Spurs Insider Podcast, 2026-04-21 03:56:00
专栏作家迈克·芬格 (Mike Finger) 与马刺随队记者杰夫·麦克唐纳 (Jeff McDonald) 以及汤姆·奥斯本 (Tom Orsborn) 共同探讨了马刺自2019年以来的首场季后赛——战胜开拓者队的比赛，以及维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和他的队友们如何为霜冻银行中心 (Frost Bank Center) 和圣安东尼奥重新注入了激情。
推荐阅读：
在震撼的季后赛首秀后，为何维克托·文班亚马在巨大的期望中找到了安全感
马刺对阵开拓者NBA季后赛G1集锦：文班亚马在季后赛首秀中打破纪录
以下是播客的转录内容：
旁白：本期《马刺内幕》(Spurs Insider) 由 Community First Health Plans 为您赞助播出。
迈克·芬格 (Mike Finger)：这里是来自德克萨斯州南部绝密地点安全网络的《马刺内幕》季后赛版。G1结束后，我是迈克·芬格，一如既往地与《圣安东尼奥新闻快报》的马刺随队记者汤姆·奥斯本 (Tom Orsborn) 以及魅力十足（带点痞气）的杰夫·麦克唐纳 (Jeff McDonald) 在一起。
周日晚上，圣安东尼奥马刺队在霜冻银行中心重返季后赛舞台。这意味着本周《马刺内幕》的播客更新时间提前了一天。你们中有些人可能期待明天才听到，但我们提前了，因为空气中弥漫着兴奋的气息。看台上满是嘉年华的色彩，文班亚马进入了季后赛，杰夫·麦克唐纳也很兴奋。我知道你很兴奋，对吧，杰夫？
杰夫·麦克唐纳：是的，我很兴奋。但在早上这个时间点很难表现出来，昨晚在球馆待到半夜之后，我今天还在找状态。晚点我们还得去参加训练。打季后赛可是个苦差事。
迈克·芬格：所以你是说，是早晨阻碍了你展示兴奋之情，而不仅仅是你那一贯的高冷范儿？
杰夫·麦克唐纳：嗯，早晨是这样，下午和晚上也是。但除了这些时间，其他时候我都很兴奋。
迈克·芬格：好吧，你觉得怎么样？你已经七年没报道过马刺的季后赛了。蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 到了现场，乔治·格文 (George Gervin) 也在，还有大卫·罗宾逊 (David Robinson)，所有的传奇人物都穿着他们的主题T恤。玩笑归玩笑，我昨晚在霜冻银行中心有一个观察——杰夫和汤姆还因此取笑我——我认为那是这座球馆历史上能量最强、最令人兴奋、氛围最好的季后赛揭幕战。请注意我的限定词：季后赛揭幕战，系列赛的第一场。
如果你在家里听这期提前更新的播客，你可能会嗤之以鼻，心想：“噢，想想那些夺冠的年份吧。”但这恰恰就是我的观点，亲爱的听众们。在过去，这只是预热表演。人们已经习惯了系列赛的第一场，而昨晚对很多人来说是全新的体验，或者是期待已久的时刻。汤姆，你能不能帮我顶一下杰夫，说我的观点还是有那么一丁点道理的？
汤姆·奥斯本：嗯，你确实说得有道理，而且我喜欢你给它加的限定词——“在这座球馆里”。
迈克·芬格：因为如果追溯到阿拉莫穹顶 (Alamodome) 时期或半球竞技场 (HemisFair Arena) 时期，我相信情况也是如此。但在目前这座球馆里……
汤姆·奥斯本：我在想1979年，半球竞技场，对阵华盛顿的东部决赛。
迈克·芬格：你看吧。那场我可没报道过。
汤姆·奥斯本：那也不是季后赛揭幕战。
迈克·芬格：对，对。你说得对。这就是芬格先生在耍的小聪明。我不记得20年前每一场系列赛的第一场是什么样了。所以我只能说他是对的。我只能说他是对的，因为我没法证明他是错的。
当然，圣安东尼奥曾有过更好的季后赛氛围，在霜冻银行中心举行过很多、很多、很多次更好的总决赛和分区决赛；回溯到阿拉莫穹顶，99年夺冠那年是多么疯狂；再回溯到半球竞技场。以前的季后赛赌注更高，观众也更喧闹。但是杰夫，回想一下2008年对阵孟菲斯的第一场——随便哪场系列赛的第一场。人们当时还没进入状态。
杰夫·麦克唐纳：我不记得了。我怎么可能记得那是啥样的？
迈克·芬格：所以这个观点才如此精妙，因为没人能反驳。因为唯一记得的人都已经老糊涂了，没法跟我争论了。所以，选一个你能辩护而别人无法反驳的论点，这就是我的理论。
我还有另一个理论，一个没人能反驳的论点：文班亚马在季后赛中可能会表现得很体面，而不会在对阵波特兰开拓者时掉链子。你会反驳这个吗？
杰夫·麦克唐纳：不，两天前我也不会反驳。这看起来是个非常合理的论点。但是，季后赛首秀砍下35分，这是无可争议的。在马刺队史上，无论是在这座球馆还是其他任何球馆，这都是前所未有的。季后赛首秀35分。此前的纪录是蒂姆·邓肯保持的，他在20世纪90年代对阵菲尼克斯太阳的首场季后赛中得到了32分。文班拿了35分。上半场就砍下21分，这似乎是季后赛首秀半场得分的实时区域纪录。
所以，是的，他挺身而出，兑现了期待。他在几天前就告诉过我们，这将是他NBA生涯中最重要的比赛，也是自奥运会以来赌注最高的比赛。正如自从我们认识他、关注他以来他多次做到的那样：舞台越大，表现越好。他出现在那里，我不认为我们中有人怀疑过他能否在季后赛首场对阵这些家伙时扛起球队。
迈克·芬格：你说的这些都是无可辩驳的事实。他像往常一样把握住了大场面，并以一种马刺队史上从未有人在季后赛首秀中实现过的统计方式做到了这一点。但是汤姆，马刺赢下了非文班在场的时间，而且赢得相当有说服力。并不是文班一个人在战斗。他得到了很多帮助。从比赛一开始，菜鸟斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 就做好了战斗准备，并在开场几分钟内掌控了局面。正如汤姆在 Express-News.com 上指出的那样（本周晚些时候也会出现在报纸上），德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 在等待了六年才打上季后赛后，在第三 quarter 爆发，打出了一波令人眼花缭乱的表现。
