By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-02 13:37:05
2026年2月4日，周三，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心进行的一场NBA比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊在第二节暂停期间对球员进行指导。随着马刺队在赛程相对轻松的阶段接连取得大胜，约翰逊正专注于保持高标准，以确保球队在季后赛冲刺阶段保持敏锐。
洛杉矶——这一切最初只是个玩笑。
马刺队后卫达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 在密尔沃基的一场比赛中戴着头带上场，希望能重温他在凯蒂市塞浦路斯湖高中的旧日造型。
凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 紧随其后，毕竟他总是乐于尝试任何新鲜事。
很快，33岁、自称“从未戴过头带”的队内老大哥哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 也加入了其中。
“嘿，伙计，为了大家怎么都行，”巴恩斯说，“只是想融入集体。”
从那以后，他们就成了“头带帮”。
驱动马刺队这支新成立的“头带帮”的动机很简单。
“我想大概是因为我们太无聊了，”约翰逊说道。
就是这样。在NBA荒野中徘徊了六个赛季，经历了一次又一次的失败后，马刺队终于发现，赢球已经变得平淡无奇。
随着马刺队即将在本月晚些时候重返阔别已久的西部季后赛，主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 正在与“无聊”这个心魔作斗争。
2026年4月1日，周三，在旧金山进行的一场NBA篮球比赛上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫达龙·福克斯 (4) 突破金州勇士队后卫内特·威廉姆斯 (19) 的防守。福克斯在周六马刺127-95战胜密尔沃基的比赛中开始佩戴头带，以此致敬他在休斯顿塞浦路斯湖高中的时光，并在之后的每场比赛中都坚持佩戴。随着凯尔登·约翰逊和哈里森·巴恩斯的加入，这支新成立的“头带帮”为更衣室带来了轻松的气氛。
马刺队（58胜18负）抵达洛杉矶准备周四在直觉圆顶球馆（Intuit Dome）对阵快船队的比赛，此前他们已经取得了10连胜，这是他们本赛季第二次取得两位数的连胜。
自2月1日以来，他们赢下了28场比赛中的26场，这种势头甚至是昔日蒂姆·邓肯、托尼·帕克和马努·吉诺比利时代的马刺队都从未享受过的。
“我们正努力追求更高的目标，”福克斯说，“重点不在于我们是否赢球，而在于我们如何赢球。”
对于米奇·约翰逊而言，自满与这一过程背道而驰。
周三，马刺队以127-113的比分轻取对手，当时的金州勇士队阵容残缺，仅有9名健康球员，其中3人还持有双向合同。
维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 轻松解决了人手短缺的勇士队，连续第二场砍下41分，并抢下18个篮板。
比赛胜负从未有过悬念。
然而，当勇士队的内特·威廉姆斯投中一个空位转换三分，在比赛还剩3分17秒时将分差缩小到19分时，约翰逊迅速叫了暂停，严厉斥责新秀卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 漏掉了防守任务。
在随后的围拢中，约翰逊对布莱恩特和全队传达的信息既直接又响亮：“打完这场比赛。”
“他不在乎比分是多少，”后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 说道，“他根据自己看到的来执教。如果他看到了不喜欢的东西，无论场上是哪五个人，他都会让我们知道。”
与两年前相比，这真是一个巨大的转变，当时马刺队在文班亚马的新秀赛季曾遭遇创纪录的18连败。
在过去两个月的大部分时间里，马刺队看起来都不可战胜，但米奇·约翰逊坚称，他并不是在刻意挑刺以让球队保持警惕。
“我一直在寻找教学时机，但我并没有在无中生有，”约翰逊说，“我们正在赢球，而这种反馈可能会产生误导。无论比赛结果如何，我们都必须对我们深知自己有能力达到的标准和竞技水平负责。”
周三在金州取得的14分大胜是马刺队自上次造访直觉圆顶球馆以来，在客场取得的最微小的胜利。3月16日，马刺队顶住了快船队的疯狂反扑，以119-115险胜。
从那以后，马刺队连续取得了四场分差在25分及以上的客场胜利，创造了NBA历史上最长的此类纪录。
他们在旧金山终结了这一纪录，当时他们在第四节被勇士队缩小了26分的分差。
“这些比赛和对阵全主力阵容的球队一样重要，”斯蒂芬·卡斯尔说，“我们展示了专注程度，展示了我们的心态，展示了我们可以关注细节。如果我们仍能专注于自我提升，这将在赛季的这个阶段对我们有所帮助。”
离开湾区后，马刺队的挑战难度将会升级。
周四的比赛对手是快船队，他们正努力甩开波特兰开拓者队以保住第八名和附加赛席位。随后，马刺队将前往丹佛挑战天赋异禀的掘金队，后者正在合适的时机恢复健康。
“对我们来说，每一场比赛都是挑战，”米奇·约翰逊说，“因为这是我们第一年（作为季后赛球队）的征程，有很多东西需要学习。所以，如果我们（周三）在第三节表现不够敏锐，或者在洛杉矶被击败，这些都会成为我们经验库中的一部分。”
无论胜负，对阵快船和掘金的比赛都比在旧金山轻松战胜残阵更有助于马刺队为季后赛磨练锋芒。
“全明星赛后，我们的重点一直放在自己身上——无论对手战绩辉煌还是平平，”巴恩斯说，“我们觉得我们正在按照自己想要的方式在比赛中打下烙印。”
没有人应该对此感到厌倦。约翰逊会确保这一点的。
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：Mitch Johnson aims to keep Spurs from getting comfortable with winning
Mitch Johnson aims to keep Spurs from getting comfortable with winning
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson talks to his team during a second quarter time out in an NBA game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. As the Spurs pile up blowout wins during a light stretch in the schedule, Johnson is focusing on playing to a standard to help keep the team sharp for a playoff run.
