By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-17 12:36:11
2026年4月6日，周一，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心进行的NBA比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊对他的球队大声指挥。马刺队以115-102击败了费城76人队。
2002年的那一天，格雷格·卡利纳 (Gregg Kalina) 看着眼前这位心烦意乱的高一控球后卫，只想给他一个拥抱。当时的米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 只有14岁，作为当地篮球界传奇之子，他刚刚开启了备受期待的高中生涯，就读于西雅图长期以来的州级强校——奥戴高中 (O’Dea High School)。
他的二队 (JV) 首秀并不顺利。在那场奥戴高中罕见的失利中，约翰逊投丢了所有的球。赛后，他在更衣室里找到了被大家称为“K教练”的卡利纳。
“教练，对不起。我打得太烂了，”这孩子说道，身体几乎在颤抖。“这种事再也不会发生了。”
如今回忆起这段往事，当时的奥戴二队教练卡利纳将其视为这孩子日后成就的初露端倪。
“这表明他非常在意，”卡利纳说道，“他是个完美主义者。”
尽管遭遇了一个糟糕的夜晚，这位心烦意乱的14岁少年还是很快被提拔到了校队，师从传奇教练菲尔·兰普金 (Phil Lumpkin)。在高三和高四学年，他带领奥戴高中连续两年夺得华盛顿州冠军，随后在斯坦福大学 (Stanford) 度过了辉煌的大学生涯。
之后，他进入了职业教练行列，先是在发展联盟 (G League)，随后进入了NBA。
本周日，在弗罗斯特银行中心，当马刺队重返久违的西部季后赛，迎来与波特兰开拓者队的首轮系列赛第一场时，米奇·约翰逊将成为自1996年以来，除格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 之外，第一位带领这支球队征战NBA季后赛的主教练。
回首往事，现年39岁的约翰逊承认他从未预料到这一切。他怎么可能预料到呢？
“作为一名球员，你永远不想当教练——你想上场打球，”约翰逊说道，“但现在回过头来看，确实有一些蛛丝马迹是有迹可循的。”
这些线索大多最初扎根于约翰逊的家乡西雅图。
传奇之子
早在萨克拉门托国王队的达格·克里斯蒂 (Doug Christie) 与约翰逊成为NBA教练同僚之前，他就是约翰逊父亲的粉丝。
每一个在20世纪70年代末和80年代初在西雅图长大的人都是如此。
约翰·约翰逊 (John Johnson) 在翡翠城（西雅图别称）更为人熟知的名字是“J.J.”，他在全明星级别的NBA职业生涯最后五个赛季效力于西雅图超音速队 (Seattle SuperSonics)。
1979年，老约翰逊是那支西雅图队的先发小前锋，那支球队赢得了队史唯一一座NBA总冠军奖杯，随后在2008年搬离太平洋西北地区前往俄克拉荷马城。
“小时候，你认识所有的那些球员——J.J.、丹尼斯·约翰逊 (Dennis Johnson)、杰克·希克马 (Jack Sikma)，”曾在雷尼尔海滩高中表现出色的克里斯蒂说道，“如果你喜欢篮球，你就会爱上那些家伙。”
1980年4月11日，在密尔沃基MECCA球馆进行的NBA西部半决赛第三场比赛中，西雅图超音速队的约翰·约翰逊 (John Johnson) (27号) 正在比赛。约翰逊是马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊的父亲。（图源：Carl Skalak /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images）
在西雅图，超音速队就是生活的全部。克里斯蒂回忆起西雅图警察局在那个时代发起的一个项目：巡逻警察会向高风险地区的青少年发放超音速球星的收藏卡。
唯一的条件是孩子们必须主动走向警察并介绍自己才能拿到卡片。此前一直对警察心存戒备的克里斯蒂因此成了警察最好的朋友。
“这打破了我和警察之间的隔阂，因为我想要那些卡片，”克里斯蒂说，“我收集了全队的卡片。”
其中也包括“J.J.”。
约翰·约翰逊在1980-81赛季结束后从NBA退役。近五年后，他的儿子米切尔 (Mitchell) 出生了。在西雅图作为一名超音速队成员的儿子长大有很多好处。但偶尔也会带来一些弊端，或者说在卡利纳看来是这样。
在米奇·约翰逊代表奥戴高中参加的比赛中，经常能听到他父亲那独特而洪亮的声音在体育馆里回荡。他当然会为儿子欢呼，也会像一位退役的NBA球星那样提供一些出于好意的指导。
有一天，卡利纳问约翰逊，是否需要找人跟他父亲谈谈，让他把音量调低一点。
约翰逊起初有些困惑，然后笑了。
“K教练，”他说，“我从五年级起就不听那个了。”