汤姆·奥斯本：是的，而且他在攻防两端都做到了。他先是连续封盖了多诺万·克林根 (Donovan Clingan)，接着又对霍勒迪 (Holiday) 完成了一次追身大帽。然后他在大约一分十七秒内连得八分。是的，“令人眼花缭乱”是一个很好的描述。看到这一幕很棒。他经历过低谷，在他投进第二个三分球后，波特兰叫了暂停。他拥抱了凯尔登；那是一个很酷的时刻。所以，是的，他们的阵容深度非常深。有些因为没打过季后赛而被质疑的球员拿出了表现，德文无疑是其中的佼佼者。
杰夫·麦克唐纳：我不觉得卡斯尔打出了他最好的比赛。他打得不差，我会称之为优秀但非卓越。也许这对马刺来说是一个乐观的信号，比如斯蒂芬·卡斯尔还可以打得更好。他确实得到了17分，但效率相当低。对我来说，G1中比较有趣的战术博弈是，开拓者在开场时经常用卡斯尔的前大学队友、7英尺2英寸的克林根去防守他。他们有点像是在挑衅卡斯尔去投篮，去投三分，去投外线和中距离，通过让克林根镇守来阻止他冲击篮筐。这将是我关注的G2调整方向，看马刺如何应对。
我觉得德阿伦·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 表现得很棒。同样，他没有砍下30分之类的，但在一个相当高效的投篮之夜拿到了17分、8次助攻且零失误。整晚他看起来都掌控着全局。我们在上一期播客中略微提到过：福克斯是他们薪水最高的球员。他们签下他是为了让他成为季后赛球星。那么在这支球队中，球星表现是什么样的？不一定非要30分。它看起来就像我们在G1中看到的那样：17分、8次助攻、零失误。对他来说这是一个非常棒的夜晚。
替补出场的卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 是另一个值得一提的人，当你提到他们赢下了非文班时间时，他是最显而易见的原因。他是文班下场休息时的替代者。卢克拿到了10分，6投5中，还有6个篮板。防守很好，护筐也很好。这正是他们在休赛期签下他的目的。所以这很有趣——你谈到了所有帮助赢下非文班时间的球员，但你最好的两个替补球员，凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)，昨晚表现都很平淡。所以是其他人在其他时刻挺身而出，帮助马刺赢下了非文班时间。正如你提到的，如果波特兰不能在文班不在场的时间里赢球，那他们在这个系列赛中就毫无机会。
迈克·芬格：关于斯蒂芬·卡斯尔，我认同你对他整体表现的看法。我觉得他打得还可以。但重要的是——这让我们想起了杰夫记忆模糊的那些旧日季后赛——记得格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich) 最喜欢的赛前问题之一是：“开个好头有多重要？”当人们进来问他这个问题时，经常会遭到他的嘲讽。但我认为——这是我的个人拙见——对于像卡斯尔这样的球员来说，打好开局真的很重要。
他不是投进了今晚的第一个三分球吗？他整体投篮不好，但我认为在比赛早期，他们放他投三分，他投进了，或者至少是一个长距离跳投。我手头应该备好数据的，但我现在没有。他连续几次冲击篮筐，因为这些是我进入季后赛前对他最大的疑问。当对方放他投篮时，他会自信地出手吗？他还能像前两个常规赛那样一次又一次地冲击篮筐吗？尽管昨晚G1的结果并不总是完美的，但我认为他那种面对大场面毫不怯场的状态对马刺来说是一个令人鼓舞的信号。
杰夫·麦克唐纳：是的，他永远不会被吓倒。这是肯定的。
迈克·芬格：这会是一个充满战术调整的系列赛吗？就像很多系列赛那样。还是说，这只是那种更强的球队连赢四场，没有那种你来我往的见招拆招？我相信在单场比赛中会有，昨晚就有。在应对德尼·阿夫迪亚 (Deni Avdija) 时就有一些博弈，他打得很扎实。尽管马刺在防守端对他投入了大量精力，他还是找到了自己的位置。但这会不会演变成马刺在结束一场比赛后（无论是G2还是G3）心想：“噢天哪，波特兰想出了一个我们必须回应并解决的招数”？
杰夫·麦克唐纳：我的意思是，不想说得太绝对或太露骨——我不知道这算不算绝对——但波特兰最好的调整方案应该是造一台时光机，回到2023年，赢得选秀抽签并签下文班亚马。因为在这个系列赛中，他们永远无法克服这一点。马刺有文班，波特兰没有，我觉得系列赛结束时，这最终将决定胜负。我认为波特兰会在某个地方赢下一场，但我预测马刺五场晋级，从G1来看，目前还没有什么能让我改变这个想法。
迈克·芬格：昨晚我和播客的老朋友比尔·奥拉姆 (Bill Oram) 坐在一起，他就像上周圣安东尼奥的专栏作家一样，在《俄勒冈人报》上写了一篇关于你刚才提到的斯库特与维克托动态的专栏。回溯到2022年、2023年的某个时刻，有些人认为他们是NBA选秀中的1号和1A号选择。比尔在上周的专栏中引用了斯库特·亨德森 (Scoot Henderson) 的话，斯库特说他仍然认为自己应该是状元而不是维克托，这场辩论还没有定论。[笑声] 我很佩服这种自信。我钦佩这个年轻人的自我信念，但那场辩论可能已经尘埃落定了。只是可能，已经定论了。斯库特是个不错的角色球员，但维克托……
昨晚有几个回合——我们每次看他比赛都会谈到——但有一个特别精彩，他在一端抢到篮板，整个高光时刻持续了大约90英尺，他转了两次身，你以为结束了，观众因为他的运球、他过掉防守者的方式而发出惊叹，接着他又在外线完成了一次突破，然后不知从哪儿冒出来，以一个扣篮收尾。太搞笑了。我说过很多次了：在这些球馆里，真正让你震撼的不是文班亚马带来的掌声爆发，而是笑声的爆发，因为人们不敢相信自己看到了什么。
汤姆·奥斯本：同样搞笑的是，对他来说这些动作都模糊成一片了。他不记得了。
迈克·芬格：是啊，当你身处文班的位置时，那感觉一定很棒。“哪个精彩进球？”[笑声] 是两分球还是三分球？这也是他的厉害之处。如果他能投进三分，那就别玩了。全完了。如果他投进三分——昨晚他好像是6投5中？就是这样。如果他投进三分，你对他毫无办法。
汤姆·奥斯本：而且他是稳稳命中。就是那种干脆利落的命中。
