By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-03 13:54:17
2026年4月2日，星期四，在加利福尼亚州英格尔伍德进行的NBA常规赛下半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 在对阵洛杉矶快船队的比赛中扣篮。(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
丹佛——维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 设定了标准。他的马刺队友们别无选择，只能努力跨越它。
在两周多前马刺队在主场以119-115击败洛杉矶快船队，拿到赛季第50场胜利后，文班亚马明确表示他在瞄准另一个整数。
“我想赢60场，”文班亚马当时说道。
周四回到直觉穹顶球馆 (Intuit Dome)，这一次文班亚马因右踝酸痛穿着便装作壁上观，马刺队以118-99大胜快船队，这让他们距离这位全明星中锋最新设定的目标又近了一步。
随着马刺目前的战绩达到59胜18负，60胜已不再是遥不可及的奢望。
这看起来更像是一种程序化的必然。
周六在丹佛，马刺将向队史第八个60胜赛季发起首次冲击。即便未能如愿，他们也将以连续四个主场结束常规赛，这应为达成那个神圣数字提供沃土。
“我们知道主要目标是什么，那就是为季后赛做好准备，”前锋凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 说道。“每一场比赛，我们都有机会专注并变得更好。我们不会把这些机会视为理所当然。”
凭借周四在缺兵少将的情况下战胜快船，马刺带着追平赛季最长的11连胜前往丹佛。
这条连胜纪录在洛杉矶时似乎随时可能终结。
然而，马刺在头号得分手、篮板王和盖帽王缺阵的情况下走进直觉穹顶球馆，依然痛击了这支他们极有可能在季后赛首轮遭遇的球队。
“这恰恰说明了我们对待这一切有多认真，”前锋朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 说道。“无论大个子在不在，我们都会保持专注。我认为这展示了球队的深度，即便没有他，我们也能赢得这些比赛。”
周四赛前，快船队主教练泰伦·卢 (Ty Lue) 试图提醒他的球队即将面临的挑战，尽管马刺队那位身高7英尺4英寸的核心球员正穿着便鞋坐在替补席上。
“即便文班不在场，他们也是一支优秀的球队，”卢说道。
在随后的48分钟里，马刺证明了这一点。同样身为全明星的达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 在周四早早进入状态，砍下22分。斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 在比赛后期接管比赛，贡献了20分。
马刺在下半场开局仅一个回合后就领先了26分，最终将本赛季领先至少25分时的战绩改写为21胜0负。
即便没有这位NBA准年度最佳防守球员文班亚马，马刺仍让快船成为了他们近五场比赛中第三个得分未破百的对手。
“我们队中很多人的表现都非常令人满意，”主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道。
对马刺来说，这不仅仅是一场胜利。
如果两队在两周半后再次相遇，这种表现可能会被双方都铭记在心。
“你会尝试尽可能多地拿到这种‘宣言式’的胜利，”福克斯说道。
周四的比赛就是其中之一。现在，马刺前往丹佛，有机会再拿下一场。
从战绩来看，49胜28负的掘金是马刺剩余赛程中实力最强的对手。在最后五场比赛中，他们将两次对阵丹佛——一次是周六，另一次是4月12日在圣安东尼奥进行的常规赛收官战。
掘金本赛季仅有23场比赛同时拥有健康的“三巨头”尼古拉·约基奇 (Nikola Jokic)、贾马尔·穆雷 (Jamal Murray) 和阿隆·戈登 (Aaron Gordon)。在这些比赛中，丹佛的战绩为17胜6负。
预计这三名球员周六都将出战。当然，文班亚马也将回归。
马刺已经证明了他们可以在没有这位7英尺4英寸的“自然之力”的情况下赢球，本赛季在他缺阵时取得了11胜5负的战绩。
“我们知道周四没有大个子在场，所以我们需要保持格外的敏锐，”凯尔登·约翰逊说道。“很多球员站了出来，打出了关键时刻和关键表现。”
对于米奇·约翰逊来说，常规赛最后两周的准则与去年10月一切开始时并没有太大不同。
他将强调比赛计划中的细节、转换防守、篮板球，以及带着目的性和节奏去比赛。
“做回自己让我们度过了不错的一年，但这仍然是我们的第一次征程，”米奇·约翰逊说道。“我们并不想变成几个月前那个自己的某种‘异域版本’。我们只想继续成为比昨天更好的自己。”
如果马刺做到了这一点，他们的许多其他目标自然会水到渠成。
随着周六在丹佛的胜利，马刺可以刷新这个已经令人惊讶的赛季的最长连胜纪录。他们还将斩获赛季第60场胜利，这个目标即便是在一个月前听起来可能都像是疯话。
马刺最近一次拿到60胜的赛季是在2016-17赛季。而2015-16赛季创造的67胜队史纪录，在数学上已无法企及。
但是，如果马刺能在最后五场比赛中全胜，他们将以64胜收官，排名队史第二。
“我的意思是，为什么不呢？”尚帕尼说道。
在经历了一个不断跨越标准并设定新标准的赛季后，再多跨过一个又算得了什么呢？
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：Why the surging Spurs keep moving their own goalposts
Why the surging Spurs keep moving their own goalposts
San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle dunks during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Thursday, April 2, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
DENVER — Victor Wembanyama set the bar. His Spurs teammates had little choice but to try and clear it.
