By Marilyn Dubinski | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-04-09 17:10:48
社交媒体可能是一个充满戾气的地方，即便你像我一样只关注体育。Facebook 并不监管煽动性言论或虚假新闻，我无法告诉你马刺 Facebook 小组里有多少人被这些虚假帖子误导。Twitter X 在根除这些东西方面稍微好一点，但那里的氛围可能更糟，尤其是如果你刷的是“推荐”时间线而不是“关注”时间线，你会看到一大堆乱七八糟的东西。对我来说，如果我偏离了“关注”列表，我的时间线就会被长角牛、雷霆和加拿大（？）的球迷淹没，他们纯粹就是为了来挑衅。我敢打赌，60% 的雷霆账号都是机器人。他们中很多人用动漫做头像，使用奇怪的字体和毫无意义的用户名，发布雷同的内容，尤其是黑维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)。
然而，即便我只看自己的“关注”时间线（主要是马刺和德州农工大学的内容），也并不总是阳光明媚、一帆风顺，哪怕是在这些快乐的时光里。马刺球迷群体（公平地说，其他球队也一样）的一个特点是，当事情不完美时，总得找个“背锅侠”，而本赛季，这个角色在很大程度上由达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 承担。当然，在他今年休赛期签署顶薪续约合同的那一刻，我就知道会是这样，这无疑会让球迷期望你每晚都能打出顶级表现，并带来更多的审视。
话虽如此，有时我不确定球迷是否考虑过他所扮演的角色。尽管他是球队目前薪水最高的球员（暂时如此），但他并不是马刺的第一进攻选择，然而有些球迷似乎仍然期望他能打出核心级别的统治数据。我看到有人发他萨克拉门托时期的表现并问道：“那个版本的福克斯去哪了？”答案很简单：哪也没去！他就在这里，做着和以前一模一样的事情，只是样本量变小了，因为他通常是和一位具有历史最佳潜力的划时代天才，以及另外两名上限至少和他一样高的年轻后卫一起打球。如果他从文班、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 手中抢球，你难道不会生气吗？你当然会，所以你不能既要又要。
当文班在场或其他人手感火热时，福克斯理所当然地扮演起组织者的角色，在进攻流转中寻找机会，并在关键时刻挺身而出。他在马刺的这个角色中表现得无懈可击，填补了球队近年来一直缺失的组织控卫和关键先生的空白。而当文班缺阵时，“萨克拉门托版福克斯”就会上线，场均多得约 7 分并扛着球队前进，就像昨晚对阵波特兰开拓者时那样——那场比赛马刺还缺少了卡斯尔，而哈珀的表现也并非最佳。
福克斯全场 20 投 10 中砍下 25 分，其中三分球 6 投 3 中，外加 7 次助攻和 5 个篮板。诚然，他出现了 4 次失误，有点“黄油手”，但两队似乎每个人都半斤八两，全场一共出现了 31 次失误。这只是那种失误频发的夜晚之一，但老实说，你在赛前真的感觉良好吗？马刺在无欲无求且缺少三名核心球员中的两名的情况下，面对一支背水一战、且本赛季曾在文班缺阵时击败过他们的开拓者，情况看起来并不乐观。我知道赢球当然是有可能的，但结果比预想的要轻松，这在很大程度上要归功于福克斯在被需要时挺身而出。他被提名为“年度最佳队友”是有原因的：他不仅完美地履行了自己的职责，还成为了马刺年轻后卫们的优秀导师，并在此过程中牺牲了数据和地位。
我进来时并没打算写一篇福克斯的表扬稿，但这正是《启示录》的魅力所在：你只需开始写下比赛让你思考的东西，它就会变成与我习惯写的常规赛后报道完全不同的独特内容。
赛后总结
- 一方面，我很高兴当文班休息或因缺少替补中锋而缺阵时，马刺不再受困于小球阵型。话虽如此，最近当考内特缺阵或首发时，他们一直在尝试这种打法，老实说，效果并不差，这在很大程度上要归功于卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 的强硬。他的力量和运动能力让他能够镇守内线并拼抢篮板而不被轻易推开，但额外的惊喜是他在进攻端的贡献。昨晚，他提醒了我们，他也可以是球队在大前锋位置上的长期答案，他三分球 6 投 5 中，砍下了职业生涯最高的 17 分。你可以说他只是手感热，而且开拓者选择放空他，但从赛季初到现在，他取得了多么大的飞跃。人们曾说他在赛季开始时会比较生涩，但到了一月或二月再看，他们说得再准不过了。
- 哈珀到底有多优秀，以至于他在拿到 16 分（14 投 6 中，三分 2 投 1 中）、6 个篮板、4 次助攻、2 次抢断和 2 个盖帽时，让人感觉打得“一般”？也许是因为这是他作为首发球员以来最不出彩的一场比赛，而且和福克斯一样，他一反常态地出现了 4 次失误，显得有些手感生疏。但无论如何，当你打出这样的表现仅仅被视为“还可以”时，你就知道自己已经达到了很高的水准。
- 本赛季我已经说过很多次了，但我真的为德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 和凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 感到高兴。ESPN 在昨晚的直播中特意赞扬了他们，我也要这么做。虽然作为球员他们与福克斯不在一个档次，但他们也为了球队的利益接受了戏份缩减的角色，并完美地胜任了它。虽然昨晚瓦塞尔的投篮效率不是最高，三分球 7 投仅 2 中得到 14 分，但他通过化身“篮板机器”弥补了这一点。他在面对联盟进攻篮板最好的球队之一时抢下了一些不可思议的篮板，并继续扮演着定海神针的角色，情绪始终保持稳定。至于凯尔登，虽然我不知道最近发生了什么让他突然成为“年度最佳第六人”的热门（至少根据拉斯维加斯的赔率是这样，我对投票者持怀疑态度），但他依然证明了为什么他整个赛季都有竞争力——他 15 投 8 中拿下 20 分，并与瓦塞尔并列全队最高的 8 个篮板，其中 4 个是进攻篮板。他们不是这支球队的超级巨星，但他们是灵魂和核心，没有他们，马刺不会达到现在的高度。
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 we learned from the Spurs win over the Trail Blazers
What we learned from the Spurs win over the Trail Blazers
Social media can be a toxic place, even if you stick to sports like me. Facebook doesn’t police propaganda or fake news, and I can’t tell you how many people in the Spurs Facebook group fall for these fake posts. Twitter X is a tad bit better at rooting that stuff out, but the attitude can be worse, especially if you’re on the “For You” timeline instead of “Following”, and you get a bunch of extra stuff. For me, if I stray away from “Following”, my timeline gets flooded with Longhorn, Thunder and Canadian (?) fans who are just out to troll. I’m also willing to bet 60% of the Thunder accounts are bots. So many of them use anime as their profile photos, strange font and usernames that make zero sense, and they post similar or identical stuff, especially hating on Victor Wembanyama.