迈克·芬格：这听起来也像是夸张：“噢，他投进三分的方式和别人不一样。”但他确实不一样。他投三分的方式与很多人不同，因为他有“七英尺一百英寸”那么高。而且那个画面感……有一个球，从我们的视角看，他是从左向右朝着马刺球员通道跑去。文班冲向底角，左侧底角。这就像——斯蒂芬·库里很伟大，他也会这么做，但当一个7英尺4英寸的家伙这么做，冲向底角，明知道自己要转身投一个后仰三分并摔进观众席？就像那是计划好的一样。那不仅仅是某种即兴发挥。
杰夫·麦克唐纳：我也注意到了。你可以看到他在做动作时大脑在飞速运转。就像在说，“我很清楚我要做什么。”一旦他到达底角，他就会出手。他确实投了，而且进了。
迈克·芬格：总有些日子这些球是投不进的，那时候人们会看着这种回合说，“他到底在干什么？马刺需要获得更高命中率的机会”之类的。但那就没意思了。在这样的系列赛中，一些高命中率的进球也很有趣。
杰夫·麦克唐纳：我认为——我没法证实这一点——但我相信马刺昨晚肯定创造了马刺单场季后赛空接扣篮的纪录。就在第一 quarter，是的。文班的防守存在感迫使他们投了很多三分球，而他们的命中率相当糟糕。阿夫迪亚上场了多少次？六次？比卡斯尔还少。所以，是的。文班无处不在。简直不可思议。
迈克·芬格：他们有可能会输掉G2吗？
杰夫·麦克唐纳：当然，总是有可能的。我认为我会关注的一点是我们刚才谈到的三分球命中率。马刺的命中率远高于他们的正常水平，而开拓者的命中率远低于他们的平均水平。如果这两个数据都向均值回落，那比赛就有悬念了。我的意思是，马刺在三分线上比对方多得了15分，最后赢了11分。所以对我来说，那是马刺明显的统计优势，你不能指望每场都这样。
现在的问题是：开拓者投出26%左右的命中率是因为他们打得烂，还是因为马刺的防守？马刺是不是在诱导球权流向他们希望出手的人手中，而那些球理所当然地没进？不过，像德鲁·霍勒迪 (Drew Holiday) 这样的球员，常规赛三分命中率接近40%，他投出了38%、39%——昨晚他是7投1中。你必须假设其中一些数字会稍微回升。当发生这种情况时，马刺能否在其他细节上做得足够好，以弥补这种数据回落？
迈克·芬格：如果我没记错的话，三分防守难道不是开拓者今年的强项之一吗？比如，他们在这方面做得非常好，但马刺还是投进了一些？你不能指望马刺连续四场比赛都保持那样的命中率。
杰夫·麦克唐纳：马刺在G1的三分命中率之所以这么高，一个重要原因是一个7英尺4英寸的家伙投出了6投5中。没有任何三分防守能解决这个问题。如果文班要投出6投5中，开拓者是防不住的。所以你得指望他手感回落。其他球员并没有——德文投得还行，9投4中——但其他球员并没有投出那种手感发烫的表现。真的只是文班投进了五个无法防守的球。
迈克·芬格：朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 昨晚的出手次数不多，但他投进了两个关键球。你知道比赛中那种时刻吗？观众屏息以待，或者等着爆发，球传到了侧翼的尚帕尼手里，你可以感觉到如果这球进了，球馆的顶棚都要被掀翻了。他昨晚投进了几个那样的球。当像尚帕尼这样的人——他是首发，但他只是我们今天在球探报告中提到的第八个球员——当他投进那些感觉很关键的球时，这对开拓者这样的球队来说很难克服。当你防不住尚帕尼和科内特，而这些家伙又在你头上投进关键球时，这一定会让你士气低落。因为你已经准备好迎接文班亚马的英雄表现了。看到其他球员击败你，这真的会击垮你，伙计。
汤姆·奥斯本：看到尚帕尼和瓦塞尔在篮下连续封盖克林根也很打击士气。那是几次令人印象深刻的防守。这就是我们要表达的——我们这一整年都在试图阐述这一点——尽管文班亚马表现惊人，但这绝不是一支单维度的球队。他们可以在进攻端击败你，也可以在防守端击败你——后场有文班确实很有帮助，但他们有很多专注于防守且非常擅长防守的球员。你觉得卡斯尔在防守端表现如何？
杰夫·麦克唐纳：问我吗？是的，我觉得他打得很好。我的意思是，他不是唯一防守德尼的人，而德尼很难防。你看，如果你的对位球员拿了30分和10个篮板，你会觉得自己打得不好，但我认为卡斯尔像往常一样让他打得很辛苦。这就是他们要做的。他们让卡斯尔陷入了一点犯规麻烦；这是唯一的一点。他陷入了犯规麻烦，你不得不让瓦塞尔去防德尼，我认为在理想情况下，应该让卡斯尔在防守那个人上投入更多时间。这就是为什么他们在第二 quarter 末挑战了卡斯尔的那个进攻犯规，因为那是他的第三次犯规，如果不是为了保住防守对方头号球星的球员，你是不会去挑战那个球的。
迈克·芬格：作为一个播客，我们预测挑战成功的概率非常低。开拓者的命中率都比我们高！但那个挑战确实挺奇怪的。
汤姆·奥斯本：你预测圆点赛跑倒是挺准的。
迈克·芬格：噢，我非常擅长圆点赛跑。我不认为有任何——我是圆点赛跑界的文班亚马。这算是一种平衡吧。我认为马刺在G2还有提升空间的一个地方是，我确实认为有些第一次参加季后赛的球员花了一些时间才进入状态。就像你提到的尚帕尼，感觉他在上半场有点游离，之后才稳定下来。像迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 这样一整季都表现出色的人，昨晚可能是我见过他打得最犹豫的一次，大概从他的NBA首秀以来就没这么犹豫过。我认为他适应之后会对接下来的比赛有帮助。
上半场你们看到了一点卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 的表现，他在四分钟内领到了三次犯规，之后我们就没怎么见过他了。也许他还有成长空间。我期待凯尔登能打得更好——我的意思是，凯尔登很棒，他是昨晚的领先篮板手之一，但就你期待他打出的那种得分爆发力而言，他只得了三分。他在 quarter 末投进了一个三分球，仅此而已。那球很重要！回应了对方的一个进球。所以我期待这些家伙在尝过滋味后能冷静下来，表现得更像我们整个常规赛看到的那支马刺队。
