By Devon Birdsong | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-05-12 00:26:47
在《教父》的开头，弗朗西斯·福特·科波拉 (Francis Ford Coppola) 玩了一个高明的技巧：他选择放弃使用旁白或字幕卡来解释故事。
这是一个非常有目的性的举动，部分原因（我怀疑）是由于马里奥·普佐 (Mario Puzo) 原著小说的流行。原著小说本身在商业上取得了巨大的成功，在畅销书排行榜上停留了一年多，期间售出了 900 多万册。
但书中有一个全知视角的叙事者，而科波拉不希望这种隔阂感出现在他的电影和观众之间。
预知可以让我们获得信息，但很少能打动我们。我知道这一点，因为无论我多少次重温马刺过去的夺冠比赛，我都无法完全重拾那种感觉。
喜悦依然存在，但那已变成了怀旧。在完全知晓结局的情况下，我无法营造出期待感。
这就是季后赛如此令人心潮澎湃的原因。在我生命的大部分时间里，马刺都能打出单赛季 50 胜的节奏，但即便如此，也“仅仅”带回了五座总冠军奖杯，只有 6 次总决赛之旅。
那种不规律性、那种不可预测性，正是肾上腺素和兴奋感的源泉。
这就是为什么当科波拉直接把我们带入电影，采用这种“半路切入”的手法，让我们身处与片名所指的大佬交谈的现场时，我们立刻就被吸引住了。这是一个完美的开场，几乎没有暗示外面热闹的场合，氛围如此亲密且安静，以至于让我们觉得仿佛是在偷听，或者是房间里的一员。
我认为，这正是重点所在。电影从一开始就鼓励你见证一个犯罪家族的私密时刻。声音是温暖且生活化的。甚至那些聚集在一起的黑手党成员的指令和行为，也表现得体面且带着某种宫廷式的礼貌。
它想让你喜欢他们。它想让你沉浸在掩盖暴力的温情和烟火气中。它竭尽全力让你成为柯里昂家族的粉丝。
为什么？因为“粉丝心态”往往会阻碍客观性。我一直觉得将“狂热者 (fanatic)”缩写为“粉丝 (fan)”是一个很有趣的现象。
就好像那些沉浸在粉丝圈子里的人，无法意识到这其实是狂热主义的一种形式。就好像狂热主义只存在于政治或宗教语境中。就好像缩短这个词就能改变真相本身的性质一样。
真相是，昨晚维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 的手肘直接撞到了纳兹·里德 (Naz Reid) 的脸上。
真相还在于，这绝对是预谋好的。
事实上，我可以列出一整串真相，比如：
- 裁判是如何允许明尼苏达在系列赛的大部分时间里打那种近乎“监狱球”的身体对抗的。
- 在那个肘击动作之前，文班亚马在清晰的视线范围内被多次犯规，却没有任何哨声来保护他。
- 在 Twitter 上，找文班被推搡、拉扯和抓挠的截图，比找他打出精彩表现的视频还要容易，而后者其实有很多！
- 这轮系列赛在身体对抗方面的判罚尺度，迟早会引发某人的爆发。
- 文班的那次肘击，与两队球迷以及整个 NBA 推特圈目前拿来对比的那些历史上著名的恶意犯规相比，根本不值一提。
- 但这仍然是错误的行为，并最终让马刺输掉了比赛。
- 也许这确实有必要，文班需要借此传达一个关于他身体界限的信号，以及为了保护这些界限，他在超过某个点后有能力且愿意做出什么。
肘部是身体中一个非常私密的部位。我们不太会想到这一点，因为我们很少能看到自己的肘部，但几乎所有的上半身运动都取决于肘关节 (Articulatio Cubiti) 这一工程奇迹。
几乎每一项体育运动都依赖于它，从显而易见的各种投掷动作，到跑步本身——我们需要依靠肘部来协助维持动作的重复性和平衡。
甚至在更私密的行为中，比如进食和清洁自己（我真心希望我永远不必学习如何在没有肘部辅助的情况下使用卫生纸），或者拥抱我们爱的人。
所有关于肘部的神话似乎都走极端，无论是奥杰布瓦人 (Ojibwe) 传说中提到的五大湖和北部平原上恐怖的食人“肘部女巫”，她们用嵌入鹰嘴（肘尖）的刀子谋杀受害者；还是伏都教民俗声称与他人擦肩（碰肘）可以交换彼此的命运或能量。
或者是古老的都市传说暗示孩子们可以通过亲吻自己的肘部来改变性别。或者是《传道书》声称“在晚餐时伸展肘部”（越过桌子伸手拿东西）是和违背誓言一样可耻的事情。
道教甚至为每个肘部赋予了特定的特质：右肘是个体力量、行动、运动和选择的渠道；左肘则代表感性、情绪以及接受爱或支持。我想在那个语境下，挥动右肘确实是一个“选择”。
然而，抛开这些玩笑不谈，我无法说服自己这是一个“好”的选择。
对于我这个年龄段及以上的球迷来说，我怀疑头部遭到肘击仍然是一个相当敏感的话题，因为我们能清晰地回忆起卡尔·马龙 (Karl Malone) 那次残暴的预谋肘击，力量之大让大卫·罗宾逊 (David Robinson) 昏迷了将近两分钟。
虽然很快就能看出里德受到的打击远不及那次，但这并不是一段愉快的回忆，它让人想起了 1998 年 4 月 8 日那两分钟里的焦虑，当时没人知道“海军上将”的整体状况会如何。
我不希望任何球队的球迷经历那样的两分钟。
但为此，我认为我们必须承认这支马刺队，以及文班，与过去的传奇们有所不同。
也许（很可能）是因为他们太年轻了，这些球员的举止与众不同。在多年来马刺队（虽然可能也不在乎，但）尽力不给对手留下任何“更衣室垃圾话素材”之后，“我们不在乎”的信条成了一个显著不同的团结旗帜。
