By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-02-28 14:30:49
2025年12月31日，周三，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 (5) 在对阵纽约尼克斯队的上半场比赛中传球。
纽约——2月10日晚，在洛杉矶市中心的一间更衣室里，杰里米·索汉 (Jeremy Sochan) 收拾好行囊，告别了队友。
马刺刚刚以136-108大胜湖人，在那场主力提前打卡、替补球员倾巢出动的比赛中，索汉的出场时间恰好为零。
索汉未上场 (DNP) 的原因很快便水落石出：马刺正在敲定一份买断协议，这让这位几乎跌出轮换的前锋能够前往纽约，尝试挽救自己的职业生涯。
在击败湖人豪取五连胜后，马刺马不停蹄地准备第二天晚上在旧金山的另一场比赛。而索汉没有随队前往。
“这很难，”这位2022年选秀大会的纵览第9顺位新秀后来在纽约告诉记者，“在我的整个职业生涯中，即使是在进入NBA之前，我从未真正坐过冷板凳，也没经历过无法上场的情况。”
周日，当索汉在麦迪逊广场花园首次面对旧主时，情况似乎并没有太大改观。
索汉只是从一条板凳的末端换到了另一条：在为尼克斯出战的5场比赛中，他场均仅出战7.1分钟。
与此同时，马刺依然保持着索汉离队时的那种赢球势头。
2026年2月19日，周四，在纽约举行的一场NBA篮球赛下半场，底特律活塞队后卫凯德·坎宁安 (2) 突破纽约尼克斯队前锋索汉 (20) 的防守。(美联社照片/Yuki Iwamura)
马刺在周四以126-110大胜布鲁克林篮网，开启了他们的纽约客场之旅。接下来他们将对阵尼克斯，冲击12连胜。
自1月31日在夏洛特失利以来，马刺从未输球。目前的11连胜是该俱乐部自2015-16赛季以来最长的连胜纪录。
“我们赢过发挥出色的比赛，也赢过发挥不佳的比赛，”全明星后卫达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 表示，“我们经历过大胜，也打过一些关键球。我们正在通过各种方式寻找赢球的途径。”
在几名马刺球员看来，球队近期火热状态的起源可以追溯到去年12月的拉斯维加斯。
全队在“罪恶之城”度过了五天，参加了NBA杯的比赛，最终在冠军争夺战中不敌纽约。
马刺在拉斯维加斯的征程正值此前八连胜期间，那是他们本赛季此前的最长连胜记录（联盟并不将NBA杯决赛计入常规赛排名）。
那既是一次出差，也是一次团建。
“我们在拉斯维加斯度过了非常愉快的时光，这像是一次团队建设，”前锋朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 说道，“从那时起，我们便致力于成为一支紧密团结的球队，并将赢球放在首位。这就是我们一直在做的，现在我们也看到了回报。”
尚帕尼这样描述马刺在拉斯维加斯总结出的准则：
“没有自我，没有个人利益，只有纯粹的篮球。”
相比之下，尼克斯在拉斯维加斯之后似乎经历了截然不同的轨迹。
在结束NBA杯的赛程后，纽约一度陷入挣扎，在接下来的15场比赛中输掉了8场，直到近期才重回正轨。尼克斯在周日的对决之前，在过去的17场比赛中取得了13胜4负的战绩。
2025年12月16日，周二，在拉斯维加斯举行的NBA杯冠军赛中，纽约尼克斯队中锋卡尔-安东尼·唐斯 (32) 在球队战胜圣安东尼奥马刺队后与队友庆祝。(美联社照片/Ian Maule)
尼克斯在NBA杯后的失利之一发生在12月31日的圣安东尼奥，当时尚帕尼命中了刷新队史纪录的11记三分球，带领马刺在除夕夜以134-132险胜。
“对我们来说，我们正努力冲击12连胜，”福克斯说，“第一场他们赢了，第二场我们赢了，所以我猜他们会非常想要赢下这一场。”
马刺教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 在球队最近的连胜中感受到了一种不同的氛围。
约翰逊表示，即使马刺在12月豪取八连胜时，他们更多是一支“势头型球队”。
当时，当局面顺利时，他们表现得非常出色，但当比赛陷入困境时，他们很难扭转局面。
“我们的上限非常高，但我们一直在努力保持一致性，”约翰逊说，“这个月对我们来说很有趣，因为我们经历了一些困难，必须努力找到稳定性，并寻求不同的赢球方式。”
马刺目前的连胜始于2月1日主场战胜奥兰多魔术。那场比赛前，由于从夏洛特起飞的航班延误，球队直到距离开球时间仅剩4个半小时才在圣安东尼奥国际机场降落。
此后，马刺在面对阵容残缺的俄克拉荷马城雷霆时赢得并不漂亮。此外，他们还大胜了独行侠（两次）、湖人、勇士、太阳、国王和篮网。
他们在底特律经历了一场惨烈的肉搏战并最终获胜，又在多伦多上演了“死里逃生”的神奇逆转。
“我认为这证明了我们的做法是有效的，”尚帕尼说，“看到我们收获了一些回报，这很有趣。”
周日在麦迪逊广场花园，马刺希望将尼克斯加入他们的败将名单。
而索汉则希望亲手终结这支他在身披银黑战袍时就开始的马刺连胜。
马刺将与他们的前队友一起，看看在过去的三个星期里，哪些东西改变了，而哪些东西依然如旧。
“我们还有很长的路要走，”尚帕尼说，“我们有一个目标，必须继续为之努力。”
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 on hot streak heading into meeting with Jeremy Sochan, Knicks
Spurs on hot streak heading into meeting with Jeremy Sochan, Knicks
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) passes the ball during the first half of an NBA game with the New York Knicks in San Antonio, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025.