汤姆·奥斯本：迪伦的拇指伤势可能让他有点犹豫。我从未见过他那样——特别是在上半场，他冲进禁区后停下来，转身把球传出去。也许这也是克林根效应，就像我们看到文班对其他球队做的那样。那里发生了很多事情，但对我来说，那是自他NBA首秀以来我见过他最犹豫的一次。正如我们所见，一旦他打完了第一场比赛，他在剩下的时间里表现得非常出色。所以我期待迪伦能适应并冷静下来。
迈克·芬格：我们上周提到过这个观点，也许是在播客里，也许是在那次现场活动中——我们很感激有些听众到场并提问，那很酷——在季后赛首轮被高度看好的一个好处是，你可以让卡特·布莱恩特把那种紧张感排解掉。你可以让迪伦·哈珀、朱利安·尚帕尼把他们职业生涯第一次季后赛的紧张感排解掉。在另一个系列赛中对阵更强的对手，杰夫你怎么说的？卡特·布莱恩特上场四分钟领到三次犯规？那可能会让你输掉一场比赛。但在这一场，情况是，“没关系，我们会换下一个人，然后还是赢两位数。”也许下一次，他不会像昨晚那样紧张得要命了。
你还记得十月份常规赛的第一周吗？你肯定不记得了。但迪伦·哈珀的第一场比赛，是不是对阵达拉斯独行侠？是的。在德克萨斯州的达拉斯。迪伦上场后打得一点都不好，但大约一周后，他就带领马刺战胜了布鲁克林篮网。他只是需要把第一场打完，然后他就找回自我了。我认为这可能也适用于季后赛。
我们觉得米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 的第一场季后赛怎么样？他吃到了技术犯规！
杰夫·麦克唐纳：那是对他导师的致敬。我觉得那很感人。因为比赛在 Peacock 流媒体平台上播出，我们中有些人坐得离球场很近，昨晚没人对裁判组感到满意。所以我对米奇最终吃到技犯并不感到意外。我以为他在半场结束前就会吃到，因为他们没法让他离开球场，他一直在对着裁判大吼大叫。我想裁判已经忍到了极限，最后不得不给了他一个技犯。
迈克·芬格：你觉得我哥们蒂亚戈·斯普利特 (Tiago Splitter) 怎么样？
杰夫·麦克唐纳：他大部分时间都成了蒂亚戈发泄怒火的对象，是的。他们不喜欢那样。他出身名门！我昨晚最被低估的快乐时刻是半场结束后回到座位——比赛已经开始了，第三 quarter 已经开始了，我出来得有点晚——所以我不得不穿过看台，经过布莱恩·莱特 (Brian Wright) 坐的那个包厢，蒂米就在那儿。那就是他坐的地方。蒂姆·邓肯就坐在那儿。你能猜到我走过他身边时他在干什么吗？他正在向裁判抱怨！[笑声] 他就这样比划，那样比划。
那是经典的蒂米。我一直说，当他们为他立雕像时，一定要刻画他瞪大眼睛看着裁判的样子。他拥有史上最强的非言语式抱怨技巧。那真的是一种回忆杀。看起来就像他在场上瞪大眼睛、摊开双手说：“你在说什么呢？”太棒了。从那时候起他的发型变了一点。嗯，我的也是。
你见到的另一位老朋友是蒂亚戈。昨晚赛前——赛后没机会和他聊，但赛前——听他谈论不仅是维克托——从蒂姆·邓肯时代到文班亚马时代事情发生了怎样的变化——还有他通过不仅在马刺打季后赛，还在欧洲执教季后赛所学到的经验，这很有趣。他作为教练给我留下了深刻印象。我认为他不只是一个应急的临时替代者。他似乎真的很清楚自己在做什么。
汤姆·奥斯本：嗯，我不知道老板是不是也这么想。
迈克·芬格：这正是我要说的。我认为他们不想给任何人付高薪。如果他愿意拿我或你的薪水，他们会很乐意请他回来。好吧，也许不包括你的薪水，但是……战绩就是证明，对吧？那是评价教练的标准。抱歉，他带队进了季后赛。他接手了一支你本以为进不了季后赛的球队——我的意思是，基本上就是临危受命——这非常像去年的米奇·约翰逊。你进去的时候以为自己是某人的助手，结果发现不，你现在是主教练了。在那种情况下带开拓者进季后赛，你一定做得很好。我是说，这是显而易见的。我认为他做出了一些很棒的调整；他们可能在文班在场时用了太长时间的小阵容。但是，是的，我认为很多比我更关注开拓者的人也会说同样的话：蒂亚戈做得很好，如果只看功绩，他理应永久获得这份工作，就像米奇·约翰逊本赛季获得这份工作一样。但据我所知——我没有波特兰方面的消息源，只是读了那些有消息源的人的报道——他们基本上想要全联盟薪水最低的教练。这就是他们的目标。他们想比其他29支球队付得都少。所以，祝他们好运吧。祝好运能找到一个……
杰夫·麦克唐纳：你要申请吗？
迈克·芬格：不，钱不够。少于200万我可不去。节目预告：在季后赛期间，我知道大家都习惯在周二下午通过留声机、录像机和数字播放器收听《马刺内幕》。如果以后周二有比赛，我们会提前一天录制。这样你就不用赶在赛前听了。我认为我们会尝试在整个季后赛期间都坚持这个安排。所以请在你们的日历上记好。正如我们在日历上记的那样，杰夫和汤姆，周日在波特兰打完G4后，我们是得赶紧跑回圣安东尼奥，确保休息好准备报道G5，还是说有万分之一的机会我们要回波特兰报道G6？或者到下周一，这部分赛程就结束了？
杰夫·麦克唐纳：系列赛开始前我预测马刺五场晋级；我现在依然坚持。波特兰是一支优秀的球队，他们有优秀的球员，我能预见到他们赢下一场。但我认为不会比这更多了。所以，马刺五场晋级。
汤姆·奥斯本：我同意。我同意。你是对的，先生。
迈克·芬格：好的，聊得很愉快。兴奋感回来了，甚至在杰夫·麦克唐纳身上也是。下次见，照顾好彼此，保持真实。
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：Restoring the feeling
Restoring the feeling
Columnist Mike Finger and Spurs beat reporters Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss the Spurs first playoff game since 2019 – a win over the Blazers – and how Victor Wembanyama and company have brought back excitement to the Frost Bank Center and San Antonio.