他们会喷垃圾话，甚至（据《快报》记者杰夫·麦克唐纳 (Jeff McDonald) 报道）告诉凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant)，他们对他进行双人甚至三人包夹不是因为他厉害，而是因为他的队友太烂了。
尽管这番评价可能很中肯，但当面告诉一位篮坛传奇这种话，还是在比赛进行中、在杜兰特的战友/同事/替罪羊们的耳力范围内，这确实需要一种特殊的胆量。
最近我开始思考这个问题，当我将这支球队的努力比作有组织犯罪分子的冷酷商业态度和皮条客般的狂妄气场时：
这支马刺队将来会变得多么令人讨厌？而这种讨厌又有多少是他们自找的？
粉丝心态会带来某种盲目。雷霆球迷无法看到他们的球队是一群假摔高手。金州球迷在很大程度上无法承认他们的王朝取决于在一个赢了 73 胜的球队中加入了一位前所未有的 MVP 级球员。热火球迷不愿承认那次让他们受益的“邪恶联盟”永远扭曲了联盟的竞争平衡概念，以至于 NBA 强制执行了自自由市场开启以来限制性最强的劳资协议 (CBA)。
而这些只是几个例子。粉丝心态迷惑了我们所有人。有时它也会让我们深陷其中。
这就是为什么科波拉想让我们感到与柯里昂家族很亲近。为什么马丁·斯科塞斯 (Martin Scorsese) 想让我们沉浸在《好家伙》中亨利·希尔 (Henry Hill) 所散发出的敬畏感中。大卫·切斯 (David Chase) 后来在托尼·索普拉诺 (Tony Soprano) 的心理治疗环节中玩了同样的把戏，文斯·吉里根 (Vince Gilligan) 在《绝命毒师》中引导我们关注一个患癌毒枭的卑微起步时也是如此。
在别人的故事里，每个人都是反派。那次肘击让文班赢得了一些人永久的（也许是合理的）仇恨，就像我可能永远不会停止诅咒犹他爵士队一样。
这在某种程度上就是作为粉丝的天性——在几乎每个赛场上演的“我们对抗他们”的快感。但对比正变得越来越明显，无论理由是否正当。
在电影的语境下，我开始将蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 视为欧比旺·肯诺比 (Obi Wan Kenobi)，而将维克托·文班亚马视为安纳金·天行者 (Anakin Skywalker)。
邓肯像欧比旺一样，几乎是不显山不露水地击败了大多数最强大的对手；而文班像安纳金一样，作为“天选之子”加入其中，并经历了一次情绪爆发。
他会为原力带来平衡吗？我不能说我会把那次肘击归入“道德篮球”的范畴。
也许它是必要的。也许它会带来更好的篮球和更好的判罚。也许球员们在招惹文班之前会三思。也许这只是一个一次性的事件，多年后我们大都会将其遗忘。
或者，也许这支马刺队正在把自己塑造成另一种类型的“银黑反派”。
我想也许我现在陷得太深了，以至于我必须抽身而出，因为我无法做到公正。
在这一点上，我只是希望文班能先占据道德高地。如果你仔细想想，《帝国进行曲》其实是一首非常优美的乐曲。
总结
- 听着，我显然不是德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 的黑粉。我认为他在输球时承担了类似托尼·帕克 (Tony Parker) 那样的背锅角色，这在很大程度上是不公平的，我不认为这场失利归咎于他。然而，我不喜欢迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 只打了 27 分钟，当时他的手感热得发烫，而福克斯显然有些低迷，并且在文班缺阵的情况下被森林狼针对。我理解哈珀是个新秀，也理解福克斯同样有得分爆发的能力，但我希望看到当三名后卫中有人明显手感火热时，能有更多的轮换调整。
- 凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 在连续两场打出季后赛最佳表现（防守端）后，经历了表现最差的一场比赛，这也没什么帮助。如果这是米奇 (Mitch) 试图让哈珀留在替补席的原因，我至少能理解。并不是说他们都打得很差。卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 和托马斯·布莱恩特 (Thomas Bryant) 表现得勤勤恳恳。但天哪，第二阵容的得分太艰难了，这可能就是差距所在，因为森林狼（明智地）选择了八人轮换。
- 朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 也经历了一个罕见的低迷之夜，他似乎找不到准星，并在防守端沦为了被针对的目标。考虑到他目前的整体表现，我认为我们可以原谅他，虽然从大多数指标来看他是一名正向防守者，但当文班不在场时，他更容易被对手利用。虽然我很喜欢他，但他首发阵容中的很多积极影响都依赖于文班的存在。我的意思是，考虑到文班在攻防两端对全队的影响，这很难说是批评，但你明白我的意思。
