By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-13 02:22:36
2026年5月12日，周二，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心举行的西部半决赛第五场上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (1) 准备扣篮。
安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 需要一点帮助。
尽管这位魅力四射的明尼苏达后卫雄心勃勃，认为这个身高7英尺4英寸的难题总该有解决办法，但胜利却始终与他擦肩而过。
“我真的无法准确指出，”爱德华兹在周二晚上表示，“为什么我们一直在比赛计划上犯错。”
答案最终会浮出水面。当西部半决赛结束，他的森林狼队能够回顾哪些地方本可以做得不同时，也许他就会明白。
他会发现，在面对维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和马刺队时，明尼苏达的错误并不在于战术细节。
错误在于，他们竟然认为战术计划真的能起作用。
周二在弗罗斯特银行中心，战术毫无用处。当星球上最不可思议的身体天赋怪在“愤怒文班”和“成熟文班”之间无缝切换时，任何计划都失去了意义。正如文班亚马在马刺在第五场比赛中以 126-97 狂胜对手后所说：“这两者并不冲突。”
当那个家伙展现出他的最佳状态——全场奔袭、盖帽、空接扣篮、空心跳投、假动作晃动——时，任何计划都无济于事。拜托，这怎么防？像森林狼这样的球队该怎么办？
每个回合都派三个人去包夹他？还是指望他把自己累垮？
瞧，这行不通，很大程度上是因为文班亚马身边的帮手。如果他必须像开场前八分钟那样整场扛着球队前进——在那段时间里，他拿下了27分中的18分，并抢下了17个篮板中的6个——那么这支西部第六的球队或许还有机会。
但他不需要每晚、整晚都保持那种强度。他不需要，因为他知道自己可以喘口气，让斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 在场上统治一段时间。然后让达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 接管。接着，尽管这听起来依然不可思议，让一位名叫迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 的20岁替补继续证明他也能做到。
如果你是明尼苏达，在缺少了关键功臣丹特·迪文琴佐 (Donte DiVincenzo) 且爱德华兹带着双膝伤势作战的情况下，要如何阻止这一切？当你意识到，好不容易限制住其中一点时，德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 和朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 正等着投进空位跳投，而凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 正准备像再次当选年度最佳第六人那样扑向对手并发出怒吼，你又该怎么办？
考虑到这些，你的战术选择非常有限，不是吗？
“我觉得‘激怒策略’可能是他们的策略之一，”文班亚马说道，而这已经是森林狼想出的最有希望的主意了。
2026年5月12日，周二，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心举行的西部半决赛第五场上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋文班亚马 (1) 对一次回合做出反应。
在明尼苏达进行的第四场比赛中，挑战NBA季后赛高强度对抗的极限确实奏效了，至少在短期内是这样。在经历了无数次推搡和拉扯后，文班亚马爆发了，他一记肘击打在纳兹·里德 (Naz Reid) 脸上，导致他在第二节被驱逐出场。
但即便文班亚马提前退场，也没能让森林狼轻松取胜。在这轮系列赛中，他们很少有真正掌控局面的时刻。
如果文班亚马和福克斯在第一场比赛中没有遭遇罕见的投篮打铁荒，或者如果文班亚马在第四场比赛中肘击的位置低了两英寸，这轮系列赛早该结束了。
相反，马刺队将在周五前往明尼苏达进行第六场比赛，他们仍需再赢一场。爱德华兹坚持认为森林狼能及时找到克敌制胜的“战术银弹”，这可以理解。
但从目前系列赛的走势来看，这不太可能发生。不仅是因为马刺队在进攻端处处开花，更重要的因素是他们拥有令人窒息的防守，除了爱德华兹，森林狼阵中没有人在面对他们时能长时间保持高效。
朱利叶斯·兰德尔 (Julius Randle) 没有展现出卡斯尔式的接管表现。杰登·麦克丹尼尔斯 (Jaden McDaniels) 或阿约·多松姆 (Ayo Dosunmu) 也没有哈珀那样的冷静。里德或泰伦斯·香农 (Terrence Shannon) 也没能像约翰逊那样在替补席上掀起得分爆发。
也许这些配角中的一两个正为生死战蓄力。但看起来，森林狼利用经验优势的最好机会，是在这么多马刺年轻球员意识到自己属于这个舞台之前。
而且他们意识到，尽管文班亚马如此伟大，但他并不是马刺队的全部。
“我们不需要他付出额外的努力，”卡斯尔说道。
这让我们回到了爱德华兹身上，尽管他魅力四射。他在这个系列赛中表现出色。周五他很有可能再次打出精彩表现。但无论明尼苏达在第六场带来什么样的计划，他都有一个尚未解决的难题。
他仍然需要一点帮助。
而文班亚马已经拥有了他需要的一切。
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：Spurs Victor Wembanyama presents a problem Anthony Edwards can’t solve
Spurs Victor Wembanyama presents a problem Anthony Edwards can’t solve
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) goes to dunk the ball during the first half of Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, May 12, 2026.
