By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-15 15:36:43
2026年4月10日，周五，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心球馆对阵达拉斯独行侠的第四节比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (1) 与后卫达龙·福克斯 (4) 击掌。马刺以139-120获胜。
在得知球队自2019年以来的首个季后赛对手身份不到12小时后，马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 周三面对一排摄像机，向波特兰开拓者队许下了一个承诺。
这或许也是一个威胁。
全明星中锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在本赛季马刺与开拓者的三次常规赛交手中均未登场。
“他会在第四场比赛中上场，”约翰逊说道。
那将是周日在弗罗斯特银行中心进行的西部季后赛首轮第一场对决，马刺为此已经等待了漫长的七年。
如果仅凭最近的比赛录像，开拓者可能还不知道自己将面临什么。
当被告知自己（显然）是马刺队身高7英尺4英寸的秘密武器时，文班亚马笑了起来。
“这是最不为人知的秘密，”文班亚马打趣道。
周三，马刺队针对特定对手进行了首次季后赛训练。
前一天晚上，波特兰在西部附加赛中以114-110爆冷击败菲尼克斯，锁定了7号种子席位，并获得了成为文班亚马职业生涯首个季后赛对手的“殊荣”。
太阳队在比赛还剩8分半钟时还领先11分，在最后3分半钟时仍握有8分优势。
直到比赛还剩20秒时，看起来马刺的首轮系列赛客场之旅似乎仍要前往大漠。
随后，德尼·阿夫迪亚 (Deni Advija) 在比赛还剩16.1秒时通过一次2+1帮助波特兰反超，杰拉米·格兰特 (Jerami Grant) 紧接着完成快攻扣篮锁定胜局，带领开拓者自2021年以来首次闯入季后赛。
文班亚马表示他没有观看周二的那场惊险对决——因为比赛时间超过了他习惯的晚上9点就寝时间——但他计划在训练后补看录像。他已经知道这支顽强的开拓者队意味着什么。
“这支球队不好对付，”文班亚马说道，“强度很大。他们有自己的风格。”
这两支球队上一次在季后赛相遇还是在2014年，当时马刺在六场比赛内淘汰了波特兰，并最终夺得队史第五座NBA总冠军。那支马刺队的首发中锋是蒂亚戈·斯普利特 (Tiago Splitter)。
现在，斯普利特是开拓者队的临时主教练。在本赛季仅进行一场比赛后，昌西·比卢普斯 (Chauncey Billups) 因赌博指控被捕遭解雇，斯普利特随即接手。
41岁的斯普利特带领这支处境艰难的开拓者取得了42胜40负的战绩，这是他们五个赛季以来的最佳表现。
“这是艰难的一年，但这群球员非常有韧性，”斯普利特在周二菲尼克斯的胜利后告诉记者，“我们在第四节展现了这一点。进入季后赛对这组球员来说是一项伟大的成就。”
25岁的阿夫迪亚本赛季场均贡献24.2分，并首次入选全明星，他是波特兰进攻体系的引擎。
在周二对阵太阳的附加赛胜利中，他狂砍41分。
在接下来的日子里，阿夫迪亚很可能成为圣安东尼奥的“头号公敌”，因为他造犯规的能力惊人。阿夫迪亚本赛季610次罚球尝试位列NBA第三。
在开拓者战胜太阳后，阿夫迪亚在Prime Video的赛后节目中表示，他很期待与西部二号种子马刺队的对决。
“他们是一支伟大的球队，非常有天赋，”阿夫迪亚说，“他们也很年轻，所以季后赛经验同样不多。这将是一场恶战。”
开拓者凭借侵略性极强、压迫持球的防守打入季后赛，这套防守体系由防守悍将朱·霍勒迪 (Jrue Holiday) 和图马尼·卡马拉 (Toumani Camara) 领衔。
波特兰在二次进攻得分方面也大有斩获。开拓者身高7英尺2英寸的中锋多诺万·克林根 (Donovan Clingan) 本赛季抢下347个进攻篮板，领跑全联盟并创下了队史纪录。
“他们喜欢给你加速，”马刺前锋卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 说道，“他们想利用施压让你犯错。他们拥有多名具备换防能力的防守者。我们领教过几次，他们是一支很棒的球队。”
马刺在本赛季对阵波特兰的三场比赛中赢了两场，最近一次是4月8日在弗罗斯特银行中心以112-101获胜。
由于文班亚马缺席了全部三次交锋，斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 也缺席了两场，达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 成为马刺对阵开拓者时的得分王，在三次交手中场均得到27分。
约翰逊警告不要过度解读近期的交战史。他预计会看到一支专注于防守、竭力打乱马刺节奏的开拓者队。
“我们预料会看到他们一整年都作为核心风格的东西，那就是极强的持球压力，”约翰逊说，“他们会挑战你的控球能力，试图让你偏离战术执行，或者至少打乱你正常的节奏和速度。”
当然，开拓者也需要做出自己的调整。
在周日开场跳球时，一位并未出现在波特兰本赛季任何对阵录像中的法国巨人将站在中圈。
文班亚马真的能成为马刺在这个系列赛中的秘密武器吗？
“我想你可以这么说，”文班亚马笑着说道。
这要么是一个承诺，要么就是一个威胁。
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：Is Victor Wembanyama the Spurs' secret weapon against the Blazers?