- 另外，我必须赞美一下他的篮板球。他整个赛季在抢篮板方面表现都很出色，但我曾预计在季后赛面对体型更大的球队时，这会受到打击。事实上，这是我对这支球队整体最大的担忧之一。但尚帕尼的篮板球排在全队第二（科内特在更少的出场时间里几乎和他持平），这使得马刺在面对像森林狼这样的球队时可以打小阵容，而不会在篮板上吃太多亏。当像朱利叶斯·兰德尔 (Julius Randle) 这样的人被迫努力跟上朱利安的无球跑动时，那场面简直充满了喜感，以至于我坚信每当这种场景发生时，背景音乐都应该播放《亚基萨克斯》(Yakey Sax)。一定要留意一下，这很有趣。
今日谢幕曲：
The Offspring 的 You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid
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：What We Learned from the Spurs Game 4 loss to the Timberwolves
What We Learned from the Spurs Game 4 loss to the Timberwolves
There’s this great trick that Francis Ford Coppolla pulls at the beginning of The Godfather, where he opts to forgo having a narrator and/or title cards to explain the story.
It’s a very purposeful move, motivated partly (I suspect) by the popularity of Mario Puzo’s novel. The original novel was quite the financial success it its own right, sitting on the bestseller list for well over a year, and selling over nine million copies in that time.
But the book features an omniscient narrator, and Coppola didn’t want that degree of separation to come between his film and his audience.
Foreknowledge can inform us, but it rarely moves us. I know this, because no matter how many times I watch the Spurs old championship games, I just cannot fully recapture the feeling.
There’s still joy, but the joy has turned nostalgic. I cannot craft anticipation from a place of perfect knowledge.
That’s what’s so thrilling about the postseason. The Spurs won at a 50-game pace for most of my life, and still, *only* came home with five titles. Only 6 championship berths.
That irregularity, that unpredictability, is where the adrenaline and the exhilaration live.
And that’s why, when Coppolla drops us right into the film, in medias res, mid-conversation with the kingpin of the title, we’re immediately locked in. It’s a perfect opening, with almost no hint of the frivolity of the occasion outside filtering though, so intimate and hushed that it almost feels like we’re eavesdropping, or part of the room.
And that is, I think, the whole point. The film encourages you, from the very beginning, to play witness to the intimacies of a crime family. The voices are warm and domestic. Even the directions and doings of the gathered mafioso are delivered with decorum and a certain air of courtliness.
