By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-11 01:47:19
圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) (1) 在与明尼苏达森林狼队前锋杰登·麦克丹尼尔斯 (Jaden McDaniels) (3) 争抢篮板球时，因肘击明尼苏达森林狼队中锋纳兹·里德 (Naz Reid) (11)（未在图中）的面部而被吹罚二级恶意犯规，导致文班亚马在第4场比赛的第二节被驱逐出场。
明尼阿波利斯——他们做的第一件事就是搬走按摩床。
这张床尺寸超大且特长，考虑到它最常接待的主人，这也在情理之中。但标靶中心 (Target Center) 通常放置按摩床的理疗区没有电视，而在周日晚上，这就是个问题了。
之所以是个问题，是因为西部决赛的第四场比赛仍在进行中。而维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 正准备躺下接受赛后理疗。
此时正值第三节。
于是，马刺队的工作人员将按摩床搬到了客队更衣室的中央，正对着一个巨大的平板显示器。随后，几名物理治疗师、几位低级别的视频协调员以及这位全美身材最高的被驱逐者聚集在一起，组成了一个相当热闹的观赛派对。
按摩结束后，文班亚马坐在凯利·奥利尼克 (Kelly Olynyk) 的更衣柜旁，那里可以最直观地看到达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 那一连串的后撤步跳投，看到卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 那令人惊叹且极具说服力的年度最佳防守球员级别的表现，以及迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 那超越20岁年龄的沉着冷静。
尽管文班亚马没有向媒体谈论他的被驱逐，但当他穿着一件蓝色绞花针织毛衣走向大巴时，看起来一点也不沮丧。
毕竟，他刚刚证明了一个观点。
随后，他也看着队友们证明了一个观点。
没有人会纵容他在周五第二节的行为，当时他对明尼苏达的杰登·麦克丹尼尔斯一次未被吹罚的犯规做出反应，将肘部抡向了纳兹·里德的脸部。
你不能那样做，即便你已经连续四场比赛被身体强悍的对手推搡、碰撞和粗野犯规，而这些对手又足够聪明，能够利用季后赛裁判尺度允许的一切动作。如果你抡起手臂击打某人的肩部以上位置，这就是二级恶意犯规，并会被取消比赛资格。
“我们不抱怨，因为我们只想打球，”凯尔登·约翰逊说道，“我们真的不在乎（此处省略脏话），请原谅我的措辞。但在某些阶段，文班亚马应该受到保护。如果没有，他就必须保护自己。”
他是否应该选择一种危险性更小——且不那么明显违规——的方式来回击？那是肯定的。作为球队基石，责任之一就是让自己留在场上，由于瞬间缺乏冷静（尽管可以理解），他在周日没能做到这一点。
尽管如此，这种情绪在整个系列赛中一直在积压。在第一节末的一次暂停期间，文班亚马和睿智的老将替补俾斯麦·比永博 (Bismack Biyombo) 与裁判扎克·扎巴 (Zach Zarba) 进行了一番激烈的交谈，内容关于他们认为明尼苏达中锋鲁迪·戈贝尔 (Rudy Gobert) 一些越界的拉扯和抱人动作。
没过多久，麦克丹尼尔斯也开始做同样的事情。文班亚马把气撒在了里德身上，基本上让扎巴别无选择。当这种带有如此大幅度抡臂动作的肘击发生在颈部以上时，没有任何可以解读的灰色地带。
但问题在于：在NBA周一宣布文班亚马将有资格参加第五场比赛且不会受到追加处罚后，留给下一场裁判组解读的灰色地带将会非常多。
既然文班亚马已经为自己出头了，也许裁判在下次面对那些灰色地带时会倾向于做出不同的解读。即便不是这样，或许明尼苏达的一两名防守球员在敢于侵犯他的空间之前，也会犹豫那么一瞬间。
所以，这是一个被证明的观点。第二个观点则由福克斯、科内特、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 以及所有其他马刺球员再次重申——他们在常规赛文班亚马缺阵的情况下取得了12胜6负的战绩，在季后赛首轮第三场没有他的情况下击败了波特兰，并且差一点就从森林狼手中偷走了第四场胜利。
在好几个时间段里，缺少文班的马刺队看起来比森林狼队更强硬、更具爆发力，甚至更有经验，尤其是当哈珀在场上时。
这位左手将新秀砍下24分，外加7个篮板和3次抢断，让他那本就丰富的模仿马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili) 的动作集锦又增添了新篇章。对于一个几个月前还是青少年的孩子来说，能像他这样接管季后赛比赛？
“那，”福克斯说，“不正常。”
但马刺队周日在缺少头号球星的情况下，几乎足以击败对手。要在接下来的三场比赛中赢下两场并晋级分区决赛，他们不需要做出任何重大调整。
他们可能甚至不需要搬动按摩床。
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 ejected Victor Wembanyama watched Spurs fall short, prove point
How ejected Victor Wembanyama watched Spurs fall short, prove point
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) fights for a rebound with Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) before drawing a flagrant foul charge by throwing an elbow to the face of Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid (11), not pictured, leading to Wembanyama’s ejection in the 2nd quarter of Game 4.