在那一刻，卡利纳对这位奥戴高中的首发控卫有了新的认识。
“他热爱并尊重他的父亲，”卡利纳说道，“他只是知道如何在场上屏蔽那些噪音。”
“大师 (Maestro)”
对于年轻的约翰逊在西雅图的许多儿时好友来说，他们从不叫他米奇。
他过去是，现在依然是“大师”。
这个绰号是约翰逊上中学时他父亲给起的，旨在致敬这孩子像指挥交响乐一样掌控篮球比赛的非凡能力。
多年后，这个头衔跟随约翰逊来到了斯坦福大学。
“他是我们的指挥家，”洛杉矶快船队中锋布鲁克·洛佩斯 (Brook Lopez) 说道，他在2006年至2008年间与双胞胎弟弟罗宾 (Robin) 一起效力于斯坦福大学队，“他在场上领导着我们。”
2006年约翰逊去上大学时，他也带走了一部分西雅图。
他的父亲搬到了距离斯坦福校园25分钟路程的圣何塞，以便离儿子近一些。“J.J.”是斯坦福红杉队比赛的常客，总是愿意在赛后向球员们传授智慧。
“他经常在身边，”洛佩斯说，“你可以看出（米奇）是从哪里继承这些特质的。”
2007-08赛季大三时，约翰逊迎来了他最好的大学赛季。他在36场比赛中首发35场，领跑Pac-12联盟助攻榜，并帮助球队杀入16强 (Sweet 16)，最终斯坦福大学负于由D.J. 奥古斯丁 (D.J. Augustin) 领衔的德克萨斯大学 (Texas) 队。
在斯坦福大学，约翰逊的队友们就能预见到他未来会成为一名教练——尽管他自己当时还没意识到。
“他是我合作过最聪明的球员之一，”洛佩斯说，“他是一个真正的控球后卫，领导他人，在场上指挥。看到他现在的成就，我一点也不感到惊讶。”
全身心投入工作
2016年1月，约翰·约翰逊去世，享年68岁。六个月后，米奇·约翰逊加入马刺队教练组，担任发展联盟助理教练。
就像他生命中到那时为止的所有事情一样，西雅图在获得这份工作中发挥了作用。
那年夏天早些时候，马刺队用首轮签选中了一位来自西雅图、虽然有些麻烦但极具天赋的控球后卫，名叫德章泰·默里 (Dejounte Murray)。约翰逊通过西雅图的AAU圈子与默里结识，他被录用在一定程度上是为了帮助这位新秀适应NBA。
接下来发生的事情，在西雅图认识约翰逊的人中没有一个感到惊讶。他开始在马刺队的管理架构中步步高升，最终在波波维奇的教练组中获得了一个前排助理教练的位置。
“你只要和米奇相处一段时间，就很难不爱上他，”卡利纳说道。
2024年11月，约翰逊以一种他并不希望的方式迎来了教练生涯最大的突破。
波波维奇在赛季初期对阵明尼苏达森林狼队的比赛前中风。约翰逊临危受命，以代理主教练的身份顶替这位传奇人物，直到赛季结束。
去年5月，仍在康复中的波波维奇选择从教练岗位退休，约翰逊被正式任命为这位NBA历史上胜场数最多教练的继任者。
对于约翰逊来说，这次改变命运的晋升让他心情复杂。他不仅被要求接替一位五夺NBA总冠军的名人堂成员，还被要求接替一位被他称为“朋友、父亲般的人物、叔叔、导师”的教练。
“我在多个方面都感到了一种责任和义务，”约翰逊说道。
约翰逊迎接挑战的方式，与他从奥戴高中第一场二队比赛以来迎接每一个挑战的方式如出一辙。
他投入了工作。
“你会全身心投入到工作本身，”约翰逊说，“比如你在投篮训练中要做什么，讨论转换防守，还有‘我们必须让这家伙练练这些基本功’。”
2026年4月12日，周日，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心进行的赛季最后一场常规赛主场比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊和前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)（后排左侧）观看马刺队对阵丹佛掘金队的比赛。马刺队以118-128负于掘金队。
“这无法伪装”
约翰逊埋头苦干的方式似乎得到了回报。他作为马刺队主教练的第一个完整赛季表现得再好不过了。
球队取得了62胜20负的战绩，追平了队史第三好战绩，并以令人惊喜的西部第二种子的身份结束了连续六个赛季无缘季后赛的尴尬记录。
马刺队成为NBA历史上第四支在前一赛季胜场不足35场的情况下，紧接着在下一赛季达到60胜大关的球队，也是自2007-08赛季波士顿凯尔特人队以来第一支做到这一点的球队。
约翰逊是其中的重要原因。
“我认为最大的成就是他确立了自己作为教练组和这支球队领导者的地位，”全明星中锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 说道，“感觉他执教的时间比实际要长得多。这完全靠他自己。这是买不来的，也是无法伪装的。”
那些见证了约翰逊从青少年控卫成长为NBA主教练的人，对他看似突然的成功并不感到惊讶。
亚特兰大老鹰队教练奎因·斯奈德 (Quin Snyder) 也是西雅图人，他记得2000年代初自己在密苏里大学 (Missouri) 担任大学教练时，曾去奥戴高中的比赛现场考察球员。
