By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-09 02:31:15
2026 年 5 月 8 日，星期五，在明尼阿波利斯标靶中心举行的西部半决赛第三场上半场，明尼苏达森林狼队后卫安东尼·爱德华兹 (5) 在圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (1) 面前起跳投篮。马刺队以 115-108 击败森林狼队，在系列赛中以 2-1 领先。
明尼阿波利斯——马刺队在进入第四节时，针对防守安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 制定了一个简单的计划。
“给他施压，让他打得极其难受，”前锋德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 说道。
爱德华兹全场为明尼苏达贡献了 32 分，但他在第四节仅得到 5 分。这是马刺队在周五晚上的西部半决赛第三场中以 115-108 击败森林狼队的一个重要因素，马刺队在七场四胜制的系列赛中取得了 2-1 的领先。
瓦塞尔和后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 在最后一节轮番防守爱德华兹，让这位四届全明星球员在 8 分钟内仅出手 4 次。
爱德华兹此前因膝伤缺席了森林狼首轮六场淘汰丹佛掘金的最后两场多比赛，本场是他回归后在系列赛中首次首发。他全场出战队内最高的 41 分钟，26 投 12 中，三分球 9 投 3 中，得到 32 分，此外还有全队最高的 14 个篮板和 6 次助攻。
“这家伙太不可思议了，”马刺队教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道。“和他竞争很有趣，如果这就是你执教对抗他时的感受的话。但他冲击比赛的方式，以及他展现出的风范和对比赛的影响力（令人印象深刻）。斯蒂芬和德文做得非常棒，全队也是如此，因为面对那样的球员，需要全队合力才能让他打得艰难。”
马刺球星维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 本场表现盖过了爱德华兹，他砍下 39 分、15 个篮板和 5 次盖帽，他也对瓦塞尔和卡斯尔表示了赞赏。
“他们真的把我们的防守提升到了另一个水平，”文班亚马说道。“当你面对对方阵中像他这样优秀的后卫球员时，你的后卫必须挺身而出，守住阵地。”
瓦塞尔、卡斯尔和其他球员在整场比赛中都在努力让爱德华兹的得分变得艰难。
“我们知道他肯定喜欢用左手撤步，所以我们只是努力给他压力，逼他走右路，”瓦塞尔说。“然后进行包夹，诸如此类。但归根结底，这是为了在整场比赛中消耗他，这样到比赛结束时，他会感到不舒服。”
爱德华兹在上半场得到 19 分，帮助森林狼从开局 3-18 的落后中反弹。他在第一节结束时投中了一个 31 英尺的压哨三分，但在第四节他没能接管比赛，而文班亚马在第四节砍下了 16 分。
“他从比赛初期就找到了节奏，所以我们试图让他出球，尽可能让他感到不适，”卡斯尔在谈到爱德华兹时说道。
除了防守端的贡献，卡斯尔在出战的 40 分钟（季后赛生涯新高）内还得到了 13 分和全队最高且创下个人季后赛新高的 12 次助攻，成为自马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili) 在 2014 年总决赛第一场以来，首位在季后赛中拿到得分/助攻两双的马刺球员。
卡斯尔也以 21 岁 188 天的年纪，成为队史在季后赛中拿到得分/助攻两双最年轻的球员。托尼·帕克 (Tony Parker) 在 2004 年做到这一点时是 21 岁 344 天。
“斯蒂芬在保持进攻模式和寻找队友方面做得很好，当他进入油漆区或面对包夹时，因为对手非常有侵略性地向球施压，”约翰逊说。
卡斯尔的投篮手感一般，全场 11 投 3 中，三分球 3 投 1 中，但他在罚球线上 8 投 6 中，并且在梳理进攻的同时仅出现了 4 次失误。
“当你投篮手感不好时，你不能停止保持侵略性，”他说。“你只需要意识到你的出球点在哪里。”
瓦塞尔称赞卡斯尔是一名“伟大的全能型球员”。
“他总能找到队友，”瓦塞尔说。“本该有 13 次助攻的，我应该投进底角那一球。但老实说，他能找到队友，为我们创造投篮机会，并确保文班和每个人都能触球，这非常关键。他手里握有很多球权，所以能够找到队友意义重大。”
由生成式 AI 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：How Spurs turned the tables on Anthony Edwards in fourth quarter
How Spurs turned the tables on Anthony Edwards in fourth quarter
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) goes up for a shot over San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the first half of Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals at Target Center in Minneapolis, Friday, May 8, 2026. The Spurs defeated the Timberwolves 115-108, leading the series 2-1.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Spurs entered the fourth quarter with a simple plan for defending Anthony Edwards.
