By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2026-03-20 04:08:33
圣安东尼奥——当他抬起腿高过桌边时，你能隐约看到。维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的短裤上沾了一块红酒渍。这是对这一开创性时刻的致敬，也是篮球新时代的胎记。
就在几分钟前，文班亚马完成了一系列动作，这或许会成为体育史上最伟大职业生涯之一在崛起过程中的里程碑。他用一种极其“平淡”的方式，在菲尼克斯太阳队头顶完成了绝杀。那仅仅是一次单打后的急停跳投，和那些身高只有他一半的球员所投出的球没什么两样，这也是他在NBA比赛最后五秒内投进的首个准绝杀。
在他所有那些异于常人的举动中，这一球显得极其平常。这种中距离急停跳投是伟大冠军们的标配。这是我们一直期待文班亚马展现出的招牌动作——每个人都知道这一球要来，但就是无法阻挡。这就是所谓的制胜法宝，是赢得总冠军的必备武器。它并不新奇，但不可或缺。
但那一刻之后发生的一切都感觉不同了。文班亚马体内的某种东西爆发了，这种积极的转变让他释放出了排山倒海般的情绪。
首先，在被队友簇拥时，他放声尖叫、推搡，并摆出一副霸气的表情。随后，他走向等在球场中央的大鼓，高举双手，然后倾尽全力开始击鼓。
“很难吸收周围所有的刺激。球迷们盯着我，还有个家伙把酒洒在了我身上，”在马刺以101-100获胜后他说道，“我全速跑回防守位，不小心撞到了一个人，现在短裤上沾了红酒。当时发生了很多事。我一时间没看到队友们都围了上来，感觉就像被人群淹没了一样。”
文班亚马击完鼓后，凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 拿起了麦克风，做出了他标志性的举动。
“你们觉得这精彩吗？”他对着人群大喊，“我知道已经过了很久。但马刺大家庭，在散场前，跟我一起喊一个口号：MVP！MVP！MVP！”
随着约翰逊的呐喊和全场的沸腾，文班亚马捂住了脸，神情中交织着惊讶、羞涩与感激。
“我不知道该说什么，也没提前计划。我只知道我们需要拿起麦克风，”约翰逊随后在新闻发布会上说道，“我是说，这就是我们。我觉得这就是我们这个团队的风格，他值得这一切。他值得这些赞美。”
这是一个富有层次感的时刻。马刺队史乃至NBA历史中两个重要的伏笔在此交织。文班亚马以一种季后赛式的纯粹方式赢得了比赛。没有花哨的动作，只有执教策略、单打球和精准的犯规。这是发生在三月的“六月式胜利”，是顶级强队坚持到最后一秒的那种韧性。
这种比赛证明了马刺有能力在春天的季后赛中取胜，同时也正式确保了他们六年来首次重返季后赛。因此，这对于NBA来说也是一个至关重要的时刻，标志着这位“王储”正式登场。
文班亚马和马刺队正正式离开他们驻扎了超过五年的大本营。他们的攀登是整个篮球界关注的焦点，因为没人知道他们能达到怎样的高度。
随着时间推移，文班亚马兑现天赋的速度比任何人预想的都要快。他不该这么快就变得如此优秀。即便是在去年12月初，他现在所展现出的那种沉稳和控制力看起来还很遥远，至少是一年后的事。但现在，马刺在三月中旬依然保持着冲击60胜的势头，他看起来已经准备好去竞争MVP了。至少在约翰逊和近两万名在“文班教堂”齐声欢呼的信徒眼中是这样的。
当文班亚马看到球队锁定季后赛席位时，他的第一反应是感到自豪。对于这支球队来说，这项成就曾经像中距离急停跳投一样平常，但那是在这群球员来到这里之前的事了。对于他们所有人来说，这在圣安东尼奥都是全新的体验。
他想享受这一刻，因为他为此感到骄傲。但只要他开始回头看，就会感觉到手中的绳索开始滑落。
“说实话，我害怕变得自满，”文班亚马在砍下34分12个篮板后说道，“所以我会站在光谱的另一端，试着完全不去在意这些。”
这就是文班的魅力所在。这个人的思维模式被设定为不断攀登，以至于连回味成功都让他觉得是一种风险。
他生活在自己22年来精心构建的“心流”状态中。他有目的地填满休息时间，日程安排中没有任何缝隙。即便是空档也会被冥想、阅读或恢复训练填满。文班亚马明白情绪的存在，但他不会被情绪左右。生活中的每件事都有其位置，任何偏离正轨的事情都会被处理并回收。
这就是为什么你会在重大时刻看到他情绪爆发。即使是少林高僧也需要将某些东西“分而治之”。
这正是他组建个人团队的原因。他说自己做事极其严谨，几乎不给偶然留下空间。他要求自己的训练师、数据分析师、心理表现教练以及团队中的每一个人，都要达到他要求自己的那种高标准。