Is Victor Wembanyama the Spurs’ secret weapon against the Blazers?
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) and guard De’aaron Fox (4) slap hands during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, April 10, 2026. The Spurs won 139-120.
A little less than 12 hours after learning the identity of his team’s first playoff opponent since 2019, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson stared down a bank of television cameras Wednesday and issued the Portland Trail Blazers a promise.
It might have been a threat.
All-Star center Victor Wembanyama did not play in any of the Spurs’ three regular-season meetings with the Blazers this season.
“He will play in the fourth game,” Johnson said.
That would be Sunday, at the Frost Bank Center in Game 1 of a Western Conference first-round series that for the Spurs has been seven long years in the making.
If they are only going by recent game film, the Blazers might not know what is about to hit them.
Apprised of his role as (apparently) the Spurs’ 7-foot-4 secret weapon, Wembanyama laughed.
“The least best-kept secret,” Wembanyama cracked.
On Wednesday, the Spurs conducted their first playoff practice with a specific foe in mind.
A night earlier, Portland earned the No. 7 seed — and the distinction of becoming the first postseason foil of Wembanyama’s career — by virtue of a 114-110 upset victory at Phoenix in a Western Conference play-in contest.
The Suns led by 11 points with 8½ minutes to go and by eight with 3½ minutes remaining.
With 20 seconds left, it still appeared the Spurs might be headed to the desert for the road portion of their first-round series.
Then Deni Advija put Portland ahead on a bucket-and-a-foul with 16.1 ticks left and Jerami Grant followed with a run-out dunk to cap the comeback, delivering the Blazers to the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
Wembanyama said he did not watch Tuesday’s thriller — it was on past his preferred 9 o’clock bedtime — but planned to catch up after practice. He already knows what to expect from plucky Portland.
“Not an easy team to play,” Wembanyama said. “Very intense. They have their identity.”
The last time these two franchises met in the playoffs was 2014, when the Spurs dispatched Portland in six games en route to their fifth NBA championship. The Spurs’ starting center on that team was Tiago Splitter.
Now, Splitter is the interim coach of the Trail Blazers, having taken over one game into the season following Chauncey Billups’ dismissal following an arrest on gambling charges.
All the 41-year-old Splitter did was guide the beleaguered Blazers to a 42-40 mark, their best in five seasons.
“Tough year, but this group is very resilient,” Splitter told reporters after Tuesday’s triumph in Phoenix. “We showed that in the fourth quarter. Making the playoffs is a great accomplishment for this group.”
A first-time All-Star at age 25 after averaging 24.2 points, Advija is the engine of Portland’s offensive attack.
He pumped in 41 points in Tuesday’s play-in win over the Suns.
In the days and weeks to come, Advija is likely to become Public Enemy No. 1 in San Antonio for his uncanny ability to draw fouls. Advija’s 610 free throw tries this season ranked third in the NBA.
After Portland’s win over the Suns, Advija told the Prime Video postgame show he is looking forward to the matchup with the second-seeded Spurs.
“They’re a great team, very talented,” Advija said. “They’re young, too, so they don’t have a lot of playoff experience as well. It’s going to be a fight.”
The Blazers built their playoff push on the back of an aggressive, ball-pressuring defense headed by bulldoggish wings Jrue Holiday and Toumani Camara.
Portland also makes plenty of hay with second-chance points. Donovan Clingan, the Blazers’ 7-foot-2 center, set a a club record with a league-leading 347 offensive rebounds this season.
“They like to speed you up,” Spurs forward Carter Bryant said. “They want you to make mistakes, just based on their pressure. They have multiple switchable defenders. We saw it a few times and they have a pretty good team.”
The Spurs won two of three games against Portland this season, most recently a 112-101 victory at the Frost Bank Center on April 8.
With Wembanyama out for all three matchups and Stephon Castle missing two, De’Aaron Fox led the Spurs in scoring against Portland, averaging 27 points in the trio of meetings.
Johnson cautioned reading too much into recent history. He expects to see a defensive-minded Blazers team bent on trying to throw the Spurs off their game.
"The things that we expect to see that’s been a strong part of their identity all year is they really pressure the basketball,” Johnson said. “They’re going to challenge you to handle the basketball, try to get you out of your sets or at least your normal rhythm and tempo.”
The Blazers, of course, will have their own adjustments to make.
Come opening tipoff Sunday, a skyscraping Frenchman who did not appear on any of Portland’s game film from this season will take his place at center circle.
Can Wembanyama really be the Spurs’ secret weapon in the series?
“I guess you can say that,” Wembanyama said with a smile.
It was either a promise, or a threat.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News