By Lee Dresie | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-03-17 18:41:13
我的哥们儿马克 (Marc) 盛情邀请我观看了周一晚上马刺对阵快船的比赛。在斯台普斯中心/Crypto.com球馆与湖人队共用主场多年并（在各方面）屈居人后之后，快船队现在终于拥有了自己的球馆。（显然，还有一支叫“洛杉矶国王 (L.A. Kings)”的球队也在那儿打球，但我对这支球队及其从事的运动一无所知。）
快船队的新家——直觉穹顶球馆 (Intuit Dome) 是一座极佳的现代化球馆，拥有许多对球迷友好的设计，主要是所有餐饮区的排队时间都很短，而且洗手间既干净又私密。球馆内还有一些巧妙且独特的装饰，包括墙上挂着该州每所高中的篮球球衣——这是一个很棒的细节。
史蒂夫·鲍尔默 (Steve Ballmer) 还坚持在环廊不设置电视转播比赛，从而鼓励大家回到座位上，而不是待在走廊里看电视。球馆良好的视野也吸引着人们在比赛进行时回到场内。
为了向维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 致敬，周一晚上是直觉穹顶球馆的“法国文化遗产之夜”。他们发放了另一位法国球员、未来的马刺成员尼古拉斯·巴图姆 (Nicolas Batum) 的摇头娃娃——我立刻把它送给了马克。赛前，文班跑向巴图姆，给了他一个大大的“文班-尼克”式拥抱。Tres bien（非常好）！
球馆内设有“球迷墙 (The Wall)”，那是篮架正后方的一片陡峭看台——其位置和精神内核都与马刺主场的 Jackals 球迷区类似。“球迷墙”是“快船球迷专属”区域，禁止任何人穿着带有客队标志或名称的衣物。坐在该区域的人也不应该为对方球队欢呼。在开球前攀登“球迷墙”之前，我穿着我的马刺衬衫在球馆内外走动。否则，其他的银黑军团粉丝怎么知道要用“Go Spurs Go”来向同道中人打招呼呢？但当我试图穿着马刺衬衫走进“球迷墙”区域时，墙区保安给了我这张警告信：
“哎呀……看来你闯入了‘球迷墙’的禁区。‘球迷墙’是快船球迷的神圣空间，而现在你有点越界了。为对方球队欢呼，或者穿着不是洛杉矶快船主题的装备？在我们地盘这可不行。这是你唯一的一次警告。如果你再次违反‘墙区准则’，你将被请出门外——不予退票，绝不留情，而且，没错，你将受到所有快船国度成员的审判。”
内容还有很长，但你大概明白意思了。这又是另一个同情快船队的理由。对于那些永远不被允许进入“球迷墙”的人来说，那里其实是观察比赛流动的好地方。这是开球时拍摄的视角：
赛前，我重新审视了自己的赛季前预测，结果发现这两支球队的战绩与大家（包括我）的预期大相径庭。进入这场比赛前，马刺队的战绩为 49 胜 17 负（全联盟第二好，也是西部第二），而快船队则是 34 胜 33 负，排在西部第八，落后马刺整整 15 个胜场。这两个战绩都与我在 2025 年 9 月 1 日发表的题为《马刺在这个夏天变强了，但西部大多数球队也是如此》的文章中所预测的大不相同。因为我当时认为上赛季所有的顶尖球队都进步了，所以我的文章曾希望马刺能设法以 6 号种子的身份结束赛季，以便在 2026 年季后赛首轮对阵——你猜对了——快船队：
提醒一下，分区前六名的球队直接晋级季后赛，而 7-10 名的球队需要赢得一两场附加赛才能进入前八。虽然 2025-26 赛季的马刺现实中无法指望挑战去年的前五名，但他们可以将目标对准接下来的三支球队，以及附加赛的失意者独行侠和国王。
让我们把目标定在第 6 名吧。或许在首轮对阵快船。这听起来是不是很合适？
虽然 6 号种子的马刺对阵 3 号种子的快船在 9 月份听起来可能“很合适”，但事实并非如此。根据目前的排名，并假设快船赢下他们的第一场附加赛，我预测马刺与快船的首轮对决可能会得到一些认可。但预测的其余部分极大地低估了马刺的潜力，也低估了快船一贯的掉链子表现。此外，没人能预料到快船会在交易截止日成为“卖家”，送走了詹姆斯·哈登 (James Harden) 和首发中锋伊维察·祖巴茨 (Ivica Zubac)。我也不认为人们会相信快船在交易后战绩反而会有所提升，这主要是因为他们留下的唯一球星科怀·伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard) 一直在打出职业生涯最好的篮球表现。
不幸的是，科怀在上一场比赛中脚踝受伤，周一晚上未能出战。结果，马刺被看好的程度甚至超过了正常情况，让分盘口在 8.5 到 9.5 分之间。科怀的缺阵，以及两支球队实力的对比，或许可以解释为什么在快船队的洛杉矶主场会出现如此多穿着马刺装备的球迷。谢天谢地，关于“球迷墙”穿着的规定并不适用于球馆的其他区域。
赛前，我遇到了这对可爱的夫妇，他们是马刺队的长期季票持有者，正勇闯异乡。我向他们保证，如果他们让我拍张照片，这张照片就会出现在今天的 Pounding the Rock 上——我兑现了诺言：
球馆内到处都是马刺的装备。在当晚的过程中，我看到了以下球员的球衣，按字母顺序排列（最后一个除外）：斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)、邓肯、吉诺比利、哈珀、科内特（！！）、帕克、罗宾逊和文班亚马（包括马刺队和法国国家队的版本）。但最棒的是这完整的一家四口，都穿着卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 的球衣：
马刺战胜快船是一场非常典型的“数据趣谈”式比赛，因为胜负基本上是由一项统计数据决定的。马刺投篮命中率为 46%，罚球命中率为 79%，投中了 10 个三分球，并有 14 次失误。快船的数据几乎一模一样——投篮命中率 48%，罚球命中率 75%，11 个三分球，13 次失误。马刺为什么赢了？因为他们多抢了 10 个进攻篮板，以 22 比 12 领先。卡斯尔抢下了其中的 7 个前场板，第三控卫乔丹·麦克劳林 (Jordan McLaughlin) 也抢到了一个（并由此转化为马刺的一个三分球）。这 10 个额外的进攻篮板让马刺比快船多出手了 4 次投篮和 5 次罚球，直接促成了马刺 4 分的险胜。
我只是希望马刺能守住他们在第三节建立的 24 分领先优势。那样的话，主力球员就能在今晚对阵一支叫“萨克拉门托国王 (Sacramento Kings)”的球队的背靠背比赛前多休息一会儿。和“洛杉矶国王”一样，我对这支球队及其从事的运动一无所知。
在马刺周六下午战胜夏洛特的比赛被时间遗忘之前，还有一点需要说明。当时我正在打高尔夫，错过了那场奇怪的太平洋时间中午 12:30 的比赛，但当我打完球看到马刺击败了黄蜂时非常开心。技术统计显示，“51区”（文班和卡斯尔）差点拿到了我此后将称之为“联手三双 (Tandem Triple Double)”的数据。这描述的是一种两人都没有拿到个人三双，但两人合计贡献了 20 个或更多的篮板和助攻的比赛。事实上，要符合“联手三双”的标准，两人的得分总和应至少达到 40 分，同时合计贡献 20 个篮板和助攻。（或者对于文班来说，合计 20 个盖帽。）