蒂姆·马丁 (Tim Martin) 就是那些坚持高标准的教练之一。马丁现在是米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 教练组的助教，六年前他就在球馆里陪着文班亚马，开发出了那个赢得比赛的投篮。那个中距离急停跳投已经练习了多年，当时只有文班亚马和马丁在为此努力。
现在的团队规模更大了，大得多。
这确实让文班亚马在周四晚上回想起了一件事，那是他第一次见到米奇·约翰逊的时刻。那是三个赛季前，他离开法国来到圣安东尼奥开始征程的几天后。他在球馆里练习投篮，惊讶地发现有六名工作人员在帮他捡球。于是他提出了一个简单的要求。
“我希望你们每一个人都给我传球，”文班亚马回忆道，想起那个荒诞的瞬间，他露出了灿烂的笑容。
当时担任格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 助教并负责那场训练的米奇·约翰逊照做了。他把球传给一名助教，后者又传给另一名，直到球回到文班亚马手中时，六名教练都触碰过了球。只需一次训练，每个人都意识到，一切都将变得不同。
马刺队重回胜轨花了一些时间。这段时间长到提前一个月锁定季后赛席位感觉像是一座丰碑，而非理所当然。但对于像约翰逊这样的人来说，这不仅仅花了六个月。对他来说，这花了六年。
“感觉很不真实，因为我经历过每一个阶段，”他说道，“我们不能跳过任何步骤走到今天，我觉得这对我来说意义非凡。能处于现在的境地，这对我个人而言很重要。我不想去其他任何地方。”
约翰逊想起了几年前的那段视频，他在视频中说：“这里的情况不会一直这样下去的。”这段视频被粉丝们广为流传，作为一种“我早告诉过你”的证明，这些粉丝一直渴望着这一刻——或者更确切地说，是本赛季突然变得频繁起来的这些时刻。这段视频也解释了为什么这个赛季对于在戴维·罗宾逊 (David Robinson)、蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 以及长盛不衰的赢球文化中成长起来的几代球迷来说如此重要。
他的回答是一段长达三分钟的独白，从耐心的美德开始，最后列出了一份包含14个名字的幕后英雄名单。装备经理、医生、视频协调员，以及所有在幕后默默工作、维持飞船运行的人。
约翰逊是更衣室里名副其实的老大哥（OG），是球队的灵魂人物，他将这支球队经历的挣扎化作动力。他是队友们最坚定的支持者，甚至会闯进他们的电视采访现场为他们造势。他为球队付出了一切，而球队也视他为一切。
“他做的很多工作，我不能说不响亮，因为他天生嗓门大，但那是看不见的，”文班亚马说道，“他承担了一个没人想做——但他欣然接受——且没人能真正做好的角色。”
马刺锁定季后赛始于文班亚马，但贯穿了从约翰逊到装备室的莎拉·西利亚 (Sarah Cilea) 的每一个人。毕竟，他们不想让成功的香甜被汗臭味破坏。
但至少这支球队现在不再让人感到可疑了。在目前这个阶段，他们的冠军成色无可置疑。文班亚马喜欢提到他们的经验不足，将其作为外界质疑他们成功的理由，并以此拥抱未知。
对于任何关注他的人来说，这都是熟悉的景象。他就是未知本身。我们对他了解得越多，就越能看到他有能力实现他所想象的一切。现在，他已经可以在履历上勾选掉“真正的准绝杀”和“锁定季后赛”这两项，真正的乐趣才刚刚开始。
至少，只要他们能洗掉他短裤上的那块红酒渍。
由生成式 AI 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：Victor Wembanyama's game-winner to beat Suns clinches Spurs' playoff berth
Victor Wembanyama’s game-winner to beat Suns clinches Spurs’ playoff berth
SAN ANTONIO — Lifting his leg just above the table’s edge, you could faintly see it. A red wine stain adorned Victor Wembanyama’s shorts. A toast to a seminal moment; a birthmark for the next era of basketball.