Suggested reading:
After stirring playoff debut, why Victor Wembanyama finds safety in huge expectations
Spurs vs. Trailblazers NBA Playoffs Game 1 highlights: Wembanyama breaks record in postseason debut
How Devin Vassell came up big on both ends of court in Spurs’ win over Blazers
3 Takeaways as Victor Wembanyama, Spurs take Game 1 from Blazers
Postgame sounds after Spurs beat Trailblazers in Game 1
What Victor Wembanyama, other Spurs thought about the Fiesta T-shirts
Here is the transcript of the podcast:
Narrator: This episode of Spurs Insider is brought to you by Community First Health Plans.
Mike Finger: From a highly secure network of top-secret locations across South Texas, this is the Spurs Insider Playoff Edition. After Game 1, I am Mike Finger, joined as always by San Antonio Express-News Spurs beat writers Tom Orsborn and the roguishly charm, Jeff McDonald.
We had a return to the postseason stage for the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center on Sunday night. That meant the Spurs Insider bumped up the podcast a day this week. Some of you might have been expecting this a day later, but we’re a day early because there’s excitement in the air. There are fiesta colors in the stands, Victor Wembanyama is in the playoffs, and Jeff McDonald is excited. I know you’re excited, right Jeff?
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, I’m excited. It’s hard to express it at this time of the morning, the morning after being up there until after midnight. I’m still getting going today. We’ve got a practice to get to later. It’s hard work being in the playoffs.
Mike Finger: So you’re telling me that it’s the morning that prevents you from showing your excitement and not just your general demeanor?
Jeff McDonald: Well, it’s the morning and then the afternoon and also evening. But other than that, other than that.
Mike Finger: Well, what did you think? It had been seven years since you’d covered a Spurs playoff game. Tim Duncan was there, George Gervin was there, David Robinson was there, all the legends wearing their shirts. All kidding aside, I thought that—and Jeff and Tom made fun of me for this observation that I made at Frost Bank Center last night—I thought that was the most energy and excitement and the best atmosphere for a playoff opener—you need to consider this qualifier—a playoff opener, Game 1 of the first series, in the history of that building.
The reason you might scoff if you’re at home listening to this podcast a day early and you might think, “Oh, think of all the championship years,” well, that’s precisely my point, dear listeners. In the old days, this was a warmup act. People were used to Game 1s of the series, and this was new to so many people last night, or it was long-awaited. Tom, can you stick up for me with Jeff just a little bit and say that I have some slight modicum of a point there?
Tom Orsborn: Well, you do make a good point, and I like how you qualify it in this building. In this building.
Mike Finger: Because you go back to the Alamodome days, HemisFair days, I’m sure it was like that. But in this building…
Tom Orsborn: Well, I was thinking 1979, HemisFair Arena, Eastern Conference Finals against Washington.
Mike Finger: There you go. I did not cover that.
Tom Orsborn: That’s not a playoff opener either.
Mike Finger: Right, right. You’re right. That’s the thing that Mr. Finger is doing. I can’t remember the very first game of every series and what it was like 20 years ago. So I’m going to just say he’s right. I’m just going to say he’s right because I can’t prove him wrong.
Of course, there have been better playoff atmospheres in San Antonio, many, many, many better playoff atmospheres in San Antonio at the Frost Bank Center for finals and conference finals and going back to the Alamodome, how crazy that year was in '99 when they won it all, and going back to HemisFair Arena. There have been much higher stakes for playoff games before, much rowdier crowds. But Jeff, go back to Game 1 of—name your series against Memphis in 2008. People just weren’t into it yet.
Jeff McDonald: I don’t remember that. How would I possibly remember what that was like?
Mike Finger: Well, that’s why this point is so brilliant, because no one can refute it. Because the only people who can remember it are getting senile and can’t argue with me anymore. So, you know, pick an argument that you can defend and no one else can argue against. That’s my theory.
Here’s another theory, an argument that I’ll make that no one can argue against: Victor Wembanyama might be decent in the playoffs and might not just choke it all away against the Portland Trail Blazers. Are you going to argue with that?
Jeff McDonald: No, I also wouldn’t have argued with that two days ago either. It seems like a pretty good argument. But yeah, 35 points in a playoff debut. That is irrefutable. That’s never happened before for the Spurs in this or any building. 35 points in a playoff debut. The record was Tim Duncan, who in his first playoff game scored 32 against the Phoenix Suns back in the 1900s. Victor had 35. 21 in the first half, which was like a play-by-play area record for a playoff debut, a 21-point half.
So yeah, he stepped up. He delivered. He had told us a few days before this is going to be—I mean, it was obviously the biggest game of his NBA career and it was the game with the most stakes since he was playing in the Olympics. And as he’s done so many times throughout since we’ve known him, since we’ve followed him, the bigger the stage, the better the performance. He showed up and I don’t think any of us doubted otherwise that he would be a guy that could carry them in Game 1 in a playoff series against these guys.