周六，文班得到 32 分、12 个篮板和 8 次助攻，而卡斯尔得到 15 分、7 个篮板和 10 次助攻——两人都没有拿到三双。但两人合计贡献了 47分/19篮板/18助攻——他们只需要再多一个篮板和两次助攻就能达成“联手三双”。既然我已经发明了这个新统计项，让我们拭目以待吧！如果你好奇的话，昨晚文班和卡斯尔合计贡献了 44 分、20 个篮板和 10 次助攻。虽然不是“联手三双”，但也是一个扎实的“联手两双”。
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：Watching the Spurs from the Clippers’ Wall
Watching the Spurs from the Clippers’ Wall
My buddy Marc was kind enough to invite me to the Spurs’ Monday night game against the Clippers. The Clippers now play in their own arena after years of playing second fiddle (in every way) to the Lakers when the teams shared the Staples Center/Crypto.com Arena. (Apparently, another team called the “L.A. Kings” also play there, but I have no personal knowledge about such a team or what sport they might play.)
The Clippers’ new home, the Intuit Dome, is an excellent modern arena with fan-friendly features, primarily very short lines at all concessions and clean and private restrooms. The arena has clever and unique decorations, including basketball jerseys on the walls from every high school in the state – a nice touch.
Steve Ballmer also insisted that no television sets show the game in the concourse, thereby encouraging everyone to get back to their seats instead of hanging out in the hallways watching the game on TV. The good sightlines in the arena also encourage people back into the arena while game action is happening.
To honor Victor Wembanyama, Monday night was French Heritage Night at the Intuit Dome. they gave out a bobble head of another French player, future Spur Nicholas Batum —- which I immediately gave to Marc. Before the game, Victor ran over to Batum and gave him a big Vic–Nic hug. Tres bien!
The arena includes “The Wall,” which is a steep section of seating directly behind one of the baskets – similar in location and spirit to where the Jackals watch Spurs home games. The Wall is a “Clipper Fan Only” section which prohibits anyone wearing anything with the visiting team’s logo or name. People in the Wall seats are also not supposed to cheer the other team. I wore my Spurs shirt while walking to and through the arena before scaling the Wall before tip-off. How else could other fans of the silver and black know to greet a fellow Spurs fan with “Go Spurs Go”? But when I tried walking into the Wall area with the Spurs shirt, the Wall Cop gave me this citation:
“Uh oh.. looks like you’ve crossed into forbidden territory in the Wall. The Wall is a sacred space for Clippers fans only, and right now you’re a little bit out of bounds. Cheering for the other team or rocking gear that’s not all about the LA Clippers? Not in our house. This is your one and only warning. If you break the Wall code again, you’ll be shown the door – no refund, no mercy, and yes you’ll be judged by all of Clipper Nation.”