A few minutes earlier, Wembanyama completed a sequence that could be a checkpoint in the ascension of one of the great careers in sports. He hit the game-winner over the Phoenix Suns in the most pedestrian way one can hit such a shot. It was just an isolation pull-up jumper, the same that guys half his size hit, his first game-winner in the final five seconds of an NBA game.
Of all the things he does that are abnormal, this was absurdly normal. This is the midrange pull-up that the great champions have. It’s the signature shot we’ve been waiting for from Wembanyama, the one that everyone knows is coming and it just can’t be stopped. This is the proverbial upper hand, the shot that wins championships. It’s the one thing that’s not novel, but it is necessary.
But everything that happened after this moment felt different. Something snapped within Wembanyama, for the better, that unleashed waves of emotion pouring out of him.
First, he screamed, shoved and mean-mugged as he was mobbed by his teammates. Then he walked over to his drum waiting for him at center court, threw his hands in the air and then started banging the drum with everything he had in him.
“It was hard to take in all the stimulus around me. I had the fans looking at me, this guy spilled wine on me,” he said after the Spurs’ 101-100 win. “I sprint back on defense and kind of hit a guy and I got wine on my shorts now. And it was a lot going on. I didn’t see all my teammates come up in a second, so it felt like I was getting mobbed.”
After Wembanyama finished banging the drum, Keldon Johnson grabbed a microphone and did the kind of thing that Keldon Johnson does.
“Are y’all not entertained?” he yelled to the crowd. “I know it’s been a long time. But Spurs family, I got one chant before we take it in. MVP! MVP! MVP!”
As Johnson chanted and the arena erupted, Wembanyama covered his face in some mix of surprise, embarrassment and gratitude.
“I didn’t know what I was gonna say, I didn’t have nothing planned. I just knew we needed to get on the mic,” Johnson later said in his news conference. “I mean, that’s just us. I feel like that’s just our group, and he deserves it. He deserves his flowers.”
This was a moment of layers. Two important moments of foreshadowing in Spurs and NBA history, intertwined. Wembanyama won a game in a way organic to the playoffs. No frills. Just coaching strategies, iso ball and well-timed fouls. This was a June win in March, the kind of outlasting the best teams do to the very last second.
It was the kind of game that proves the Spurs can win in the spring, while also formally guaranteeing them playoff ball for the first time in six years. Consequently, that means it’s a vital moment for the NBA, an official introduction of the heir apparent to the higher air.
Wembanyama and the Spurs are officially leaving base camp, where they have dwelled for more than half a decade. Their climb is the one that everyone in the sport has their eyes on, because nobody knows how high it can go.
As each month passes, Wembanyama fulfills his prophecy faster and faster than anyone anticipated. He wasn’t supposed to be this good, this quickly. Even in early December, the level of poise and control he shows now looked far away. At least a year away. But now that the Spurs have reached mid-March still on track for 60 wins, he looks like someone ready to win the MVP. At least according to Keldon Johnson and nearly 20,000 worshippers singing his hymns at the Church of Wemby.
When Wembanyama saw his team had clinched the playoffs, his first instinct was to lean into the pride. That accomplishment used to be as normal as a midrange pull-up for this franchise, but that was before any of these players got to town. For all of them, this is something new in San Antonio.