It wants you to like them. It wants you to get swept up in the affection and the domesticity that’s masking the violence. It does its level best to make you a fan of the Corleones.
Why? Because fandom has a way of thwarting objectivity. I’ve always found the shortening of the word ‘fanatic’ to ‘fan’ to be fascinating.
It’s almost as if those engaged in fandom are incapable of considering that it is a form of fanaticism. As if fanaticism is something that only exists within the context of politics or religion. As if abbreviating the word will somehow change the nature of truth itself.
The truth is that last night Victor Wembanyama elbowed Naz Reid right in the face.
The truth is also that it was absolutely premeditated.
There are in fact a whole list of truths that I could rattle off, such as:
- How the officials have allowed Minnesota to more-or-less play prison ball for most of the series.
- How Victor was fouled multiple times right before the elbow, in a clear sight-line, with nary a call made to protect him.
- How it’s easier on twitter to find stills of all the ways in which Victor has been pushed, pulled, and clawed at, than it is to find videos of him doing cool stuff with the basketball, and there are a lot of those!
- How the way this series has been officiated on the side of physicality was just asking for an outburst from somebody, eventually.
- How that one elbow from Wemby hardly compares to the whole pantheon of flagrant fouls that it’s currently being compared to by fans of both franchises, and NBA twitter at large.
- How it was still the wrong thing to do and ultimately cost the Spurs the game.
- How it might have been necessary, for Wemby to send a message about his physical boundaries, and what he is capable/willing to do to protect them past a certain point.
The elbow is an incredibly personal part of the body. We don’t think about that because of how little we see our own, but virtually all of our upper body movements hinge on the engineering marvel that is the Articulatio Cubiti.
Almost every sporting movement is dependent on it, from the very obvious varieties of throwing to even the act of running itself, when we depend on our elbows to assist in the repetition of form and balance.
Or even more intimately, in the act of feeding ourselves and cleaning ourselves (I sincerely hope that I never learn what it’s like to try to use toilet paper without the aid of an elbow), or embracing our loved ones.
All of mythology surrounding the elbow appears to function in extremes, whether it’s the indigenous legends of the Ojibwe talking about the terrifying cannibalistic “elbow witches” of the great lakes and northern plains, who murder their victims with the knives embedded in their olecranons (elbow-tips), or vodoo folklore claiming the act of rubbing elbows with another person can swap the destinies and/or energies of the individuals involved.
Or old urban legends suggesting that children can change gender by kissing their own elbow. Or The Book of Ecclesiastes claiming that “stretching your elbow at dinner” (reaching across the table) is as shameful a thing as the breaking of a vow.
Taoism even goes as far as to assign specific traits to each elbow, with the right elbow serving as a conduit to the power, action, movement, and choices of the individual, and the left to receptivity, emotions, and the receiving of love or support. I guess in that context, throwing the right elbow really was a choice.
And yet, all levity aside, I can’t really convince myself that it was a ‘good’ choice.
For fans in my age group and older, I suspect an elbow to the head is still a pretty sore spot for those of us who can vividly recall the viciously premeditated elbow that Malone delivered with such force that it knocked David Robinson unconscious for the better part of two minutes.
And while it was quickly obvious that Reid hadn’t received a blow on par with that one, it wasn’t an enjoyable flashback to the anxiety of those two minutes of April 8th, 1998, when no one knew what the overall state of the Admiral was/would be yet.
Those are not two minutes that I would wish on any fan-base.
But to that end, I think there’s something we have to acknowledge about this Spurs team, and about Victor, when it comes to the legends of the past: they’re different.
Maybe (probably) because they’re so young, these players carry themselves differently. That “we don’t care”mantra is a markedly different banner to unite under, after years of Spurs teams that (while also probably not caring), did their best to never give the opposition bulletin board material.
They talk trash, even going as far as to (per Express News scribe Jeff McDonald) tell Kevin Durant that they were doubling and tripling him not because he’s good, but because his teammates suck.
Relevant a commentary as it may have been, it takes a special level of audacity to tell a legend of the game that right to his face, in the middle of the game, within earshot of his comrades/co-workers/scapegoats.
And this is something I’ve started to wonder about lately, as I compared this team’s efforts to the heartless business attitude of organized criminals and the swagger of a souteneur:
Just how hated are these Spurs going to be? And how deserving of that hatred?