It went on a bit longer, but you get the idea. Yet another reason to pity the Clippers. For those of you who will never be allowed on the Wall, it is actually a good place to see the flow of the game. This is the view, taken at tip-off:
Before the game, I revisited my preseason projections which demonstrated how the two teams’ records diverged from what everyone (including me) predicted. Going into the game, the Spurs were 49-17 (the second best record in the league, also good for second in the West), while the Clippers were 34-33 and in eighth place in the West, fifteen full games behind the Spurs. Both records differed greatly from what I predicted in my September 1, 2025 article entitled “The Spurs got better this summer, but so did most of the Western Conference.” Because I believed that all the top teams from the prior season had improved, my article hoped the Spurs could somehow finish in the 6th seed to face, you guessed it, the Clippers in Round One of the 2026 playoffs:
As a reminder, the top six teams in the conference make the playoffs, while teams in the 7-10 slots need to win a Play-In game or two to make it into the final eight. While the 2025-26 Spurs cannot realistically expect to challenge the top five from last year, they can set their sights on the next three, along with Play-In losers Mavs and Kings.
Let’s aim for that 6-spot. And maybe face the Clippers in Round One. Does that sound about right?
While a six-seed Spurs facing a three-seed Clippers might have “sounded about right” in September, it was not. Based on the current standings, and assuming the Clippers win their first Play-In Game, I may get some credit for predicting a Spurs – Clippers first round match-up. But the rest of the prediction drastically undersold both the Spurs’ potential and the traditional Clippers’ under-performance. Also, no one would have predicted that the Clippers would be sellers at the trade deadline, trading away both James Harden and starting center Ivica Zubac. I also don’t think people believed that the Clippers would improve their record after that trade, largely because their own remaining star, Kawhi Leonard, has been playing the best basketball in his career.
Unfortunately, Kawhi injured his ankle in the previous game and did not play Monday night. As a result, the Spurs were favored by even more than they would have been otherwise, with the line anywhere between 8.5 and 9.5 points. The absence of Kawhi, and the comparative quality of the two teams, may explain the abundance of Spurs fans wearing their Spurs gear in the Clippers’ Los Angeles arena. Thankfully, the rules about what a fan can wear on The Wall do not apply to the rest of the arena.
Before the game, I ran into this lovely couple, long-time Spurs season ticket holders venturing into a foreign land. I promised them that if they let me take their picture, it would make it into today’s Pounding the Rock – and I delivered:
Inside the arena, Spurs gear was all over the place, During the course of the evening, I saw the following jerseys, in alphabetical order (except the last one): Castle, Duncan, Ginobili, Harper, Kornet (!!), Parker, Robinson, and Wembanyama (both Spurs and French national team). But the best was this entire family of four rocking Carter Bryant jerseys:
The Spurs win over the Clippers was a great Fun With Box Scores game because it was essentially decided by one statistic. The Spurs shot 46% from the floor and 79% from the free throw line, made 10 three-pointers, and had 14 turnovers. The Clippers were almost identical – 48% from the floor, 75% from the line, 11 three-pointers and had 13 turnovers. Why did the Spurs win? They had ten more offensive rebounds, 22 to 12. Castle had 7 of those offensive boards, and third string point guard Jordan McLaughlin had another (which led a Spurs three-pointer). Those 10 extra offensive boards led to the Spurs taking 4 more shots and 5 more free throws than the Clippers, contributing directly to the Spurs 4-point win.
I just wish the Spurs had kept the 24-point lead they built up in the third quarter. That would have allowed the starters to rest a bit more before the back-to-back tonight against some team called the “Sacramento Kings”. As with the L.A. Kings, I have no personal knowledge about such a team or what sport they might play.
One more note before the Spurs’ Saturday afternoon win over Charlotte gets lost in the mists of time. I was golfing and missed the weird 12:30 p.m. PDT game, but I was very happy when I finished golfing and saw the Spurs had defeated the Hornets. The box score showed that Area 51 (Victor and Castle) almost had what I will henceforth call a Tandem Triple Double. This describes a game in which neither player gets a triple-double individually, but the two players combine for 20 or more points, rebounds and assists. In fact, to qualify as a Tandem Triple Double, the two players should score at least 40 points between them to go along with the 20 combined rebounds and assists. (Or with Victor, 20 combined blocked shots.)
On Saturday, Victor had 32 points, 12 boards, and 8 assists, while Castle had 15, 7, and 10 – neither a triple double. But combined, they had 47/19/18 – they needed just one more board and two more assists to get a Tandem Triple Double. Now that I have invented this new statistic, let’s watch for it! If you are curious, last night Victor and Castle combined for 44 points, 20 boards and 10 assists. Not a Tandem Triple Double, but a solid Tandem Double Double.
By Lee Dresie, via Pounding The Rock