After the Spurs won their 50th game of the season a little more than two weeks ago, beating the Los Angeles Clippers 119-115 on their home floor, Wembanyama made clear he was gunning for a different round number.
“I want to win 60,” Wembanyama said then.
Back in the Intuit Dome on Thursday, this time with Wembanyama in street clothes caretaking a sore right ankle, the Spurs reeled off a 118-99 victory over the Clippers that pulled them one step closer to their All-Star center’s newest stated goal.
With the Spurs’ record now at 59-18, 60 wins no longer feel like a pie-in-the-sky aspiration.
It feels like a formality.
Saturday in Denver, the Spurs take their first shot at the eighth 60-win season in franchise history. Failing that, they close the regular season with a four-game homestand that should provide fertile ground to hit that hallowed number.
“We know what the main goal is, and that’s getting prepared for the playoffs,” forward Keldon Johnson said. “Each game, we get a chance to lock in and get better. We don’t take the opportunity for granted.”
Thanks to Thursday’s short-handed victory against the Clippers, the Spurs head to Denver on an 11-game winning streak that matches their longest of the season.
It was a streak that seemed ripe to end in Los Angeles.
Instead, the Spurs walked into the Intuit Dome with their leading scorer, rebounder and shot-blocker sidelined and nevertheless beat the pants off a team they could quite possibly face in the first round of the playoffs.
“It just shows how serious we are about all this,” forward Julian Champagnie said. “We’re going to be locked in with or without the big fella. I think it shows the depth of the team that we can win these games without him.”
Before Thursday’s game, Clippers coach Ty Lue tried to remind his team of the challenge at hand, even with the Spurs’ 7-foot-4 centerpiece on the bench in loafers.
“They’re a good team even when Wemby is not playing,” Lue said.
Over the ensuing 48 minutes, the Spurs made that a point to prove. An All-Star in his own right, De’Aaron Fox got the Spurs started early Thursday on his way to 22 points. Stephon Castle took over late on his way to 20.
The Spurs went ahead by 26 points one possession into the second half, eventually improving to 21-0 this season when leading by at least 25.
Even without Wembanyama, the NBA’s presumptive Defensive Player of the Year, the Spurs made the Clippers their third opponent in five games to fail to reach 100 points.
“It was a very satisfying effort by a lot of people on our team,” coach Mitch Johnson said.
For the Spurs, it wasn’t just a victory.
It was the kind of outing that might be remembered by both teams should they meet again in 2 ½ weeks.
“You try to have as many statement wins as you can,” Fox said.
Thursday’s game was one. Now, the Spurs head to Denver with a chance to earn another one.
By record, the 49-28 Nuggets are the best team remaining on the Spurs’ schedule. They face Denver twice over the final five games — once Saturday and once in the regular-season finale April 12 in San Antonio.
The Nuggets have only had their power trio of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon healthy for 23 games this season. Denver is 17-6 in those contests.
All three are expected to be available Saturday. Of course, so too is Wembanyama.
The Spurs have shown they can win without the 7-foot-4 force of nature, going 11-5 in his absence this season.
“We knew we weren’t going to have big fella (Thursday), so we knew we needed to stay extra sharp,” Keldon Johnson said. “A lot of guys stepped up and had big moments and big plays.”
For Mitch Johnson, the touchstones over the final two weeks of the season will not sound much different than what they were when all of this began in October.
He will stress attention to detail in the game plan, transition defense, rebounding, playing with intention and pace.
“We’ve had a good year being us, but it’s still our first journey,” Mitch Johnson said. “We’re not trying to become some exotic version of what we were a few months ago. We just want to continue to be a better version of what we were yesterday.”
If the Spurs accomplish that, many of their other goals will fall into place.
With a win Saturday in Denver, the Spurs can post their longest winning streak of an already surprising season. They would also ring up their 60th victory of the season, a goal that even a month ago might have felt like lunacy.
The Spurs’ most recent 60-win season came in 2016-17. The club record of 67 wins, set in 2015-16, is mathematically out of reach.
But, if the Spurs are able to run the table over the final five games, they would wind up with 64 wins, the second-most in franchise annals.
“I mean, why not?” Champagnie said.
After a season spent clearing bars only to set new ones, what is one more?
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News