Anthony Edwards needs a little help.
Bless his charismatic heart, the star Minnesota guard thinks there should be a solution to a 7-foot-4 problem, even if it keeps eluding his grasp.
“I can’t really pinpoint,” Edwards said Tuesday night, “why we keep making the game plan mistakes.”
The answer will come to him eventually. Once the Western Conference semifinals end, and his Timberwolves are able to look back on what they could have done differently, maybe he’ll see it.
He’ll see that against Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, Minnesota’s mistake wasn’t in the details of its plan.
The mistake was believing its plan even mattered.
It didn’t at Frost Bank Center on Tuesday. No plan matters when one of the most ridiculous athletic specimens on the planet is alternating between “Upset Vic” and “Mature Vic,” and proving that, as Wembanyama himself put it after the Spurs’ 126-97 Game 5 romp, “They ain’t mutually exclusive.”
No plan matters when that guy is at his floor-running, shot-blocking, alley-ooping, jumper-swishing, ball-faking best, because come on, now. What is a team like the Timberwolves supposed to do?
Throw three defenders at him on every possession? Hope he tuckers himself out?
See, that won’t work, in no small part because of what Wembanyama has around him. If he had to carry a team for an entire game the way he did during his first eight minutes, when he scored 18 of his 27 points and grabbed six of his 17 rebounds, the sixth seed in the Western Conference might have a chance.
But he doesn’t have to do keep that up all night, every night. He doesn’t have to because he knows he can take a breath and let Stephon Castle be the most dominant player on the court for a while. And then let De’Aaron Fox do it. And then, even though it continues not to make any sense, let a 20-year-old backup named Dylan Harper keep proving that he can do it, too.
If you’re Minnesota, which entered this series without key contributor Donte DiVincenzo and with Edwards nursing two injured knees, what’s the plan to stop all of that? What’s the plan, when you know that the moment you manage to get a handle on any of it, there are Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie waiting to drain open jumpers, and there is Keldon Johnson about to pounce and roar like the Sixth Man of the Year again?
Given all of that, your tactical options are pretty limited, aren’t they?
“I feel like the rage-baiting might have been one of the strategies,” Wembanyama said, and that was as promising of an idea as any the Timberwolves had.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts to a play during the first half of Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, May 12, 2026.
During Game 4 in Minnesota, pushing the rough-and-tumble limits of NBA playoff basketball worked, at least in the short term. After one shove and one grab too many, Wembanyama snapped, throwing an elbow into the face of Naz Reid and earning a second-quarter ejection.
But even Wembanyama’s early exit wasn’t enough to make that Timberwolves victory easy, and there have been precious few moments during this series when they’ve looked like they’ve been in anything resembling control.
If Wembanyama and Fox hadn’t clanged their way through an uncharacteristically miserable shooting performance in Game 1, or if Wembanyama had aimed his elbow two inches lower in Game 4, this series would be long over.
Instead, the Spurs head to Minnesota for Game 6 on Friday still needing to win one more time, and it’s understandable for Edwards to stick to his belief that the Timberwolves can come up with a magical strategic bullet in time.
But based on the way this series has unfolded so far, that’s not likely to happen. It’s not just that the Spurs are getting scoring and playmaking from everywhere. A bigger factor is that they’re such ruthless defenders, nobody on Minnesota’s roster other than Edwards has gotten away from them for any significant stretch.
There have been no Castle-esque takeovers from Julius Randle. No Harper-like cool from Jaden McDaniels or Ayo Dosunmu. No Johnson-ian off-the-bench flurries from Reid or Terrence Shannon.
Maybe a couple of those sidekicks are saving their best for an elimination game. But it’s looking more and more like the Timberwolves’ best chance to take advantage of their superior experience was before so many young Spurs started figuring out they belong here.
And realizing that as great as Wembanyama is, he’s not the Spurs’ everything.
“We don’t need anything extra from him,” Castle said.
This brings us back to Edwards, bless his charismatic heart. He’s been brilliant in this series. There’s a good chance he’ll be brilliant again on Friday. But no matter what plan Minnesota brings into Game 6, there’s a problem he’s yet to solve.
He still needs a little help.
And Wembanyama has all he needs.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News