LOS ANGELES — It all started as a lark.
Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox took the floor for a game in Milwaukee with a headband on, in hopes of throwing his look back to his high school days at Cypress Lakes in Katy.
Keldon Johnson followed suit because, well, he is up for anything.
Soon, Harrison Barnes — the 33-year-old older brother of the group who has “never been a headband guy” — joined in, too.
“Hey man, whatever for the guys,” Barnes said. “Just trying to fit in.”
They have been headband guys ever since.
There is a simple motive driving the Spurs’ newly formed headband crew.
“I guess it’s just that we’re bored,” Johnson said.
And there you have it. Finally, after six seasons roaming the NBA wilderness, taking loss after loss after loss after loss, the Spurs have at last found winning to be blase.
Boredom is the boogeyman coach Mitch Johnson is battling as the days tick toward the Spurs’ long-awaited return to the Western Conference playoffs later this month.
San Antonio Spurs guard De’aaron Fox (4) drives to the basket against Golden State Warriors guard Nate Williams (19) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. Fox began wearing a headband as a throwback to his high school days at Houston Cy-Lakes in the Spurs’ 127-95 win Saturday over Milwaukee and has donned it in each game since. It has brought levity to the locker room as Keldon Johnson and Harrison Barnes have joined him in a newly formed headband crew.
The Spurs (58-18) arrived in Los Angeles for Thursday’s game against the Clippers at the Intuit Dome having won 10 games in a row for their second double-digit winning streak of the season.
Since Feb. 1, they have won 26 of 28 games, a type of run even the old Tim Duncan-Tony Parker-Manu Ginobili Spurs never enjoyed.
“We’re trying to play for something bigger,” Fox said. “It’s not about if we win games. It’s about how we win games.”
To Mitch Johnson, complacency is antithetical to that process.
On Wednesday, the Spurs rolled to a 127-113 victory against a Golden State team decimated down to nine healthy players, three of which were on two-way contracts.
Victor Wembanyama made short work of the short-handed Warriors, posting his second straight 41-point outing to go with 18 rebounds.
The game was never in doubt.
And yet when Golden State’s Nate Williams buried an open transition 3-pointer to cut the Spurs’ lead to 19 with 3:17 to go, Johnson called a quick timeout to castigate rookie Carter Bryant for a busted defensive assignment.
In the ensuing huddle, Johnson’s message to Bryant and the rest of the team was as direct as it was loud: “Finish the game.”
“He doesn’t care what the score is,” guard Stephon Castle said. “He’s coaching what he sees. If he doesn’t see something he doesn’t like, he’s going to let us know about it no matter what five is on the court.”
It has been quite a turnabout from two years ago, when the Spurs lost a franchise-record 18 games in a row during Wembanyama’s rookie season.
With the Spurs looking unbeatable for the better part of the past two months, Mitch Johnson swears he is not looking for ways to nitpick his team into staying on its toes.
“I’m always looking for teaching moments, but I’m not trying to create anything,” Johnson said. “We’re winning games, and that feedback can be misleading. The standard and level of play we know we’re capable of must be held accountable regardless of the result of a game.”
Wednesday’s 14-point victory at Golden State was the Spurs’ narrowest road triumph since the last time they visited the Intuit Dome. On March 16, the Spurs held off a furious Clippers comeback to salvage a 119-115 win.
From there, the Spurs won four consecutive road games by 25 or more points, the longest such streak in NBA history.
They broke that string in San Francisco when they allowed the Warriors to close a 26-point gap in the fourth quarter.
“These games are just as important as if we’re playing teams that have their full roster,” Castle said. “We’re showing our locked-in level, showing where our mind is at, showing we can pay attention to details. If we are able to still work on us, it’s going to help us at this point of the season.”
The degree of difficulty should go up for the Spurs after leaving the Bay Area.
Thursday’s game was set to feature a Clippers squad fighting to fend off Portland for eighth place and a play-in slot. From there, the Spurs head to Denver to face a talented Nuggets team getting healthy at the right time.
“For us, every game is a challenge,” Mitch Johnson said. “Because of our journey in the first year (as a playoff team), it’s something to learn from. So if we were not sharp (Wednesday) in the third quarter or we get our butt kicked in L.A., it’s all something to add to our Rolodex.”
Win or lose, games against the Clippers and Nuggets should help sharpen the Spurs for the playoffs better than a breezy victory over a skeleton crew in San Francisco ever could.
“Coming out of the All-Star break, our focus has been on us — regardless of if we’re playing a team with a great record or a team that doesn’t have that type of record,” Barnes said. “We feel like we’re putting our imprint on the game the way we want to.”
Nobody should be bored with that. Johnson will make sure of it.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News