Mike Finger: You say all that, and it’s irrefutably true. He met the moment as he always does, met it in a statistical way that no one in a Spurs uniform ever has done before in a playoff debut. But Tom, the Spurs won the non-Wemby minutes and won them pretty convincingly. It’s not like Wemby did this by himself. He had lots of help. From the get-go, the neophyte Stephon Castle came out ready to play and took charge during those opening minutes. And as Tom noted on Express-News.com, and it’ll be in your papers at some point this week, Devin Vassell had a dizzying flurry after having waited six years to play in the playoffs, taking over in the third quarter.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, and he did it on both ends. Those back-to-back blocks on Donovan Clingan and then a chasedown block on Holiday. Then he scores eight points in like a minute seventeen or so. Yeah, a dizzying flurry is a good description. And it was neat to see. He went through the wilderness and after he hit his second three, Portland called a timeout. He embraced Keldon; that was a cool moment. So yeah, they are so deep. They are so deep and some of the guys that kind of had question marks about them because they hadn’t been in the playoffs, they delivered, and Devin certainly was at the forefront of that.
Jeff McDonald: I didn’t think Castle had his best game. He wasn’t terrible. I’d call it good but not great. And maybe that’s a sign for optimism if you’re the Spurs, like Stephon Castle can be even better than he was. He did get to 17 points, but he was pretty inefficient with it. And that’s kind of the interesting chess match of Game 1 to me, is they used his former college teammate, Donovan Clingan—7’2" Donovan Clingan—to guard Stephon Castle a lot to start that game. They’re sort of daring Steph to shoot, to shoot threes, to shoot perimeter shots, midrange shots, not let him get to the rim by putting Clingan on him. And that will be kind of the adjustment for Game 2 that I’m kind of looking at, is how do the Spurs deal with that.
The guy I thought De’Aaron Fox was great. Again, he didn’t score 30 or anything like that, but 17 points on a pretty efficient shooting night, eight assists, no turnovers. Just seemed in control all night. And we kind of brushed on this in the last podcast: De’Aaron Fox is their highest-paid player. They got him to be the playoff star. Well, what does that look like on this team? And it doesn’t necessarily look like 30 points. It looks like what we saw in Game 1: 17 points, eight assists, no turnovers. Just a really good night for him.
And Luke Kornet off the bench was another guy that, when you mention them winning the Wemby minutes, he’s the most obvious reason for that. He’s the guy that replaced Wemby on the floor when Victor’s off the floor. And it was 10 points, five-of-six shooting, six rebounds for Luke. Good defense, good rim protection. And that’s what they got him for in the offseason. So it was a lot of—it was interesting you talk about all the guys that helped them win those non-Wemby minutes, but like your two best bench players, Keldon Johnson and Dylan Harper, both of them had quiet nights. So it was other guys stepping up in other moments that helped the Spurs win the non-Wemby minutes. And as you mentioned, if Portland can’t win the minutes when Victor’s off the floor, Portland has no shot in this series.
Mike Finger: On the Stephon Castle thing, your point is well taken about his overall game. I thought he was fine. But what was significant, and this takes us back to the old playoff days that Jeff is too hazy to remember, remember one of Gregg Popovich’s most beloved pregame questions was, “How important is it to get off to a good start?” And that was often the target of much derision from Gregg Popovich when folks would come in and ask him that. But I thought—this is me being a blowhard—I thought it was really important for a guy like Stephon Castle to come out.
Did he not hit his first three-pointer of the night? He did not shoot well overall, but I think early on in that game, they dared him to shoot a three that he made, or at least it was a long jump shot. I should have the facts in front of me here, which I don’t. And he got to the rim a couple of times in a row, because those were my questions about him heading into the playoffs. If, when they dare him to shoot, is he going to step up and take it confidently? And is he going to be able to get to the rim the same way he did over and over and over again throughout his first two regular seasons? And even though the results weren’t always perfect last night in Game 1, I thought that just the way he came out unintimidated by the moment was an encouraging sign for the Spurs.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, he’s never going to be intimidated. So that is the one thing.
Mike Finger: Is this going to be a series of adjustments, as so many series are, or is it going to be one of those where the better team just wins four games in a row and there’s not the punch-counterpunch type of deal? I’m sure there will be within games, as there was last night. There was some punch-counterpunch in handling Deni Avdija, who had a solid game. He found his spots even though the Spurs were putting a lot of defensive attention on him. But is this going to be a thing where the Spurs end a game, whether it’s Game 2, Game 3, whatever, thinking, “Oh boy, Portland has come up with something that we’ve got to respond to and figure out?”
Jeff McDonald: I mean, not to put too fine a point on it or blunt—I don’t know if this is a fine point or a blunt point—but I mean Portland’s best adjustment would be to build a time machine, go back to 2023, win the draft lottery, and have Victor Wembanyama. Because they’re just never going to be able to overcome that in this series. The Spurs have Wemby, Portland doesn’t, and at the end of the series, I feel like that’s going to be game, set, match eventually. I think Portland will get a game somewhere, but I had Spurs in five, and I saw nothing in Game 1 that’s going to knock me off of that right now.
Mike Finger: Sitting on the platform last night with friend of the podcast, Bill Oram, who, like the columnist in San Antonio last week, wrote a column in The Oregonian about that Scoot-Victor dynamic that you just mentioned and going back to where those at one point in 2022, 2023, there were some people who thought those were options 1 and 1A in the NBA draft. And Bill had a quote in a column last week from Scoot saying that he still thinks he should be the number one pick over Victor, that the debate is not settled yet. [laughter] I’d love to have that kind of confidence. I admire the young man for still believing in himself, but that debate might be settled. Just maybe, it might be settled. Scoot’s a good role player, but Victor…
There were a couple of plays last night—we talk about it every time he plays a game—but it’s just the one in particular where he got a rebound at one end, and the highlight lasted about 90 feet of him spinning twice and you think it’s over, there’s the oohing and aahing from a dribble, from the way he gets around a defender, to yet another drive on the perimeter, and then he just finishes it out of nowhere with a dunk. It’s hilarious. I’ve said it many, many times: it’s not this outburst of applause that really gets you about Victor in these arenas, it’s the outburst of laughter because people can’t believe it.
Tom Orsborn: What’s also hilarious is they all kind of blur together for him. He can’t remember it.