There’s a certain blindness that affects a fan. Thunder fans are incapable of seeing their team as a cadre of floppers extraordinaire. Golden State fans were largely incapable of admitting their dynasty hinged on an unprecedented MVP-level addition to a team that had won 73 games. Heat fans were unwilling to admit that the unholy alliance that benefited them forever warped the concept of competitive balance within the league, to the point of the NBA enforcing the most restrictive CBA since the dawn of free-agency.
And these are just a few examples. Fandom bewitches us all. And sometimes it implicates us too.
That’s why Coppola wanted us to feel close to the Corleones. Why Scorsese wanted us caught up in the awe emanating from Henry Hill in Goodfellas. It’s the same trick that David Chase later pulled with Tony Soprano’s therapy sessions and that Vince Gilligan pulled in drawing us into the humble beginnings of a cancer-stricken meth-lord in Breaking Bad.
Everyone is a villain in someone else’s story. That elbow earned permanent (and perhaps justifiable) hatred from someone, in the same way that I’ll probably never stop wishing ill on the Utah Jazz.
And part of that is just in the nature of being a fan — the thrill of us versus them that plays out in virtually every arena. But the contrast is becoming more and more apparent, justifiable reasons or not.
In the context of film, I’m starting to see Tim Duncan as Obi Wan Kenobi, and Victor Wembanyama as Anakin Skywalker.
Duncan, like Kenobi, almost unassumingly defeated the majority of his most impressive foes, and Wemby, like Anakin, came into the fold as the chosen one, and has suffered an emotional outburst.
Will he bring balance to the force? I can’t say that I’d include that elbow under the category of ‘ethical hoops’.
Maybe it was necessary. Maybe it’ll lead to better basketball and better officiating. Maybe players will think twice before messing with Wemby. Maybe it was a one time thing that we’ll largely have forgotten years from now.
Or maybe this Spurs team is shaping itself into a different kind of Silver and Black villain.
I think maybe I’m so deep inside it now, that I have to withdraw, because I cannot be impartial
At this point I’m just hoping that Wemby takes the high ground first. The Imperial March is actually a really beautiful piece of music if you really think about it.
Takeways
- Look, I am very notably not a De’Aaron Fox hater. I think he’s taken on the Tony Parker role of blame within the context of losses and is largely undeserving, and I don’t think this loss was on him. However, I did not love that Dylan Harper, who was hotter than the Devil’s hooves, did not get more than 27 minutes, when Fox was clearly in a bit of funk and being targeted by the Wolves in Wemby’s absence. I understand that Harper is a rookie, and that Fox is just as capable of exploding for points, but I’d like to see a little more alternation when someone is pretty clearly the hot hand of the three guards.
- It also didn’t help that Keldon was having one of his worst games of the postseason after two games of his very best (on the defensive end), and if that was Mitch’s reasoning for trying to keep Harper playing with the bench, I at least understand that. It wasn’t that they all played badly. Kornet and Bryant specifically did yeoman’s work. But boy was the scoring rough in the second unit, and that may have been the difference since the Wolves (wisely) went with an eight-man rotation.
- It was also a rare off night for Julian Champagnie, who couldn’t seem to find his shot and fell victim to being picked on a bit on the defensive end. I think we can forgive him based on his body of work so far, but while he’s a plus defender by most metrics, when Victor is off the court he’s easier to exploit. Fond of him as I am, a lot of his positive effect in the starting unit depends on Victor’s presence. Which, I mean, is hardly a criticism considering Wemby’s effect on the whole team on both ends, but you get what I’m saying.
- Also, I just have to rave about his rebounding. He’s been great at grabbing boards all season, but I expected that to take a hit against bigger teams in the postseason. In fact, that was one of my greatest concerns for this team as a whole. But Champagnie is second on the team in rebounding (Kornet is almost matching him in less minutes), which has allowed the Spurs to play small against teams like the Wolves without giving up too much on the boards. It has been pure comedy when someone like Julius Randle has been stuck trying to keep up with Julian’s off-ball movement, to the point that I firmly believe that ‘Yakey Sax’ should be playing in the background whenever it happens. Do yourself a favor and keep an eye out for it.
Playing You Out – The Theme Song of the Evening:
You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring
By Devon Birdsong, via Pounding The Rock