By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-16 03:24:41
2026年5月15日，周五，在明尼阿波利斯标靶中心举行的西部半决赛第六场第四节的一次暂停期间，圣安东尼奥马刺队的卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant)（11号）与同为新秀的迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)（2号）拥抱，并与老将后卫德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox)（4号）一同走向替补席。马刺队以139-109击败了明尼苏达森林狼队，将晋级西部决赛对阵俄克拉荷马城雷霆队。
明尼阿波利斯——从更衣室的角落里，这个年轻人环视着房间里那些历经磨难的队友。
在那里，凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 戴着他的黑色毛毡牛仔帽，他经历了马刺队史上最长的连续六个赛季无缘季后赛的干旱期。
在那里，德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 正走向淋浴间，他也经历了其中的五个赛季。
在那里，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 刚结束全美直播采访回来，尽管他已是超级巨星，但也曾随队经历过令人心碎的18连败。
即便那种痛苦被认为是NBA某种不成文的成长礼，布莱恩特仍然看不出有任何理由非要屈服于它。
“凯尔登、德文、文班还有他们所有人，他们已经为我们大家受够了苦，”布莱恩特说，“我们不需要再输下去了。”
马刺前锋凯尔登·约翰逊谈到圣安东尼奥球迷庆祝球队晋级西部决赛：“希望今晚每个人都平安。玩得开心，鸣笛庆祝，但我希望每个人都能保持安全。” pic.twitter.com/6HJohG9yHM
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) 2026年5月16日
这番话出自更衣室里最年轻的两名球员之一，正是这种无畏的精神解释了为什么马刺队依然留在季后赛舞台，打破了联盟数十年来的传统。如果他们按照以往几乎每一支崛起劲旅的剧本和时间表行事，那么这趟初次季后赛之旅本该在第二轮就戛然而止。
然而结果呢？
马刺队打破了关于季后赛新军能走多远的传统认知，现在他们正前往俄克拉荷马城。
在那里，他们或许有足够的胆量再创奇迹。
“似乎每一场比赛我们都有新的收获，”圣安东尼奥马刺主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道，他承认这支年轻的团队在今年季后赛的每一步都在踏入未知的领域。
但现在，马刺队已经不同寻常的道路正要与他们近年来唯一的参照对象分道扬镳。
在2023-24赛季，雷霆队刚刚结束了一段连续三年无缘季后赛的重建期。但他们在常规赛取得了巨大飞跃，多赢了17场比赛，并以西部第一的战绩收官。
问题在于，雷霆队的核心阵容——谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)、杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams) 和切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren)——还没有经过季后赛的考验，尚未做好赢球的准备。在第二轮，他们激战六场负于了五号种子独行侠队，后者由已经历过季后赛失利洗礼的灵动后卫卢卡·东契奇 (Luka Doncic) 领衔。
考虑到这一点，如果这支马刺队发现由安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 率领的森林狼队是类似的绊脚石，那也不会让人感到意外。毕竟，止步分区半决赛本能让他们保持与雷霆队相同的夺冠进度。
但通过击败明尼苏达，他们让自己领先于两年前雷霆队的步伐。如果在接下来的两周内，他们能证明常规赛对阵雷霆队的四场胜利并非侥幸？
他们将进入几乎史无前例的领域。
回顾过去至少半个世纪的NBA总决赛参赛队伍，你很难找到几支在之前连续六年无缘季后赛的球队。唯一的例外之一是2019-20赛季的湖人队，他们恰好拥有一位名叫勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James) 的绅士。
你可能还记得，詹姆斯抵达洛杉矶时所拥有的季后赛经验，远比福克斯带到圣安东尼奥的要多。福克斯在萨克拉门托只打过一轮七场大战的系列赛。而在成为湖人队的冠军之前，詹姆斯在之前的九年里八次出现在总决赛舞台。
所以这种对比并不成立，你同样无法为文班亚马、斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 和哈珀这几位季后赛初哥正在尝试的壮举找到任何参照。
按理说，他们现在应该已经被压力压垮了。从迈克尔·乔丹 (Michael Jordan) 到蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan)，从科比·布莱恩特 (Kobe Bryant) 到詹姆斯，再到斯蒂芬·库里 (Steph Curry)、凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant)、杰森·塔图姆 (Jayson Tatum) 以及吉尔杰斯-亚历山大，每一位季后赛伟人都是这样过来的。
你必须在第一次经历时品尝失败。通常，你得失败个三四次才能修成正果。
但也许这支球队与众不同。
在西部半决赛第二场早期有一个时刻，明尼苏达显然还不相信这一点。两天前在圣安东尼奥，森林狼队通过在关键时刻完成所有重大回合偷走了首场胜利，他们认为自己已经动摇了马刺队。
据一位现场目击者称，当纳兹·里德 (Naz Reid) 在抢篮板时力压凯尔登并称其为“软蛋”。随后里德停在马刺替补席前，据称他用了一些不堪入耳的词汇对整支球队做出了类似的评价。
马刺队在那场比赛赢了38分。他们在系列赛中还赢了另外两场至少29分。而在里德发表那番言论后，马刺队唯一输掉的一场比赛，是文班亚马因为肘击里德面部被驱逐出场的那一局。
这并不是说雷霆队会轻易倒下，如果有的话。但他们可能对自己如何应对马刺队有着先入为主的假设，认为马刺在面对卫冕冠军的高强度系列赛时会作何反应，而这种假设至少有可能会像里德那样大错特错。
至少现在，马刺队相信，无论NBA的传统怎么说，经历季后赛的痛苦并不是尝到成功滋味的先决条件。
毕竟，更衣室里有很多球员已经交够了学费。当瓦塞尔得知年轻的布莱恩特的想法时？当他听到布莱恩特声称年轻球员不需要再通过输球来吸取教训，因为年长的队友已经替他们完成了这一切时？
瓦塞尔笑着点了点头。
“我们已经受够了苦，”瓦塞尔说。
而这不再是必经之路。
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：Spurs are bucking NBA tradition on way to Western Conference Finals
Spurs are bucking NBA tradition on way to Western Conference Finals
San Antonio Spurs’ Carter Bryant (11) embraces fellow rookie Dylan Harper (2) as they walk to the bench with veteran guard De’Aaron Fox (4) during a timeout in the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center in Minneapolis, Friday, May 15, 2026. The Spurs defeated the Timberwolves 139-109 and will advance to the Western Conference Finals to face the Oklahoma City Thunder.