Mike Finger: Yeah, that’s a nice place to be in when you’re Victor. “Which amazing play?” [laughter] Was it a two-pointer or a three-pointer? That’s the thing with him, too. If he’s making his threes, just forget it. It’s over. If he’s making threes—and what was he, five-of-six last night? That’s the thing. If he’s making threes, there’s nothing you can do with him.
Tom Orsborn: He was drilling them, too. Just drilling them.
Mike Finger: That sounds like hyperbole too: “Oh, he was drilling them in a way that other people don’t drill them.” But he sort of does. The way that he makes threes is different than the way a lot of people make threes because he’s seven-foot-a-hundred. And just the way it looks. There’s one that he hit when they were going from our vantage point left to right towards the Spurs tunnel. Victor sprints to the corner, to the left corner. It’s like—Steph Curry is amazing and he does that, but when a seven-foot-four guy is doing it, sprinting to the corner knowing that he’s going to turn around and shoot a fadeaway three falling into the crowd? Like that was the plan. That wasn’t just some improvisation.
Jeff McDonald: I noticed that too. You can see the gears turning in his head while he was doing it. Like, “I know exactly what I’m going to do.” As soon as he gets to the corner, he’s going to shoot this ball. And he did, and he made it.
Mike Finger: And there are days when those shots aren’t going to go down, and people are going to look at a play like that and say, “What the heck was he doing? The Spurs need to be getting higher percentage shots” or what have you. But that’s no fun. In a series like this, some of the higher percentage shots are also fun.
Jeff McDonald: I think—I have no way of confirming this—but I believe the Spurs last night, they had to have set a Spurs single-game playoff record for lob dunks. In the first quarter, yes. And Victor’s defensive presence forces them to shoot a lot of three-pointers, and they had a pretty bad percentage there. Avdija got to the line what, six times? Less than Stephon Castle did. So, I mean, yeah. Victor’s all over the place. Just unbelievable.
Mike Finger: Is there a chance they lose Game 2?
Jeff McDonald: Sure, there’s always a chance. I think the one thing I would look at is we were just talking about the three-point percentage. The Spurs shot way over their normal average, and the Blazers shot well under their average. And if that regresses in both directions, then you’ve got a game. I mean, the Spurs outscored them by 15 from three and won by 11. So to me, that was the obvious statistical advantage the Spurs had, and you can’t necessarily count on that.
Now the question is: did the Blazers shoot twenty-six-some-odd percent because they just sucked, or did the Spurs have something to do with that? Were they funneling the ball to the guys that they wanted to take those shots, and of course those shots didn’t go down? You have a guy like Drew Holiday, though, that was close to a 40 percent three-point shooter during the regular season, he shot 38, 39—he was one-for-seven last night. You have to assume some of those numbers are going to even out a little bit. And when that happens, can the Spurs do enough other things around the margins to make up for that regression?
Mike Finger: Correct me if I’m wrong, but was one of the Blazers’ strengths this year not three-point defense? Like, didn’t they do that exceptionally well and the Spurs still managed to make some? You don’t expect that the Spurs are going to make them at that rate four games in a row.
Jeff McDonald: And the reason—a big reason—the Spurs’ three-point percentage was so high in Game 1 is because a seven-foot-four guy went five-of-six. And there’s no three-point defense that’s going to fix that. If Victor’s going to go five-of-six, the Blazers aren’t going to be able to stop it. So you’re counting on him regressing. The other guys didn’t—Devin shot it alright, four-of-nine—but the other guys didn’t just shoot the lights out of the three-point ball. It was really just Victor making five-of-six indefensible shots.
Mike Finger: And Julian Champagnie didn’t have a huge night volume-wise, but he had two big ones. You know those shots during the course of a game when the crowd sort of inhales or it’s waiting to explode and the pass is out to Julian Champagnie on the wing and you can tell if this shot goes in, the roof’s going to come off the place? He made a couple of those last night. And those are huge when a guy like Julian Champagnie, who is the starter but he’s what, the eighth player we’ve mentioned today on the scouting report? When he hits those shots that feel like they’re important, that’s hard for a team like the Blazers to overcome. When you can’t stop Julian Champagnie and Luke Kornet and those guys are hitting big shots against you, it just has to be demoralizing. Because you’re ready for the Victor Wembanyama heroics. To see those other guys get you, it just has to beat you down, man.
Tom Orsborn: It’s also demoralizing to see Champagnie and Vassell block Clingan back-to-back underneath the basket. Those were some impressive defensive plays. And that’s the thing—we’ve been trying to elaborate on this all year—but it’s not as impressive as Victor Wembanyama has been, this is not a one-dimensional team by any means. They can beat you on offense, they can beat you on defense, they can beat you on defense—it helps to have Victor back there, but they got a lot of guys who focus on that end of the court and are really good at it. How’d you think Steph played defensively?
Jeff McDonald: Me? Yeah, I thought he was fine. I mean, I think he wasn’t the only guy guarding Deni, and Deni’s a hard cover. I mean, you look and your man had 30 and 10 and you think you didn’t have a good night, but I thought Steph made him work like he does all the time. And that’s what they’re going to do. They got Steph in foul trouble a little bit; that’s the one thing. He got in foul trouble a little bit, you had to go with Devin on Deni a little bit, and I think in a perfect world, it’s more Steph minutes on that guy. That is why they challenged that offensive foul on Steph at the end of the second quarter, because that was his third foul, and you don’t challenge that if it’s not against the guy who’s guarding the other team’s best player.
Mike Finger: As a podcast, our percentage on predicting challenges is very low. The Blazers shot better than we do! But that was an odd one.
Tom Orsborn: You get the dot races right.
Mike Finger: Oh, I’m very, very good at dot races. I don’t think there’s any—I’m the Victor Wembanyama of dot races. It kind of balances out. One place I think the Spurs have some room to grow in Game 2 is I do think some of those guys where this was their first playoff experience, I think it took them a while to get their feet wet. Like you mentioned Champagnie, it felt like he floated a lot in the first half before he kind of settled down. A guy like Dylan Harper, who’s been so great all season, that was probably the most tentative I’ve seen him play since probably his first NBA game. I think him getting his feet wet will help going forward.
