks the most wins by the club in the first half of the season since 2016-17 when it had 32 and finished 61-21.
For a team that won just 34 games last season and missed the playoffs for a franchise-record sixth straight year, those are some heady facts, especially when you factor in that Victor Wembanyama has missed 14 games with injuries.
But with the Spurs entering Saturday night’s home game against Minnesota just 5-6 since their stirring Christmas Day win at Oklahoma City, coach Mitch Johnson sees plenty of room for improvement as they continue what he called “the beautiful struggle and the fun battle” of this portion of the franchise’s rebuilding journey.
“We’ve shown we have potential to do a lot of great things, and the reality is we’ve not done anything and we’re a long way from being really where we want to be,” Johnson said. “And so, you’re not skipping steps and you’re keeping perspective over here, and then you’re competitive as heck and you want it all right now over there, and it’s a fun place to live.”
Especially when you have Wembanyama as your franchise player.
“He’s pretty good. He really is,” Rivers said. “His shot separates him from almost everybody, his ability to create shots. So funny, last year, I didn’t think he posted enough. This year, he is doing both. He’s got the perfect mix.”
But it’s not just Wembanyama that has Rivers believing in the Spurs. He likes what general manager Brian Wright has built around the 22-year-old Frenchman.
“Victor’s unbelievable and he’s the hub, but they have a good team,” Rivers said. “They have a bunch of tough, young, good guards and players that you have to deal with as well.”
Adding De’Aaron Fox (via a trade last February) and Dylan Harper (selected second-overall in the draft last June) to a potent backcourt mix that includes 2024-25 Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle is another reason Rivers is high on the Spurs.
“He gives them another closer,” Rivers said of Fox. “Every corporation needs a closer. You got to close the deal, and he’s been one of the better closers throughout his career. You have Wemby who’s their closer. You have Fox, having two closers on a team, and both of them will make passes as well. Fox’s in-between game at the end of the game is as good as anyone.”
Rivers sees a future star in Harper, 19.
San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper (2) makes a shot over Milwaukee Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. (7) during the second quarter at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
“He’s as good of a young player that I’ve seen in a long time at the rim,” Rivers said. “He gets to the rim and finishes. You don’t see that very often with a young player. Usually they struggle at the rim when they come to the league because of the contact and the length. It seems like it’s easy for him, so they keep adding to their team.”
Still, as Johnson said, there’s plenty of room for improvement, a belief Wembanyama shares.
“My assessment after 41 games is that we can beat anybody, and we’ve beaten almost everybody,” he said in his native tongue to French reporters. “But we’re still way too inconsistent, we still suffer a lot from our own mistakes. I feel like the progress we made at the beginning of the season really raised our ceiling a lot, and now it’s our floor that we need to raise.”
One of the team’s second half goals is to continue to improve defensively. The Spurs entered Saturday’s game ranked third in the league in defensive rating at 112.1. But they want to be even better on that end of the floor.
“For teams that go into the playoffs and give themselves a chance to win, it’s usually the better defensive teams in the league,” Fox said. “So, you have to be able to hang your hat on that because when you’re not making shots, if your defense is still great, you still give yourself a chance to win regardless of who you’re playing against.”
Speaking of shots, the Spurs hope to improve in that area as well. After shooting a putrid 28.4% from beyond the arc in their 10 games since the Christmas Day win at Oklahoma City, the Spurs made 16 3s against Milwaukee, their most in 12 games. They attempted 37 shots from deep against the Bucks for a success rate of 43.2%, far surpassing their January average.
“Keep shooting,” Spurs sixth man Keldon Johnson said. “You got to keep shooting. It ain’t no way around it. It’s no special method. You got to keep shooting. When all the shots were going in, we were all happy. When you’re open now, you got to continue to shoot the ball. There’s nothing else to it. We need everybody to be shooting with confidence.”
The hot night against the Bucks came after Mitch Johnson emphasized shooting at the team’s Thursday morning walkthrough. Keldon Johnson and Rivers both praised the job the 38-year-old coach has done in his first full season guiding the Spurs after serving as acting coach last year following the stroke that sidelined Gregg Popovich five games into the season and eventually ended his 29-year Hall of Fame run.
“Mitch has been amazing for our young group,” Keldon Johnson said. “He allows us to be ourselves. He allows us to build our chemistry and our bonds in our own ways. I feel like he’s an amazing personality for our young group. He laughs and jokes with us, but when it’s time to lock in, he’s locked in.”
Rivers said Mitch Johnson is "doing an amazing job” after learning under Popovich as an assistant for six seasons.
“I had a great chance to go back and forth with Pop over the last couple of days — dang, I miss that guy around here. Just his presence,” said Rivers, who spent the final two years of his 13-season NBA playing career with the Spurs from 1994-96, when Popovich was their general manager.
“(Popovich) did an amazing job of setting up the franchise by bringing Mitch along. And you can see it in everything they do — it looks like the Spurs.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News