By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-04-20 15:46:27
2026年4月19日，星期日，在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，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) (1) 与圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) (24) 击掌。马刺队以111-98获胜。
在职业生涯迄今为止最重要的NBA比赛开始前约20分钟，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 独自站在弗罗斯特银行中心的三分线附近，练习着那些他在开场哨响后绝不敢尝试的动作。
他用右脚颠球，连续踢了三下让球保持在空中，然后又换到了左脚。
那一刻，文班亚马看起来就像是在为一场足球友谊赛或校园草坪上的毽球活动做热身，而不是在准备对阵波特兰的西部季后赛首战。
这位马刺队的全明星中锋看起来——用法语词来说——非常nonchalant（淡定自若）。但他绝非如此。
“我觉得他准备好了，”马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道。
2026年4月19日，星期日，在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比赛开始前，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马进行热身。
事实证明，他确实准备好了。
22岁的文班亚马在周日献上了马刺队史上最惊艳的季后赛首秀，狂砍35分，带领马刺以111-98击败开拓者，先拔头筹。
这打破了马刺球员在季后赛首秀中的最高得分纪录，超越了蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 在1998年季后赛首战对阵菲尼克斯时拿下的32分。
文班亚马在季后赛聚光灯下的首秀之夜表现全能，投中了5记三分球，贡献了一系列扣篮和两次盖帽。
“维克就是维克，”后卫德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 这样评价道。对于排名西部第二的马刺队来说，这无疑是周二在弗罗斯特银行中心进行第二场比赛前最好的消息。
文班亚马并不是周日唯一完成季后赛首秀的马刺球员，他只是其中最高的那一个。
正因为文班亚马能够顶住季后赛的高压，马刺队的其他球员才能紧随其后。
“这显然有所不同，”文班亚马在谈到季后赛氛围时表示，“但我们在常规赛表现得非常棒，所以我们没理由表现得反常，或者去做任何改变。”
在马刺队七个赛季以来的首场季后赛初期，紧张情绪显而易见。
但对于缺乏经验的开拓者队来说也是如此。
“我认为我们花了一点时间才稳住阵脚，”瓦塞尔说道，他全场得到15分，包括四记关键的三分球，“每个人都跃跃欲试。但当我们稳住阵脚后，我们才真正开始打出自己的风格。”
第三节初，马刺队以59-57领先2分，随后他们拉开了分差，领先优势一度扩大到21分。
约翰逊对球队在拘谨开局后的表现感到满意。
“我认为他们的回应非常棒，”同样迎来季后赛首秀的约翰逊说道，“我们讨论过，这座球馆里会有我们从未感受过的氛围、能量和热情。这没关系。”
既然已经初尝了NBA季后赛的滋味，马刺队相信第二场比赛的心理负担会更轻一些。
开拓者队也希望自己能这么说。
无论是由于紧张、客场作战的劣势，还是因为马刺队的宇宙中心拥有一个7英尺4英寸的外星级天才，而波特兰没有，开拓者在周日似乎从未真正进入状态。
波特兰全场命中率仅为42.9%，三分球38投10中，表现惨淡，得分未能破百。
最后一项数据至关重要：在常规赛中，当马刺将对手得分限制在100分以下时，战绩为11胜0负。
“对于我们很多人来说，这是我们的第一次季后赛，包括我自己，”开拓者全明星前锋德尼·阿夫迪亚 (Deni Avdija) 说道，他表现出色，砍下30分10个篮板，“我觉得我们可以打得更好……但部分原因在于这是我们的第一场季后赛，身处这种环境。说实话，这有点令人震惊。”
斯库特·亨德森 (Scoot Henderson) 是波特兰另一位表现尚可的球员，得到18分，他希望球队能从这场失利中汲取经验。
“我们已经打完了第一场比赛，”亨德森说，“每个人的季后赛首战紧张感都消失了。”
马刺队在适应季后赛节奏的同时，还确立了系列赛1-0的领先优势。
“显然，我可以想象在第一场季后赛中，每个人都会感到紧张和焦虑，”马刺前锋朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 说道，“但我认为我们走上场后，没有人表现出畏惧。我们只是上场去打球。”
这一刻是马刺队期待已久的。
大约两个月前，在洛杉矶客场战胜快船队后，几个球员聚在一起用餐，思考季后赛开始后会发生什么。
卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 是一位30岁的替补中锋，曾在2024年随波士顿夺冠，他像一位睿智的先知一样回答着年轻队友们的问题。
季后赛是什么样的？比赛与常规赛有什么不同？在短时间内击败同一个对手四次的挑战是什么？
“其实就是能量和对抗强度的问题，”科内特说，“本质上是一样的，只是所有细节都被放大了。”
那天在科内特身边虚心求教的球员之一就是文班亚马。
周日，在职业生涯迄今为止最重要的NBA比赛中，文班亚马将所学付诸实践。
“这是他的第一场季后赛，他对自己有很高的期望和目标，”约翰逊说，“所以，赢下第一场并积累这种经验是件好事。”
这正是马刺队迎接周二第二场比赛时令对手感到恐惧的地方。
维克托·文班亚马不再是季后赛菜鸟了，他的队友们也不是了。
“我们来到这里是有原因的，”瓦塞尔说，“我们都知道自己能做什么。只要享受其中，拥抱挑战就好。”
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：As Wemby and the Spurs get their feet wet, playoff fun begins
As Wemby and the Spurs get their feet wet, playoff fun begins
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) slaps hands with San Antonio Spurs guard Devin Vassell (24) 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.
About 20 minutes before the start of the most important NBA game of his life, Victor Wembanyama stood alone near the 3-point line at the Frost Bank Center, practicing moves he would never dare try after tipoff.
Balancing the ball on his right foot, he kept it airborne with three quick kicks, then transferred it to his left foot.
For a moment, Wembanyama seemed like a man warming up for a soccer friendly or hacky sack circle on the quad, not Game 1 of the Western Conference playoffs against Portland.
The Spurs’ All-Star center looked, to use a French term, nonchalant. He was anything but.
“I thought he was ready,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama warms up before the start 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.
Boy, was he.
The 22-year-old Wembanyama unloaded the most sensational playoff debut in Spurs history Sunday, rolling to 35 points as the Spurs drew first blood against the Trail Blazers with a 111-98 victory.
It marked the most points scored by a Spurs player in his first postseason game, surpassing the 32 points Tim Duncan dropped on Phoenix in Game 1 of the 1998 playoffs.
Wembanyama’s inaugural night under the playoff spotlight included five 3-pointers, an array of dunks and a pair of blocks.
“Vic was Vic,” is how guard Devin Vassell described it, and for the second-seeded Spurs that is the best news of all heading into Game 2 on Tuesday at the Frost Bank Center.
Wembanyama was not the only Spurs player to make his playoff debut Sunday, only the tallest.
Because Wembanyama was able to stand up to the pressure cooker of the playoffs, it allowed the rest of the Spurs to follow suit.
“It is obviously different,” Wembanyama said of the playoff environment. “But we’ve been really great in the regular season. So we had no reason to act differently or do anything different.”
The nervousness was evident early in the Spurs’ first playoff game in seven seasons.
But the same could be said for the inexperienced Trail Blazers.
“I think it took us a little bit to settle in,” said Vassell, who had 15 points including four well-timed 3-pointers. “Everybody was just ready to play. But as we settled in, that’s when we really started playing our game.”
The Spurs led by two points early in the third quarter, 59-57, before opening up a lead that grew as high as 21 points.
Johnson expected nothing less from his squad after a tippy-toed start.
“I thought they responded great,” said Johnson, who was making a postseason debut of his own. “We talked about this was going to be an atmosphere and a level of energy and enthusiasm in this building that none of us had felt. And that was OK.”
Now that they have their feet wet in the NBA playoffs, the Spurs believe Game 2 should be an easier emotional lift.
The Trail Blazers are hoping they can say the same.
Whether it was due to nerves, the disadvantage of being the road team or the fact the Spurs have an otherworldly 7-foot-4 phenom at the center of their universe and Portland does not, the Blazers never quite seemed to settle in Sunday.
Portland shot 42.9% from the field, made a miserable 10 of 38 from 3-point range, and failed to reach the century mark on the scoreboard.
The last of those numbers is significant. During the regular season, the Spurs were 11-0 when limiting opponents to fewer than 100 points.
“A lot of our guys, it was our first playoffs, including myself,” said Portland All-Star forward Deni Avdija, who acquitted himself well with 30 points and 10 rebounds. “I thought we could have played better. … But part of it was having our first playoff game and being in this environment. It was a little shocking. I’ll be honest with you.”
Scoot Henderson, the only other Portland player to play particularly well with 18 points, hoped his team could build on the experience gleaned in the loss.
“We got the first game out of the way,” Henderson said. “Everybody got their first playoff jitters out of the way.”
The Spurs had the luxury of testing the playoff waters while also staking themselves to a 1-0 lead in the series.
“Obviously, that first playout game, I could imagine everybody had some nerves, some anxiousness,” Spurs forward Julian Champagnie said. “But I think we all went out there and no one showed no fear. We all went out there and just played.”
It is a moment the Spurs had been anticipating for quite some time.
Nearly two months earlier, after a regular-season victory over the Clippers in Los Angeles, several players gathered around a dinner table to break bread and ponder what was to come once the postseason began.
Luke Kornet, a 30-year-old backup center who won a championship with Boston in 2024, fielded questions from his younger teammates like some sort of wizened prophet.
What are the playoffs like? How are the games different from the regular season? What is the challenge of beating the same team four times in a short span?
“It was just kind of like what the energy and physicality is like,” Kornet said. “It’s kind of the same stuff. Everything’s just more amplified.”
One of the players asking questions and learning at Kornet’s feet that day was Wembanyama.
Sunday, in the most important NBA game of his life so far, Wembanyama put what he learned into practice.
“This was his first playoff game and he has lofty expectations and goals for himself,” Johnson said. “So it’s good to get the first one and kind of get that experience under your belt.”
That is the scary part as the Spurs head into Game 2 on Tuesday.
Victor Wembanyama is not a playoff newbie anymore. And neither are his teammates.
“We’re here for a reason,” Vassell said. “We all know what we can do. Just have fun and embrace it.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News