He wanted to love it, because he is proud of it. But then there is the feeling of the rope starting to slip through his grasp, the second that he starts looking backward.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m scared to be complacent,” Wembanyama said after scoring 34 points with 12 rebounds. “So I’ll be on the other end of the spectrum and try to not care at all.”
It’s the beauty of Wemby. The man is so programmed to build that even reflection feels like a risk.
He lives in this flow state he has meticulously crafted over 22 years. He fills his downtime with purpose. There are no gaps in his schedule. Even the holes get plugged with things ranging from meditation to reading to recovery. Wembanyama understands that emotion is there, but he is not the emotion. Everything has its place in his life, so anything that derails the process gets processed and recycled.
It’s why you see it all pour out of him in the biggest moments. Even Shaolin monks have to compartmentalize something.
That’s what he’s built his own personal team for. He says he is methodical to the point that he leaves few things possible to chance. He holds his team of trainers, data analysts, mental performance coaches, everyone, to the same high standards he points in his own direction.
Tim Martin was one of those coaches holding the standard. Now an assistant on Mitch Johnson’s staff, Martin was in the gym with Wembanyama six years ago, developing the shot that won them the game. That midrange pull-up has been practiced for years, back when it was just Wembanyama and Martin working on it.
Now, the team is bigger. A lot bigger.
It did lead Wembanyama to reflect on one thing Thursday night, the moment he first met Mitch Johnson. It was just a few days after leaving France to begin his journey in San Antonio three seasons ago. He was in the gym, getting up shots, amazed that he had half a dozen staffers rebounding for him. So he made a simple request.
“I want every one of you to pass me the ball,” Wembanyama recalled telling them, cracking a wide smile as he remembered the absurdity of the moment.
Mitch Johnson, then an assistant for Gregg Popovich and leading the session, obliged. He passed it to one assistant, who passed it to another, until all six coaches touched the ball on its way back to Wembanyama. It only took one practice for everyone to realize things were going to be different.
It took time for the Spurs to win again. A long enough time that clinching a playoff berth a month early felt monumental rather than obvious. But for guys like Keldon Johnson, this didn’t take six months. For him, it took six years.
“It feels surreal, because I’ve been through every step,” he said. “We couldn’t skip no steps to get to where we at and I feel like it really means something to me. It’s personal to be able to be in the situation that I’m in. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Johnson remembered the years-old clip of him saying, “It’s not going to always be like this here.” The one that has been shared around as an “I told you so” for fans who have been pining for this moment — or rather, these moments that have suddenly become plentiful this season. The one that serves as context for why this season is so important for generations of fans brought up on David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and perennial winning.
His response was a three-minute monologue that started with the virtue of patience and ended with a list of unsung staffers that included 14 people by name. Equipment managers, doctors, video coordinators, whoever lurks in the shadows but keeps the ship moving.
Johnson is the official OG of the locker room, the heart and soul who has carried this franchise’s struggles as a chip on his shoulder. He’s the biggest cheerleader for his teammates, so much so that he’ll crash their TV interviews just to hype them up. He does everything for the team, and they see him as everything.
“A lot of the work he does, I can’t say it’s not loud because he’s naturally loud, but it’s unseen,” Wembanyama said. “He has a role that nobody else wants to do — he embraces that — and nobody else can do, really.”
The Spurs’ playoff clinching starts with Wembanyama, but it runs through Johnson all the way to Sarah Cilea in the equipment room. After all, they don’t want the smell of success to be ruined by B.O.
But at least this team doesn’t smell fishy anymore. There’s nothing suspect about its championship credentials at this point. Wembanyama loves bringing up their inexperience as the caveat held against their success, leaning into the unknown.
That’s a familiar sight for anyone watching him. He is the unknown. The more we get to know him, the more we see he is capable of delivering everything he can imagine. Now that he can check off a true game-winner and playoff clinching off his resume, the real fun begins.
At least, once they can get that wine stain out of his shorts.
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic