By August Bembel | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-03-07 18:08:24
说真的，作为一支在西部排名靠前、战绩为44胜17负的球队粉丝，在2026年3月观看一场NBA比赛时，心态会是怎样的？可能不会有太大起伏，对吧？大概率只是又一场胜利，或者是偶尔的失利。近来，失利已成罕见之事，但谁在乎呢？
反正马刺肯定能打进季后赛。而且，由于他们在负场数上领先目前排名第五的丹佛掘金 (Denver Nuggets) 多达8场，他们将带着主场优势开启季后赛。同时，由于他们在负场数上也领先第三名的明尼苏达森林狼 (Minnesota Timberwolves) 6场，他们极有可能在第二轮也拥有主场优势。
马刺甚至可能超越俄克拉荷马城雷霆 (Oklahoma City Thunder) 登顶西部第一。卫冕冠军目前输了15场比赛，仅比马刺少输2场。即便无法反超，如果马刺在西部决赛遇到雷霆，他们真的需要感到畏惧吗？
“你不会连续三次输给一支球队……除非他们确实比你更强。”雷霆的最佳球员、或许也是联盟最佳球员的谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 在去年12月谈到马刺时曾这样评价。
如果马刺在本常规赛第三次对阵底特律活塞 (Detroit Pistons)——这支目前东部战绩第一、极有可能打进总决赛的球队——马刺很可能会完成赛季“三杀”。
所以，回到那个问题：作为圣安东尼奥马刺的球迷，看着球队在西部位置如此稳固，常规赛中还有什么能让你感到不安的吗？答案是：一支正在争夺附加赛席位的西部球队，最终可能成为意想不到的对位噩梦。
在昨晚比赛的半场休息时，甚至进入第三节，洛杉矶快船 (L.A. Clippers) 看起来正是那样的噩梦。我关于季后赛的那些宏大梦想，在那一刻开始变得像是一场步步逼近的梦魇。
我不禁想到了1994年的季后赛，那是我记忆中相当清晰的一年，因为那是我完整关注的第一个NBA赛季。西雅图超音速 (Seattle Supersonics) 当时是德国电视台上出镜率最高的球队之一，因为他们拥有德特雷夫·施拉姆夫 (Detlef Schrempf)。虽然我算不上铁杆粉丝，但我挺喜欢那支球队。
他们有球风华丽的肖恩·坎普 (Shawn Kemp)；有能投三分的中锋萨姆·帕金斯 (Sam Perkins)，这在当时也是奇景；还有外线防守令人叹为观止的后场搭档加里·佩顿 (Gary Payton) 和肯德尔·吉尔 (Kendall Gill)。他们当时拥有全联盟最佳战绩，却在首轮负于丹佛掘金。
如果马刺在季后赛首轮遭遇快船，这会成为他们今年的命运吗？平心而论，尽管马刺在背靠背第二场 (SEGABABA) 完成了历史性的逆转，但这仅仅是本赛季马刺与快船的首次交锋。接下来我会密切关注与这支球队的比赛，此前我一直认为他们不过是“科怀加上一些合同工”。
关键总结
- 马刺的主力持球后卫中，没有一个特别擅长外线远投，但三人都非常擅长持球切过三分线并杀向篮筐——通常情况下是这样。但在很长一段时间里，快船的外线防守者让斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)、德阿龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 吃尽了苦头，而且布鲁克·洛佩斯 (Brook Lopez) 还镇守在禁区。洛佩斯虽然不是维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)，且已处于37岁的高龄赛季，但他依然不是那种你在突破时想要遇到的防守者——不幸的是，在防守端，马刺也拿他没什么办法。
- 马刺经常被迫采取深远的跳投，而且出手的人选并不理想。诚然，文班亚马可以随心所欲，但我真的不想再看到福克斯弧顶拔起的三分球砸到前沿，或者斯蒂芬·卡斯尔在偶尔投进一球后就开始糟糕地“手感测试”。
- 阵中有两名球员具备瞬间手感火热的能力——那就是朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 和德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell)。不管福克斯和文班是否是第一和第二进攻点，看到他们的三分出手次数和瓦塞尔、尚帕尼持平甚至更多，都会让我感到不安。
- 投篮分配的一点点改变可能会大有裨益：给文班的任何空接都是好主意，福克斯的任何中距离干拔也是如此。至于三分球，尚帕尼和瓦塞尔应该多投一点，而文班和福克斯少投一点。（是的，文班三分9投4中表现出色，但文班近一半的投篮都来自远射并不是一种可持续的战术。）
- 马刺最近在对阵猛龙的比赛中罚球命中率不足60%——而昨晚的表现更糟，14投仅7中。简单直白地说，马刺必须在这方面做得更好。否则，“砍马刺战术”将成为季后赛对手的常规选项。
- 说了五条，在一场史诗级逆转获胜后，我还没怎么夸奖马刺。事实确实如此，马刺直到第三节中段才开始打出像样的篮球。而且坦率地说，不少马刺球员的表现并不理想。卡斯尔、瓦塞尔以及很多板凳球员的表现都很平庸。
- 福克斯尽管在外线投丢了7个球，但他确实完成了作为第二核心应尽的职责；而文班在仅上场22分钟的情况下展现了极高的效率。然而，真正超出预期并成为最终获胜关键的球员，是贡献了高效20分的尚帕尼和卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant)。
- 在经历了有些坎坷的新秀赛开局后，布莱恩特最近越来越进入状态。他的防守能力——不仅是在外线——非常出色，而且他在进攻端也找到了更好的融入方式。虽然他只得到了5分（一个高光空接和一个高光三分），但他上场时给人一种非常稳健的感觉。他+11的正负值也是全队最高的。
- 有了布莱恩特，马刺可能已经找到了未来的四号位。随着哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 的合同将在本赛季结束后到期，问题可能在于：布莱恩特会在二年级就成为首发吗？他可能需要有人来指导和支持他。而有这样一个人或许会进入自由市场，我想到的那个人昨晚就在场上。
- 如果非要选出我史上最喜欢的角色球员，那不是丹尼·格林 (Danny Green) 或肖恩·巴蒂尔 (Shane Battier)，就是尼古拉斯·巴图姆 (Nicolas Batum)。快船下赛季拥有他的球队选项，但如果他们选择不执行，而他又愿意再打一个赛季，我希望马刺管理层能联系他。37岁的巴图姆依然值得信赖，他能胜任防守和传球，能命中三分，且极少犯错。
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’ Win Over the Clippers
What We Learned from the Spurs’ Win Over the Clippers
Seriously, what can happen watching an NBA game in March 2026 as a fan of a team with a 44-and-17 record in the Western Conference? Not much, right? Probably just another win. Or a loss. Losses have become a rare thing, as of late, but who cares?
The Spurs are going to make the playoffs anyway. And since they’re eight games clear in the loss column of the currently fifth-placed Denver Nuggets, they’re going to enter the playoffs with home-court advantage. And since they’re also six loss-column games clear of the third-placed Minnesota Timberwolves, they’ll very likely have home-court advantage in the second round as well.
The Spurs might even overtake the Oklahoma City Thunder for a first-place finish. The champions have thus far lost 15 games, only two games fewer than the Spurs. And even if they don’t, do the Spurs have to be afraid of OKC, in case they meet them in the Western Conference Finals?
“You don’t lose to a team three times in a row… without them being better than you.” That’s what Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC’s best player and possibly the best player in the league, had to say about the Spurs in December.
And if the Spurs were to play the Detroit Pistons, the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference and therefore not an unlikely team to make the NBA Finals, for a third time this regular season, they probably would beat them for the third time.
So, again, what could upset you as a fan of the San Antonio Spurs, watching a regular-season game with the Spurs sitting so comfortably in the Western Conference? The answer to that question: A Western Conference team that’s in the mix for a play-in spot that turns out to be an unexpected matchup nightmare.
At halftime in last night’s game, even into the third quarter, that’s exactly what the L.A. Clippers looked like. My lofty dreams about the upcoming playoffs started to look like a looming nightmare.
I started thinking about the 1994 playoffs, which I remember rather clearly since that was the first full NBA season I followed. The Seattle Supersonics were one of the most-featured teams on German TV, since they had Detlef Schrempf. And though I wasn’t really a fan, I kinda liked that team.
They had Shawn Kemp, who was spectacular. They had a three-point shooting center in Sam Perkins, which was also spectacular. They had that backcourt pairing of Gary Payton and Kendall Gill, who made perimeter defense a spectacle. They also had the best record in the league. And yet they fell to the Denver Nuggets in the first round.
Could that be the Spurs’ destiny this year, if they matched up with the Clippers? To be perfectly honest, despite the Spurs’ historic comeback on a SEGABABA, this was the first time the Spurs played the Clippers this season. And I’ll be watching the upcoming games against a team that I had thus far considered “Kawhi and some guys on contracts” with a keen eye.
Takeaways
- None of the Spurs’ primary ballhandling guards is particularly good at shooting the ball from beyond the arc, but all three are very good at making their way across the arc and toward the rim with the ball in their hands – normally, that is. The Clippers’ perimeter defenders gave Castle, Fox, and Harper all sorts of trouble for large stretches, and Brook Lopez was lurking in the paint. Lopez isn’t Wembanyama and he’s in his age-37 season, but he is still not someone you’d like to meet at the rim as a driver – and, unfortunately, also not someone the Spurs looked good defending on the other end.
- The Spurs often had to settle for deep jumpers, and it wasn’t necessarily the right guys taking them. Granted, Wemby can and will do whatever he wants, but Fox front-rimming pull-up threes from above or around the break and Castle badly heat-checking after a rare make is something I would love to see less of.
- There are two guys who have a record of getting seriously hot – and that’s Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell. Fox and Wemby taking as many or even more threes than Vassell and Champagnie makes me feel uncomfortable, regardless of them being the number one and two options.
- A bit of a change in shot diet might go a long way: any lob to Wemby is a good idea, as is any pull-up midranger by Fox. As for threes, a bit more from Champagnie and Vassell, and a bit less from Wemby and Fox. (Yes, four out of nine from Wemby is a great return, but Wemby taking about half his field-goal attempts from deep isn’t a sustainable tactic.)
- The Spurs recently shot below 60 percent from the charity stripe against the Raptors – and they did even worse last night, going seven out of fourteen. Plain and simple, the Spurs must get better than this. Otherwise, “Hack-a-Spur” will become a viable option for the opposition in the playoffs.
- Five bullet points in, I have said very few good words about the Spurs after an emphatic comeback victory. That’s true, but the Spurs didn’t start to play good basketball until the mid-third quarter. And, frankly, quite a number of Spurs didn’t have a particularly good game. Castle didn’t, Vassell didn’t, and lots of the bench guys didn’t.
- Fox, despite seven misses from deep, did what can legitimately be expected of a number-two option, while Wemby was extremely productive considering he only played 22 minutes. However, the guys who surpassed what can normally be expected from them, and therefore were big reasons why the game was won in the end, were Julian Champagnie, who scored an efficient 20 points, and Carter Bryant.
- After a very bumpy start to his rookie season, Bryant is getting into the groove more and more as of late. The defensive chops – and not only out on the perimeter – are outstanding, and he is also finding better ways to insert himself on the offensive end. Though he only scored five points – a highlight alley-oop and a highlight three – he looked like a steadying presence out there. His plus-11 plus-minus was a team best.
- With Bryant, the Spurs may have found their future four. With Barnes’ contract expiring at the end of the season, the question is probably this: will Bryant already be a starter as a sophomore? He’d probably need someone to guide him and back him up. Someone could become available, though. And the someone I’m thinking about was on the court last night.
- If I had to pick my favourite role player of all time, it would be either Danny Green, Shane Battier – or Nicolas Batum. The Clippers have a team option on him for next season, but should they choose not to pick it up, and should he choose to play another season, I would want the Spurs’ front office to get in touch. At age 37, the guy can still be trusted to defend competently, pass competently, make threes, and avoid mistakes.
By August Bembel, via Pounding The Rock