By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-03-18 14:25:31
从圣安东尼奥南端到高档的自治领区 (Dominion)，以及两者之间的每一个角落，人们都在谈论着马刺队和季后赛。
“从我的角度来看，我认为‘兴奋’是这座城市的关键词，”马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道，“代表那些充满自豪感的球迷——而不是我自己——发声的话，我认为那是他们深信自己理应到达的位置。”
如果马刺队（51胜18负）能在周四晚上主场击败菲尼克斯（39胜30负），他们就将达成目标。
随着周二晚上在萨克拉门托以 132-104 大胜国王队——此役马刺队命中了创队史纪录的 25 记三分球——以及太阳队在明尼苏达以 104-116 落败，马刺队锁定西部前六、直接晋级季后赛席位的“魔术师”已降至 2。
马刺队自 2018-19 赛季以来就再未进入过季后赛，长达六年的“季后赛荒”也创下了队史最长纪录。自然地，球队里的每个人都感到兴奋，但这位在上赛季仅取得 34 胜 48 负后带领球队实现戏剧性逆转的核心人物，希望大家能保持专注，力争至少拿到 60 胜，并在每场比赛中持续进步。
“有很多期待，但我们仍需活在当下，首先要打好 82 场常规赛，”维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 说道，“我们不能跳过任何步骤，但这确实令人超级兴奋……作为孩子，这也是我梦寐以求的事情，所以我已经在展望了。但我们必须保持专注。”
马刺队在对阵国王队的比赛中全神贯注。全队共有七人得分上双，其中文班亚马在 22 分钟内 14 投 7 中贡献 18 分和 8 个篮板。球队全场送出赛季新高的 41 次助攻，豪取三连胜，自 2 月初以来的战绩提升至全联盟最佳的 19 胜 2 负。
周二晚上也是马刺队连续第九场得分超过 115 分。在过去的 15 场比赛中，他们场均得到 122.3 分，而对手场均仅为 110.1 分。
“我们在攻防转换和掌控节奏方面做得很好，”约翰逊表示，“在过去一个月左右的时间里，我们有时能打出这样的表现。我们的投篮命中率也保持在不错的水平。”
与文班亚马一样，约翰逊希望马刺队在最后 13 场比赛中继续专注于日常的进步，但他也没有回避有关季后赛的问题，包括关于他们缺乏季后赛经验的质疑。
球队前七名得分手中，有六人从未打过一场季后赛，轮换阵容中只有卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 和哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 两人曾效力过冠军球队。
“我们承认缺乏经验，因为这是事实，我们不会撒谎，”约翰逊说道，“我们也不会像躲避阴影或乌云那样回避它。它是真实存在的。人们可以据此发表任何看法、进行逻辑推演或预测。但我们不会那样做。我们一整年都没有做过任何预测。我们明天醒来，处理好当下的事情，投入工作并迎接挑战。”
“我们认为，如果我们能做到这一点，以正确的心态对待比赛、过程或眼前的任何事情，我想我们会没事的。”
德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 在对阵老东家的比赛中得到 15 分、6 次助攻和 5 个篮板，他在九个赛季中仅进过一次季后赛，但他坚信自己和队友们已经准备好迎接挑战。
“我们认为我们提前完成了进度，”他说道，“我们觉得凭借更衣室里的这些球员，以及总是让我们做好准备的教练组，我们可以去竞争总冠军。所以人们会谈论我们可能拥有或缺失的经验，但归根结底，你得系好鞋带上场击败我们。这就是我们的感受，无论面对哪支球队，我们都充满信心。”
德阿隆·福克斯谈马刺队的防守是他们连胜的关键。pic.twitter.com/AMcVC1RLJ8
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) 2026年3月18日
当然，他们还有处于这一切核心位置的文班亚马。
“除了我的妻子（前德克萨斯理工大学和圣安东尼奥 FEAST 篮球明星瑞希·考德威尔 (Recee Caldwell)）之外，他可能是我见过的胜负欲最强的人，”福克斯说道，“无论是训练营、练习、投篮训练还是全明星赛，这都不重要。文班总是想赢。甚至在某些比赛结束后，他会说，‘是的，我想成为 MVP’，有些球员不会这么说。我不认为这是自大或类似的表现，他天生如此。”
“每当他踏上球场，他都想成为场上最出色的球员。”
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 the Spurs are saying about the upcoming playoffs
What the Spurs are saying about the upcoming playoffs
All over San Antonio, from the far South Side to the ritzy Dominion and all points in between, folks are talking about the Spurs and the playoffs.