However, even if I stick to just my “Following” timeline, which is primarily Spurs and Texas A&M stuff, it’s not always sunshine and roses, even during these happy times. One characteristic of the Spurs fanbase (and every other, to be fair) is there always needs to be a fall guy when things aren’t perfect, and this season, that has largely been De’Aaron Fox. Of course, I knew this would be the case the instant he signed a max contract extension this offseason, which to be sure will make fans expect the best from you each and every night and bring more scrutiny.
That being said, sometimes I’m not sure fans consider the role he’s playing. Despite being their highest paid player (for now), he’s not the Spurs’ number one option, and yet some fans still seem to expect him to put up numbers like he is. I see posts of his Sacramento days asking, “what happened to this version of Fox?” The answer is simple: NOTHING! He’s right here, doing exactly what he did there, just in a smaller sample size because he’s usually playing next to a certain generational talent that has GOAT potential, as well as two other young guards with ceilings at least as high as his. Wouldn’t you be mad if he was hogging the ball from Wemby, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper? Of course, you would, so you can’t have it both ways.
When Wemby is playing or someone else is hot, Fox rightfully plays the role of facilitator while picking his spots within the flow of the offense, as well as stepping up in crunch time. He has been perfect in that role for the Spurs, filling the gap of play-making point guard and clutch time player they had been missing in recent years. When Wemby doesn’t play is when Sacramento Fox shows up, averaging about 7 more points per game and carrying the team on his back, just like he did last night against the Portland Trail Blazers, where the Spurs were also missing Castle, and Harper wasn’t having his finest night.
Fox finished with 25 points on 10-20 shooting, including 3-6 from three, as well as 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Sure, he had a case of butter fingers with 4 turnovers, but so did seemingly everyone else on both teams, who combined for 31 of them. It was just one of those nights in the turnover department, but tell me honestly, did you have a great feeling coming into this game? The Spurs with nothing to play for and down two of their three best players against a Blazers team with everything on the line that had already beaten them once without Wemby this season felt iffy. I knew a win was certainly possible, but it ended up being easier than expected, and that was in no small part thanks to Fox stepping up into that role when called upon. There’s a reason he’s a nominee for Teammate of the Year: he has not only filled his role perfectly, but has also been an amazing mentor to the Spurs young guards while sacrificing stats and status in the process.
I didn’t exactly come in here expecting to write a Fox Appreciation post, but this is the beauty of What we Learned: you just start writing what the game made you think about, and it becomes something entirely unique from the normal game coverage I’m used to writing.
Takeaways
- On one hand, I’m thrilled the Spurs are no longer beholden to small ball when Wemby either sits or is out due to the lack of a back-up center. That being said, they have been treating it that way lately when Kornet is either out or starting, and to be honest, it hasn’t been bad in no small part thanks to the physicality of Carter Bryant. His strength and athleticism allows him to guard the post and grab rebounds without being pushed around, but the added bonus is when you get offense out of him. Last night, he reminded us that he can also be their long-term answer at power forward with a career high 17 points on 5-6 shooting from three. You could point out that he was simply hot and the Blazers made the decision to leave him open, but what a leap he has had from the beginning of the season to now. Folks were saying he would be raw to to start the season but give him until January or February, and they couldn’t have been more right.
- How good is Harper that it feels like he had a “meh” game while putting up 16 points on 6-14 shooting, 1-2 from three, along with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks? Maybe it felt worse than it was because it was his least impressive game as a starter and, like Fox, he had a case of the butter fingers with an uncharacteristic four turnovers, but regardless, you know you’re reaching a high tier when this type of performance is merely okay.
- I’ve said this multiple times this season, but I’m just so happy for Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson. ESPN made sure to give them their flowers during the broadcast last night, and I’m going to do the same. While not on the same level as Fox as a player, they too have accepted a reduced role for the betterment of the team, and they fill it perfectly. While it wasn’t Vassell’s most efficient shooting night last night, with 14 points just 2-7 from three, he made up for it by being a rebound machine. He grabbed some insane boards against one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league and continues to be a steadying presence, never getting too high or low. As for KJ, while I don’t know what has recently changed that suddenly shot him to the favorite for 6th Man of the Year (at least according to Vegas, I’m skeptical of the voters), he still showed why he’s had a case all season with 20 points on 8-15 shooting and joined Vassell to lead the team in rebounds with 8, 4 of which were on offense. They aren’t the stars of this team, but they’re the heart and soul, and the Spurs wouldn’t be where they are without them.
By Marilyn Dubinski, via Pounding The Rock