MINNEAPOLIS — The first thing they had to do was move the massage table.
It’s oversized and extra-long, which makes sense, considering its most frequent occupant. But the training area where it’s usually placed in the Target Center doesn’t contain a TV, and Sunday night, that was a problem.
It was a problem because Game 4 of the Western Conference finals was still happening. And Victor Wembanyama was about to lie down for his postgame treatment.
During the third quarter.
So Spurs staffers relocated the table to the center of the visitors’ locker room, right in front of a giant flatscreen monitor. And then a couple of physical therapists, a few lower-level video coordinators and the tallest ejectee in America assembled for what became quite a rowdy viewing party.
When his massage was over, Wembanyama sat at Kelly Olynyk’s locker, which gave him the most direct view of De’Aaron Fox’s flurry of step-back jumpers, and Luke Kornet’s jarringly convincing Defensive Player of the Year impersonation, and Dylan Harper’s uncanny 20-year-old cool.
And even though Wembanyama did not discuss his ejection with the media, when he headed to the bus in a blue cableknit sweater, he looked anything but morose.
After all, he’d just proven a point.
Then he’d watched his teammates prove one, too.
Nobody is condoning what he did Friday in the second quarter, when he reacted to an uncalled foul on Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels by swinging his elbow into the face of Naz Reid.
You can’t do that, even if you’ve spent four games in a row getting pushed and bumped and hacked by a physical opponent smart enough to take advantage of everything that playoff officiating will allow. If you wind up and hit somebody above the shoulders, it’s a Flagrant 2 foul, and a disqualification.
“We don’t complain, because we’re just going to play,” Johnson said. “We don’t really give a (bleep), excuse my language. But at some stage (Wembanyama) should be protected. And if not, he’s going to have to protect himself.”
Should he have picked a less dangerous — and less blatantly illegal — way to do it? Absolutely. Part of a franchise player’s responsibility is keeping himself on the floor, and because of a momentary lack of poise, however understandable, he wasn’t able to do that Sunday.
Still, this had been building throughout the series. During one timeout late in the first quarter, Wembanyama and sage veteran backup Bismack Biyombo had an animated conversation with referee Zach Zarba about what they thought was some over-the-line grabbing and holding by Minnesota center Rudy Gobert.
It wasn’t long before McDaniels was doing the same thing. Wembanyama took it out on Reid, and essentially gave Zarba no choice. When it comes to elbows with that much of a wind-up above the neck, there’s no gray area to interpret.
But here’s the thing: There will be plenty of gray area for the next officiating crew to interpret in Game 5 after the NBA announced on Monday that Wembanyama will be eligible to play and no further punishment will be dealt.
And now that Wembanyama stood up for himself, maybe officials will be inclined to interpret that gray area a little differently the next time. Even if not, perhaps a Minnesota defender or two might have hesitated for a split-second before daring to invade his space.
So that was one point proven. A second one was reiterated by Fox, and by Kornet, and by Stephon Castle, and by all the other Spurs who went 12-6 without Wembanyama in the regular season, beat Portland without him in Game 3 of the first round, and nearly did enough to steal Game 4 against the Timberwolves.
For several stretches, the Wemby-less Spurs were the team that looked more physical, more explosive, and even more experienced than the Timberwolves, and that was especially the case when Harper was on the floor.
The left-handed rookie scored 24 points to go with seven rebounds and three steals, adding to his already lengthy highlight reel of Manu Ginobili imitations. For a guy who was still a teenager a few months ago to take over playoff games the way he has?
“That,” Fox said, “is not normal.”
But the Spurs were almost good enough to beat them without their best player Sunday. To win two of the next three and move on to the conference finals, they shouldn’t have to make any major adjustments.
They probably won’t even need to move a table.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News