当他看着约翰逊在圣安东尼奥的场边指挥时，他仿佛依然能看到当年的那位“大师”。
“他的为人特质转化到了他的执教中，”斯奈德说，“你可以看到他与球员建立的联系。我认为这种信任让你有机会以一种更独特的方式执教他们。当你观看他们的比赛时，你就能感受到他对这支球队的影响。”
领袖的诞生
在即将到来的首轮系列赛第三场和第四场比赛中，约翰逊将在波特兰的摩达中心 (Moda Center) 执教NBA季后赛，那里距离他曾经打球的奥戴高中体育馆只有三小时车程。
在西雅图获得新的扩编球队之前，那里是距离他家乡最近的NBA场馆。
尽管在季后赛舞台上还是个新人——2019年马刺队上一次进入季后赛时，他还是发展联盟的助理教练——但约翰逊拒绝回避自己作为季后赛菜鸟教练的身份。
“有些情况是你无法回避或轻视的，无论你多么想这么做，”约翰逊说，“但在大多数情况下，事情并没有改变。我们正在准备并努力执行自10月以来一直在讨论的那些事情。”
回到西雅图，篮球界坚信约翰逊天生就是干这行的。
卡利纳回忆起他认定约翰逊未来会成为教练的那一瞬间。
那是约翰逊在奥戴高中的高四赛季。那个曾经心烦意乱的14岁少年已经变成了一个自信的18岁青年，一心想要带领球队连续第二次夺得州冠军。
在州半决赛中，挡在他们面前的是一支来自哥伦比亚河队 (Columbia River) 的球队，队中有一名不起眼的替补球员，看起来像是个被象棋俱乐部拒之门外的人，投篮姿势也很别扭，但他却能像斯蒂芬·库里 (Steph Curry) 一样投进三分球。
卡利纳负责球探工作，并警告过奥戴高中的球员们不要以貌取人，也不要因为对手那不规范的投篮动作就轻视他。
他们没听进去。
在那位出人意料的哥伦比亚河队狙击手连续投中第三个空位三分球后，兰普金叫了暂停。
然而，是约翰逊打断了讲话，并要求在围拢时发言。他发表了一番充满激情、甚至夹杂着脏话的鼓劲演讲，这足以让他在圣安东尼奥未来的老板感到脸红。
“他通常不是那种会说脏话的孩子，”卡利纳说，“但当时必须有人站出来说点什么，于是他说了。”
奥戴高中赢得了那场比赛，并最终夺得了州冠军。卡利纳相信，就在那一刻，一位未来的马刺队教练诞生了。
“你看到了他是一个怎样的领袖，”卡利纳说，“从那时起，你就知道他注定会成就伟业。”
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 Mitch Johnson was made for his playoff moment
Why Mitch Johnson was made for his playoff moment
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson yells at his team during an NBA game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, April 6, 2026. The Spurs defeated the 76ers 115-102.
Gregg Kalina took one look at the distraught freshman point guard standing before him that day in 2002 and wanted to hug him. Mitch Johnson was 14 years old then, the son of a local basketball legend, just starting out on a much-anticipated prep career at Seattle’s O’Dea High School, a longtime statewide powerhouse.
His junior varsity first game had not gone well. Johnson missed every shot he took in a rare loss for O’Dea. Afterward, Johnson tracked down the man they called “Coach K” in the locker room.
“Coach, I’m sorry. I played terrible,” the kid said, almost shaking. “It will never happen again.”
Recounting the story today, Kalina — the O’Dea JV coach in question — views it as the first inkling of what the kid would one day become.
“It showed that he cared — a lot,” Kalina said. “He was a perfectionist.”