NEW YORK — On the night of Feb. 10 in a locker room in downtown Los Angeles, Jeremy Sochan packed his bags and said his goodbyes.
The Spurs had just polished off a 136-108 romp over the Lakers, a clear-the-bench game in which Sochan logged exactly zero minutes.
The reason for Sochan’s DNP soon became clear. The Spurs were finalizing a buyout agreement that would eventually allow the little-used forward to try and salvage his career in New York.
After beating the Lakers to claim their fifth win in a row, the Spurs were headed to another game the next night in San Francisco. Sochan would not be going with them.
"It’s tough,” Sochan, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2022 draft, later told reporters in New York. “In my whole career, even looking past the NBA, I’ve never really been sitting on the bench and getting DNPs.”
As Sochan meets up with his former team for the first time Sunday at Madison Square Garden, not much has changed.
Sochan has traded the end of one bench for another, averaging 7.1 minutes in the five games he has played for the Knicks.
The Spurs, meanwhile, are riding the same winning streak they were on when Sochan was still on the team.
Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (2) drives past New York Knicks forward Jeremy Sochan (20) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Having opened their New York residency by blasting the Brooklyn Nets 126-110 on Thursday, the Spurs face the Knicks while taking aim at their 12th consecutive victory.
The Spurs have not lost since falling in Charlotte on Jan. 31. Their 11-game winning streak represents the club’s longest since 2015-16.
“We’ve won games where we played well and we’ve won games where we haven’t played well,” All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox said. “We’ve had blowouts and some close games. There are a variety of ways we’re finding to win.”
The way several Spurs tell it, the origins of the Spurs’ latest hot streak trace back to Las Vegas in December.
The team spent five days in Sin City for an NBA Cup run that ended with a loss against New York in the championship game.
The Spurs’ Vegas run was in the middle of an eight-game winning streak that until now was the club’s longest of the season (the league does not count the Cup title game as part of the regular season standings).
It was a business trip and a bonding trip.
“We had a really good time in Vegas, like a team thing,” forward Julian Champagnie said. “From then, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to become a tight-knit team and put winning first. That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’re seeing the benefits of it.”
Champagnie describes the approach the Spurs uncovered in Las Vegas this way:
“No egos. No personal agendas. Just good hoops.”
The Knicks, meanwhile, appear to have taken a different experience from their time in Las Vegas.
New York stumbled out of the NBA Cup tournament losing eight of their next 15 before righting the ship. The Knicks enter Sunday’s matchup having gone 13-4 over their past 17 games.
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) celebrates with teammates after his team’s victory against the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup championship basketball game Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
One of the Knicks’ post-Cup defeats came Dec. 31 in San Antonio, when Champagnie made a franchise-record 11 3-pointers to lift the Spurs to a 134-132 New Year’s Eve victory.
“For us, we’re trying to get to a 12-game winning streak,” Fox said. “They beat us the first time, we beat them the second time, so I would guess they’re going to really want this one.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson senses a different vibe around his team during its latest winning streak.
Even when the Spurs were winning eight in a row in December, Johnson said, they were more of a “momentum team.”
They soared when things were going well but had trouble turning games that were working against them.
“Our highs were really high, but we were trying to continue to grasp that consistency,” Johnson said. “It’s been fun for us this month to have some struggle and have to find some consistency and different ways to win.”
The Spurs’ current winning streak began Feb. 1 with a home victory over Orlando that involved a delayed flight getting out of Charlotte that did not land at San Antonio International Airport until 4½ hours before tipoff time.
Since then, the Spurs have won ugly against an undermanned Oklahoma City squad. They have posted blowout wins over Dallas (twice), the Lakers, Golden State, Phoenix, Sacramento and Brooklyn.
They had to fight tooth and nail for a black-and-blue triumph in Detroit. They had to pull a rabbit out of a hat in Toronto.
“I think it’s proof that what we’re doing is working,” Champagnie said. “It’s fun to see us reap some of the benefits.”
Sunday at Madison Square Garden, the Spurs will look to add the Knicks to their hit list.
Sochan, meanwhile, will hope to put an end to a San Antonio winning streak that was in progress when he was still in silver and black.
Together, the Spurs and their former teammate will get to see how much has changed in the past three weeks — and how much has not.
“We have a long way to go,” Champagnie said. “We have a goal. We have to keep chipping at it.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News