“Pressure him, make his life hell,” forward Devin Vassell said.
Edwards led Minnesota with 32 points, but he scored only five in the fourth, a big factor in the Spurs defeating the Timberwolves 115-108 on Friday night in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals to grab a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Vassell and guard Stephon Castle took turns defending Edwards in the final frame, limiting the four-time All-Star to just four shots in eight minutes.
Starting for the first time in the series after returning from a knee injury that forced him to miss the last two-plus games of the Timberwolves’ six-game win over Denver in the first round, Edwards finished 12 of 26 from the floor and 3 of 9 from 3-point range to go along with 14 rebounds and six assists, both team highs, in a team-high 41 minutes.
“The guy’s ridiculous,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’s fun to compete, I guess, if that’s what it’s called when you coach against him. But the way he attacks the game and the way he carries himself and imposes himself on the game (is impressive). Steph and Dev did a great job, and the whole team did, because it takes the whole team with that guy to try to just make it tough for him.”
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, who overshadowed Edwards by finishing with 39 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks, also praised Vassell and Castle.
“They really take our defensive game to another level,” Wembanyama said. “When you got a good player like that, such a good player on the opposing team as a guard, your guards have to step up and be there.”
Vassell, Castle and others tried to make Edwards work hard for his points throughout the game.
“We know he likes to get to that left-hand step back, for sure, so we just tried to pressure him and make him go right,” Vassell said. “And then sending doubles, and doing stuff like that. But ultimately it was to wear him down all through the game, so at the end of the game, he wasn’t feeling comfortable.”
Edwards had 19 points in the first half to help the Timberwolves bounce back from an early 18-3 deficit. He hit a buzzer-beating 31-footer at the end of the first quarter, but he failed to take over in the fourth while Wembanyama scored 16 points.
“He had a rhythm going from early on in the game, so we tried to get the ball out of his hands and make it as uncomfortable for him as possible,” Castle said of Edwards.
In addition to his defensive work, Castle finished with 13 points and a team- and playoff-high 12 assists in a playoff-high 40 minutes as he became the first Spur to have a point/assist double-double in a playoff game since Manu Ginobili in Game 1 of the 2014 Finals.
Castle also became the youngest player in franchise history at 21 years, 188 days to post a point/assist double-double in the playoffs. Tony Parker did it in 2004 at 21 years, 344 days.
“Steph did a great job of being in attack mode and finding his teammates when he got to the paint or when there were crowds, because they were so aggressive gravitating to the basketball,” Johnson said.
Castle struggled with his shot, missing 3 of 11 from the field and 1 of 3 from 3-point range, but he connected on 6 of 8 at the free-throw line and committed only four turnovers while running the offense.
“When you have a bad shooting night, you don’t want to stop being aggressive,” he said. “You just have to realize where your outlets are at.”
Vassell called Castle a “great all-around player.”
“He’s always finding people,” Vassell said. “It should have been 13 assists. I should have hit that shot in the corner. But, honestly, him just being able to find people and get us shots and make sure Vic and everybody get touches is huge. He has the ball a lot in his hands so to be able to find his teammates is huge.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News