Despite the one off night, that distraught 14-year-old was quickly promoted to the varsity to play for legendary coach Phil Lumpkin. And as a junior and senior, he led O’Dea to back-to-back Washington state championships, then went on to a decorated college career at Stanford.
He then found his way into the professional coaching ranks, first in the G League and then in the NBA.
And on Sunday at the Frost Bank Center, when the Spurs make their long-awaited return to the Western Conference playoffs with Game 1 of a first-round series against Portland, Mitch Johnson will become the first coach not named Gregg Popovich to lead the franchise into an NBA postseason since 1996.
Looking back, the 39-year-old Johnson admits he never saw any of this coming. How could he?
“As a player you never want to be the coach — you want to play,” Johnson said. “But there are some tea leaves, looking back now, that make sense.”
Most of those tea leaves first took root in Johnson’s native Seattle.
Son of a legend
Long before Sacramento’s Doug Christie could call Johnson an NBA coaching colleague, he was a fan of his dad.
Everyone who came of age in Seattle during the late 1970s and early 1980s was.
John Johnson, who was better known throughout the Emerald City as “J.J.," spent the final five seasons of an All-Star NBA career with the Seattle SuperSonics.
In 1979, the elder Johnson was the starting small forward for a Seattle team that won its first and only NBA title before vacating the Pacific Northwest for Oklahoma City in 2008.
“As a little kid, you knew all of those guys — J.J., Dennis Johnson, Jack Sikma,” said Christie, who starred at Rainier Beach High School. “If you liked basketball, you loved those guys.”
Seattle SuperSonics John Johnson (27) in action in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 11, 1980, at the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee. Johnson is the father of Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson. (Photo by Carl Skalak /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
In Seattle, the Sonics were life. Christie recalls a program created in that era by the Seattle Police Department, in which officers patrolling their beats would hand out collector cards of Sonics stars to youth in high-risk areas.
The only catch was the kids had to approach the officers and introduce themselves to get the cards. The previously distrustful Christie became a cop’s best friend.
“That kind of broke it for me, because I wanted those cards,” Christie said. “I had the whole team.”
“J.J.” included.
John Johnson retired from the NBA following the 1980-81 season. Nearly five years later, his son Mitchell was born. Growing up the son of a SuperSonic in Seattle had its benefits. It also occasionally came with drawbacks or so it seemed to Kalina.
At Mitch Johnson’s games at O’Dea, his father’s distinctive, booming voice could often be heard echoing throughout the gym. He would cheer his son on, sure. He would also offer well-intentioned instruction, as a retired NBA star might.
One day Kalina asked Johnson if he would like someone to talk to his dad about taking the volume down a notch.
Johnson was initially confused. Then he smiled.
“Coach K,” he said, “I stopped listening to that in the fifth grade.”
In that moment, Kalina learned something else about O’Dea’s teenage starting point guard.
“He loved and respected his father,” Kalina said. “He just knew how to block out the noise when he was on the court.”
The ‘Maestro’
To many of the younger Johnson’s childhood friends from Seattle, he was never called Mitch.
He was and still is “Maestro.”
That nickname was bestowed on Johnson in middle school by his father, homage to the kid’s uncanny ability to control a basketball game like a symphony.
Years later, the moniker followed Johnson to college at Stanford.
“He was our conductor,” said Los Angeles Clippers center Brook Lopez, who starred with his twin brother Robin on Stanford teams from 2006 to 2008. “He was leading us out there.”
When Johnson left for college in 2006, a bit of Seattle came with him.
His father relocated to San Jose, 25 minutes from the Stanford campus, to remain close to his son. “J.J.” was a fixture at Cardinal games, always willing to impart wisdom to players after games.
“He was around a lot,” Lopez said. “You could see where (Mitch) got it from.”
As a junior in 2007-08, Johnson enjoyed his best collegiate season. He started 35 of 36 games, led the Pac-12 in assists and helped orchestrate the Cardinal’s run to the Sweet 16, where Stanford lost to a D.J. Augustin-led Texas squad.
At Stanford, Johnson’s teammates could envision a future coach in the making — even if he didn’t see it in himself.
“He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever played with,” Lopez said. “He was a true point guard, leading people, coaching on the floor. I can’t say I’m surprised by the position he is in now.”
Lost in the job
In January 2016, John Johnson died at the age of 68. Six months later, Mitch Johnson joined the Spurs’ staff as a G League assistant.
As with everything in his life to that point, Seattle played a role in getting the gig.
Earlier that summer, the Spurs used a first-round pick on a troubled but talented point guard from Seattle named Dejounte Murray. Having befriended Murray through Seattle’s AAU scene, Johnson was hired in part to help the new rookie acclimate to the NBA.
