By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-20 02:25:09
前圣安东尼奥马刺队球员大卫·罗宾逊（左）和蒂姆·邓肯在周日（2026年4月19日）于圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心举行的NBA季后赛首轮第一场，马刺对阵波特兰开拓者的第四节比赛中观战。马刺以111-98获胜。
他们在看台二层上方为“冰人”安置了一座新王座。他们给了“海军上将”应有的致敬。而且不知何故，他们完成了不可能的任务，说服了蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 遵守着装规范。
这位马刺队史最伟大的球员向后扎起他那黑白相间的脏辫，尽职地听从了指挥。他穿上了指定的嘉年华配色T恤，就像弗罗斯特银行中心的其他所有球迷一样。
在这些传奇人物的注视下，一位志向远大的后来者正沉浸其中。在周日晚上之前，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 从未经历过这一切。说实话，在过去的七年里，圣安东尼奥的任何人都没经历过。
但文班亚马听到了观众对乔治·格文 (George Gervin)、大卫·罗宾逊 (David Robinson) 以及邓肯的反应，他知道他们都期待着他能重新唤醒这支老牌劲旅辉煌的过去。
在他迎来NBA季后赛首秀之际，这难道不是他的负担吗？
恰恰相反，他坚持认为。
“我会说这感觉很安全，”文班亚马说，“感觉就像如果你跌倒了，会有很多双手准备好拉你一把。”
在周日111-98战胜波特兰的第一场比赛中，那些手无处不在。它们属于像斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 这样的队友，这两位同样是季后赛新人，在舞台上显得毫无惧色。
它们属于卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 和德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)，这两位曾在其他季后赛球队效力的老将，看起来从未像现在这样适合这支球队。
它们属于年轻的教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson)，以及他所致敬的那位睿智导师——在执教季后赛的首场比赛中，他因争论得面红耳赤而吃到了一次技术犯规。
当然，那些手也属于文班亚马的前辈们。即使他在马刺的纪录册上不断翻页，通过转身、跳跃和空心入网书写新篇章时，他也忍不住注意到他们。
在周日晚上之前，队史上还没有球员在季后赛首秀中砍下35分。但文班亚马并不自傲，他注意到，在19372名观众的座无虚席中，引起最热烈欢呼的并不是他的空接扣篮或干拔三分。
那些欢呼声都无法与罗宾逊和邓肯出现在大屏幕上时相提并论。
“太酷了，”文班亚马说，“看到这两个人，以及他们从球迷那里得到的认可，真是太神奇了。”
圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫德阿隆·福克斯 (4) 和前锋维克托·文班亚马 (1) 在周日（2026年4月19日）于圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心举行的NBA季后赛首轮第一场对阵波特兰开拓者的下半场暂停期间交谈。马刺以111-98获胜。
有时很容易忘记，这对他来说是全新的。也很容易忘记，对于周日晚上在球馆里的许多人来说，这也是全新的。
二十多年来，圣安东尼奥四月下旬的篮球比赛被认为是理所当然的。这只是为之后真正有意义的比赛进行的预热。不值得为此激动，当然也不值得为了穿上一件免费T恤而挤破头。
但这一次，人们迫不及待地想穿上它们。他们迫不及待，因为不仅弗罗斯特银行中心已经七年没有举办过季后赛了，而且距离上一次季后赛让人感觉具有冠军意义已经过去了九年。
马刺在2019年或2018年甚至连争冠球队的边都摸不着。但现在，他们看起来确实像是一支争冠球队。
这就是为什么周日的季后赛揭幕战感觉如此不同，即使对于一个举办过几十场揭幕战的城市来说也是如此。不同之处在于，这一次，曾经亲历过这些的球员们坐在看台上。而在球场上，约翰逊和他的球队正努力带着一种“这座建筑里我们谁也没感受过的能量和热情”在打球。
这听起来像是在夸张，直到你意识到这可能是事实。约翰逊在2019年从发展联盟晋升，从未见过弗罗斯特银行中心像周日那样震撼。
凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 在马刺效力的第七个赛季，也从未见过。而文班亚马呢？
当然，重塑冠军辉煌时代一直是他的计划。但他从未亲身经历过。当他以前听到观众为邓肯欢呼时，那是通过他在法国的电视机。
现在他知道了在季后赛中听到那样的欢呼是什么感觉。现在他对自己试图追随的榜样有了更多的了解。
而他比以往任何时候都更确定自己得到了帮助。
“从第一天起，就有这种感觉，”文班亚马说。
正因为他不把期待看作负担，他可以安全地完成另一次飞跃。
而那些在他周围构建这一切的人，在知道一切仍处于稳妥掌控之中时，也感到很安全。
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 Victor Wembanyama finds safety in expectations
Why Victor Wembanyama finds safety in expectations
Former San Antonio Spurs players David Robinson, left, and Tim Duncan watch the fourth quarter of Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoff series between the Spurs and the Portland Trail Blazers at Frost Bank Center on Sunday, April 19, 2026, in San Antonio. The Spurs won 111-98.
They found a new throne for the Iceman, right there above the mezzanine. They gave the Admiral a worthy salute. And somehow, some way, they did the impossible, convincing Tim Duncan to conform to a dress code.
The greatest player in Spurs history pulled back his salt-and-pepper dreadlocks and dutifully followed orders. He put on his assigned Fiesta color T-shirt, just like all the other fans at Frost Bank Center did.
Down below the living legends, an aspiring one soaked it all in. Before Sunday night, Victor Wembanyama never had experienced any of this. Truth be told, for the past seven years, nobody in San Antonio had.
But Wembanyama heard the way the crowd reacted to George Gervin, and to David Robinson, and to Duncan, and he knew they all expected him to reawaken a storied franchise’s glorious past.
As he made his NBA playoff debut, wasn’t that his burden?
On the contrary, he insisted.
“I would say it feels safe,” Wembanyama said. “It feels like if you trip, there’s a lot of hands ready to help you.”
During a 111-98 Game 1 victory over Portland on Sunday, those hands were everywhere. They belonged to teammates like Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell, two other playoff debutantes who looked thoroughly undaunted by the stage.
They belonged to Luke Kornet and De’Aaron Fox, two veterans of playoff teams elsewhere who’d never looked more suited for this one.
They belonged to a young coach named Mitch Johnson, and to the sage mentor he honored by earning a red-faced technical foul during his first night on a postseason sideline.
And the hands belonged, of course, to Wembanyama’s predecessors, who he couldn’t help noticing even as he spun and leaped and swished his way onto yet another page in the Spurs’ record books.
Before Sunday night, no player in team history had scored 35 points in his first playoff game. But Wembanyama wasn’t too proud to note that it wasn’t any of his alley-oop dunks or pull-up 3-pointers that drew the most rousing ovation from the sellout crowd of 19,372.
None of those roars compared to the one that came when Robinson and Duncan appeared on the big screen.
“It’s so cool,” Wembanyama said. “Just seeing these two, the recognition they get from the fans, it’s amazing.”
San Antonio Spurs guard De’aaron Fox (4) and forward Victor Wembanyama (1) talk during a timeout in the second half of Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers at Frost Bank Center, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in San Antonio. The Spurs won 111-98.
It’s easy to forget sometimes that this is new to him. It’s easy to forget it’s new to a lot of people who were in the arena on Sunday night.
For more than two decades, late-April basketball in San Antonio was taken for granted. It was a warm-up act for the truly meaningful stuff that came later. It wasn’t worth getting riled up about. And it surely wasn’t worth squeezing on a free T-shirt for.
People couldn’t wait to wear them this time, though. They couldn’t wait, because not only had it been seven years since the last time Frost Bank Center hosted a playoff game, it had been nine years since the last time a playoff game there felt like it had championship implications.
The Spurs weren’t even close to contender status in 2019 or 2018. But they sure look like contenders now.
That’s what made Sunday’s playoff opener feel so different, even in a city that has hosted dozens of them. It was different because this time, the players who’d been here before were sitting up in the stands. And on the court, Johnson and his team were trying to operate with, as the coach put it, “a level of energy and enthusiasm in this building that none of us had felt.”
That’s sounds like hyperbole until you realize it’s probably the truth. Johnson got promoted from his G League gig in 2019 and never saw Frost Bank Center rock like it did Sunday.
Keldon Johnson, in his seventh season with the Spurs, never had, either. And Wembanyama?
Sure, it was his plan all along to recreate the championship glory days. But he wasn’t in the building for any of them. When he’d heard the crowd roar for Duncan before, it was through his TV set in France.
Now he knows what it’s like to hear a cheer like that in the playoffs. Now he knows a little more about the example he’s trying to follow.
And he’s as sure as he’s ever been that he has help.
“From Day 1, it’s felt that way,” Wembanyama said.
And because he doesn’t see expectations as a burden? He can feel safe making another leap.
While those who built the scene around him feel safe knowing it’s still in good hands.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News