You got a little taste of Carter Bryant in the first half and he had three fouls in four minutes and we didn’t see much of him anymore. Maybe there’s some room for him to grow. I expect better Keldon minutes—I mean, Keldon was a great, he was one of their leading rebounders last night, but as far as those bursts of points you expect from him, he had three. He had that one three-pointer at the end of the quarter, and that was it. Which was a big one! It answered one at the other end. So I expect those guys now that they’ve had a taste of it to settle down a little bit and for it to look a little more like the Spurs team that we’ve seen throughout the regular season.
Tom Orsborn: Dylan’s thumb might have had a little bit to do with him being tentative. I’ve never seen that—especially in the first half, he’d get in the paint and stop and turn around and throw it out. Maybe that’s the Clingan effect too, like we see Wemby do that to people on the other team. There’s a lot going on there, but it was to me it was the most tentative I’ve seen him look since his first NBA game. And as we saw, once he got that first game under his belt, he was pretty darn good the rest of the way. So I expect Dylan to settle in and settle down.
Mike Finger: We made this point last week, maybe on the podcast, maybe at that live event—which we appreciate some of the listeners showing up and asking questions, that was cool—but one benefit to being heavily favored in a playoff series in the opening round is that you can get those Carter Bryant nerves out of the way. You can get those Dylan Harper nerves out of the way, those Julian Champagnie nerves out of the way in terms of their first-ever playoff appearance. In a different series against a better opponent, what did you say, Jeff? Four Carter Bryant minutes and three fouls? That might cost you a game. In this one, it was, “It’s okay, you know, we’ll move on to the next guy and still win by double digits.” And maybe the next time around, he won’t be bursting at the seams like he was.
Do you remember the first week of the regular season way back in October? Of course you don’t. But wasn’t the first Dylan Harper game, did they play the Dallas Mavericks? They did. In Dallas, Texas. And Dylan got onto the floor and it did not go very well at all, and by a week or so later, he was carrying the Spurs to a victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Like he just needed to get that one out of the way, and then he was himself again. And I think that probably applies in a way to the playoffs as well.
What do we think about Mitch Johnson’s first playoff game? He got teed up!
Jeff McDonald: It was an homage to his mentor. I thought that was very touching. Because the game was on Peacock, some of us got to sit close to the court, and nobody was very happy with the officiating crew last night. And so I was not surprised that Mitch finally got one. I thought he was going to get one going into halftime because they couldn’t get him off the floor, he was yelling at the officials so much. I think they took as much as they could stand and then they finally had to tee him up.
Mike Finger: What’d you think of my man Tiago Splitter?
Jeff McDonald: That was the—he drew Tiago’s ire most of the time, yeah. They didn’t like it. He comes from a good family! My underrated favorite part of the night is going back to my seat after halftime—the game had already started, the third quarter already started, I was a little late getting out there—so I had to go up through the stands and pass the box where Brian Wright will sit and those things, and Timmy was there. That’s where he was sitting. Tim Duncan was sitting. And can you guess what Tim Duncan was doing sitting in that spot as I walked by him while he’s watching the game? He is complaining at the officials! [laughter] He’s going like this and like this.
It was vintage Timmy. I always said when they put the statue up, it’s got to be him like wide-eyed looking at an official. He has the best non-verbal complaining method in history. It was very much a flashback. It looked like him on the floor with the eyes wide and like arms like, “What are you talking about?” It was great. His hair’s changed a little bit since those days. Well, mine has too.
Another old friend that you saw is Tiago. Pre-game last night—didn’t get to talk to him post-game, but pre-game—it was kind of fun hearing him talk about not just Victor—how things have changed between the Tim Duncan era and the Victor Wembanyama era—but just also what he’s learned through his experience not only playing in the playoffs with the Spurs but also coaching in the playoffs in Europe. I’m impressed with that guy as a coach. I think it’s not just a fill-in emergency replacement. He seems to really have a handle on what he’s doing.
Tom Orsborn: Well, I don’t know if the ownership feels the same way.
Mike Finger: That’s kind of what I’m getting at. I think they don’t want to pay anybody anything. They would gladly have him back if he would take like my salary or yours. Well, maybe not yours, but… The proof is in the record, right? That’s how you judge coaches. I’m sorry, and he got them to the playoffs. He got a team that you didn’t think was going to make the playoffs—I mean, basically given the job—it’s very much like Mitch Johnson last year. You go in thinking you’re somebody’s assistant, and then it turns out no you’re not, you’re the head coach now. And to get the Blazers to the playoffs under those circumstances, you have to be doing a good job. I mean, there’s just no way around it. I thought he made some good adjustments; they probably got caught being small with Victor on the floor a little bit too long for a while there. But yeah, I think a lot of people who follow the Blazers a lot closer than I do will say the same thing: Tiago’s done a good job and probably if it was just on merits, he deserves to have the job on a permanent basis going forward, much like Mitch Johnson got the job this season. But it sounds like to me, and I don’t have any Portland sources, but just reading the people that do, that they basically want the lowest-paid coach in the league. That’s what they’re going for. They want to pay less than 29 other teams. And so, you know, good luck. Good luck finding a…
Jeff McDonald: Are you applying?
Mike Finger: Nah, it’s not enough money. I won’t go for less than two mil. Programming note: during the playoffs, I know everybody’s used to having the Spurs Insider hit your phonographs and VCRs and digital players on Tuesday afternoons. If there is a Tuesday game moving forward, we’re going to record a day early. So you don’t have to rush to listen to it pre-game. And I think we’re going to try to hold by that all postseason long. So just note that in your calendars. As we’re noting our calendars, Jeff and Tom, after Game 4 in Portland on Sunday, are we going to have to scamper back to San Antonio and make sure we’re rested and ready to cover a Game 5, or is there any chance in the world that we’re going to go back to Portland and cover a Game 6, or by next Monday is this part of it going to be over?
Jeff McDonald: I had Spurs in five when the series began; I’m sticking with it. Portland is a good team and they’ve got good players and I can see them getting a game. But I just don’t see it going much beyond that. So Spurs in five.
Tom Orsborn: I agree. I agree. You are correct, sir.
Mike Finger: Alright, enjoyed it. Excitement’s back, even in Jeff McDonald. And until next time, take care of each other and keep it real.