What happened next surprised exactly nobody from Seattle who knew Johnson. He began to rise up the Spurs’ organizational chart, eventually earning a spot as a front-of-the-bench assistant on Popovich’s staff.
“You can’t be around Mitch for long without falling in love with him,” Kalina said.
In November 2024, Johnson earned his biggest coaching break in a manner he would not have preferred.
Popovich suffered a stroke before an early-season game against Minnesota. Johnson got the nod to fill in for a legend, on an acting basis, through the end of the campaign.
When a still-recovering Popovich opted to retire from coaching last May, Johnson was officially tabbed to succeed the winningest coach in NBA history.
For Johnson, feelings about the life-changing promotion were mixed. Not only was he being asked to replace a five-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer. He was being asked to replace a coach he calls a “friend, father figure, uncle, mentor.”
“I felt a duty and obligation in multiple regards,” Johnson said.
Johnson attacked the challenge the same way he’d attacked every challenge since his first JV game at O’Dea.
He went to work.
“You get lost in the job itself,” Johnson said. “What are you going to do at shootaround and (talking about) transition defense and ‘we’ve got to get this guy working on these fundamentals.’ ”
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson and San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama, back left, watch the Spurs take on the Denver Nuggets in the last regular home game of the season at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Sunday, April 12, 2026. The Spurs fell to the Nuggets, 128-118.
‘You can’t fake that’
Johnson’s nose-to-the-grindstone approach appears to have paid off so far. His first full season as the Spurs’ coach could hardly have gone better.
The team finished 62-20, matching the third-best record in club history, and halted a six-season playoff drought with a surprising run to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
The Spurs became the fourth team in NBA annals to reach the 60-victory mark one season after winning fewer than 35 games, and the first to do it since the 2007-08 Boston Celtics.
Johnson is a big reason why.
“I think the biggest achievement is he’s installed himself as the leader of the staff and this team,” All-Star center Victor Wembanyama said. “It feels like he’s been coaching for much longer than (he has). And that’s all him. You can’t buy that. You can’t fake that.”
Those who have witnessed Johnson grow from teenage point guard to NBA head coach aren’t taken aback by the seeming suddenness of his success.
Atlanta coach Quin Snyder, another fellow Seattleite, remembers scouting O’Dea High games as a college coach at Missouri in the early 2000s.
When he watches Johnson stalk the sidelines in San Antonio, he can still squint and see the “Maestro.”
“The type of person he is translates to his coaching,” Snyder said. “You can see the relationships he has formed with his players. I think that level of trust gives you an opportunity to coach them in a more unique way. You can tell the impact he has made on that team when you watch them play.”
Birth of a leader
In Games 3 and 4 of the upcoming first-round series, Johnson will coach NBA playoff games at the Moda Center in Portland, a three-hour drive from his old high school gym at O’Dea.
Until Seattle is awarded a new expansion team, it is the nearest NBA arena to his hometown.
Though new on the postseason scene — he was still a G League assistant in 2019, the last time the Spurs made the playoffs — Johnson refuses to hide from his status as a first-time playoff coach.
“There are some circumstances you can’t avoid or downplay as much as you’d like to,” Johnson said. “For the most part, things don’t change. We’re preparing and we’re attempting to execute the same things we’ve discussed since October.”
Back in Seattle, a basketball community firmly believes Johnson was built for this.
Kalina recalls the instant he saw Johnson as a future coach.
It was Johnson’s senior season at O’Dea. That once-distraught 14-year-old was now a confident 18-year-old bent on leading a second-straight state championship charge.
Standing in the way, in the state semifinals, was a team from Columbia River that featured an unassuming bench player who looked like a chess club reject and shot the ball from his hip, but nevertheless could swish 3-pointers like Steph Curry.
Kalina had the scout, and had warned the O’Dea players not to judge a book by its cover or an opponent by his unorthodox jumper.
They didn’t listen.
After that unlikely Columbia River sniper nailed his third open 3-ball in a row, Lumpkin called timeout.
It was Johnson, however, who interrupted and asked to address the huddle. He did so in the form of an impassioned, expletive-riddled pep talk that would have made his future boss in San Antonio blush.
“He wasn’t the kind of kid who usually used that kind of language,” Kalina said. “But something needed to be said, so he said it.”
O’Dea won the game and later the state championship. In that moment, Kalina believes, a future Spurs coach was born.
“You saw what a leader he was,” Kalina said. “From then on, you knew he was destined for great things.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News