“From my perspective, I think excitement would be the word for the city,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “And speaking for the prideful fans, not myself, I think that’s where they believe they are supposed to believe.”
If the Spurs (51-18) can win at home over Phoenix (39-30) on Thursday night, they’ll get there.
With Tuesday night’s 132-104 rout of the Kings in Sacramento in which the Spurs hit a franchise-record 25 3-pointers and the Suns’ 116-104 loss at Minnesota, the Spurs’ magic number to clinch one of the Western Conference’s six outright playoff berths dropped to two.
The Spurs haven’t made the playoffs since the 2018-19 season, an agonizing six-year drought that ranks as the longest in franchise history. Naturally, everyone in the organization is excited, but the man most responsible for this season’s dramatic turnaround after the Spurs finished 34-48 last season wants the focus to remain on pushing for at least 60 wins and continuing to show improvement with each game.
“It’s a lot of anticipating, but we still got to stay in the moment, attack 82 games of regular season to begin with,” Victor Wembanyama said. “We can’t skip steps, but it’s definitely super exciting … As a kid, this is also something I dreamed of, so I’m already projecting on it. But we’ve got to stay in the moment.”
The Spurs were locked in against the Kings. Seven players had 10-plus points, including Wembanyama with 18 on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with eight rebounds in 22 minutes, and the team finished with a season-high 41 assists in winning its third straight game and improving to an NBA-best 19-2 since the start of February.
Tuesday night also marked the ninth game in a row the Spurs have scored more than 115 points. In their last 15 games, they have averaged 122.3 points against 110.1 points by their opponents.
“We did a good job getting out in transition and playing with some pace,” Johnson said. “And we’ve been able to do that at times in this past month or so. We’ve been able to shoot the ball at a decent clip.”
Like Wembanyama, Johnson wants the Spurs to continue to focus on daily improvement in these final 13 games, but he also isn’t shying away from questions about the playoffs, including ones about their lack of postseason experience.
Six of the team’s top seven scorers have never appeared in a single playoff game and only two rotation players, Luke Kornet and Harrison Barnes, have been on teams that won titles.
“We’ve acknowledged our lack of experience because we know it’s there, so we’re not going to lie,” Johnson said. "We’re also not going to avoid it like it’s some shadow or dark cloud looming over us. It’s real. And so people can take that and make whatever opinion or logical reasoning or projection out of that. We won’t do that. We haven’t projected anything all year. We’re going to wake up tomorrow and deal with the day and put the work in and attack it.
“And we think if we do that, if we go about the game or the process or whatever’s in front of us in the right nature, I think we’ll be OK.”
De’Aaron Fox, who had 15 points, six assists and five rebounds against his former team, has been to the playoffs only once in his nine seasons but is confident he and his teammates are ready for the challenge.
“We think we’re ahead of schedule,” he said. “We feel with the guys we have in the locker room and the coaching staff that always has us prepared, we can play and compete for a championship. So people will talk about whatever experience we may or may not have, but end of the day, you got to lace 'em up and you got to go out there and you got to beat us. That’s how we feel and we feel confident against any team we play against.”
De’Aaron Fox on the Spurs’ defense being the key during their hot streak. pic.twitter.com/AMcVC1RLJ8
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) March 18, 2026
And, of course, they have Wembanyama at the center of it all.
“He’s probably outside of my wife (former Texas Tech and San Antonio FEAST basketball standout Recee Caldwell), the most competitive person I’ve ever met,” Fox said. "Whether it’s training camp, practice, a shooting drill, the All-Star Game, it doesn’t matter. Vic’s trying to win. And even after some games, he’s like, ‘Yeah, I want to be MVP,’ and some guys don’t say that. I don’t think it’s being cocky or anything like that, that’s the way that he is.
“He wants to be the best player on the floor every time he steps on the floor.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News