MINNEAPOLIS — From the corner, the kid looked around the room at all of the dues-payers.
There, in his black felt cowboy hat, was Keldon Johnson, a man who’d endured all six seasons of the longest playoff drought in Spurs history.
There, heading to the showers, was Devin Vassell, who’d been around for five of them.
There, returning from his national TV interview, was Victor Wembanyama, who despite his superstardom had been on a team once humbled by a staggering 18 defeats in a row.
And even if that misery was supposed to be some sort of NBA rite of passage? He still didn’t see any reason why he should submit to it.
“K.J. and Devin and Vic and all of them, they did enough suffering for all of us,” Bryant said. “We don’t need to lose anymore.”
Spurs forward Keldon Johnson, on San Antonio fans celebrating the team advancing to the Western Conference finals: “I hope everybody is safe tonight. Have fun, honk, but I hope everyone does stay safe.” pic.twitter.com/6HJohG9yHM
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) May 16, 2026
That, from one of the two youngest guys in the locker room, is the kind of audacity that explains why the Spurs still are playing, bucking decades of league tradition. Had they followed the script and the schedule of basically every up-and-coming powerhouse that preceded them, the second round of the playoffs is where their maiden run should have ended.
Instead?
Having shattered one piece of conventional wisdom about how far a team of playoff newcomers can go, the Spurs now head to Oklahoma City.
Where they might be just audacious enough to do it again.
“It seems like every game we have a new something,” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said, acknowledging how his young group has tended to venture into unfamiliar territory at every turn this postseason.
But now is the point where the Spurs’ already unusual path is about to diverge even from that of perhaps their only recent parallel.
In 2023-‘24, the Thunder were coming off a rebuilding stretch in which they’d missed the playoffs three years in a row. But they took a huge step forward during the regular season, improving by 17 victories and finishing with the top record in the Western Conference.
The problem was Oklahoma City’s core – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren – hadn’t been tested in the postseason and wasn’t ready to win yet. In the second round, they fell in six games to the fifth-seeded Mavericks – led by a dynamic guard in Luka Doncic who’d already endured his share of playoff failure.
With that in mind, if these Spurs had found the Anthony Edwards-led Timberwolves to be a similar roadblock, it wouldn’t have been a huge shock. After all, losing in the conference semifinals would have kept them right on Oklahoma City’s championship pace.
But by beating Minnesota, they put themselves ahead of where the Thunder where two years ago. And if in the next two weeks they can prove their four regular-season victories over Oklahoma City were no fluke?
They’d be in nearly unprecedented territory.
Go back through at least a half-century of NBA Finals participants, and you won’t find many that had missed the playoffs in each of the previous six years. One of the only exceptions were the 2019-’20 Lakers, who happened to employ a gentleman named LeBron James.
James, you might recall, had arrived in Los Angeles with a bit more postseason experience than De’Aaron Fox brought to San Antonio. Fox played in a grand total of one seven-game series with Sacramento. Before he became a champion with the Lakers, James had appeared in eight of the previous nine Finals.
So that comparison doesn’t work, and neither does any you can come up with for what Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper are trying to do as playoff neophytes.
They should have been overwhelmed by now. That’s what’s happened to every playoff great from Michael Jordan to Tim Duncan to Kobe Bryant to James to Steph Curry to Kevin Durant to Jayson Tatum to Gilgeous-Alexander.
You have to lose your first time. Often, you have to lose your first three or four times.
But maybe this team is different.
There was a moment early during Game 2 of the conference semifinals when Minnesota certainly didn’t believe that yet. Two nights earlier in San Antonio, the Timberwolves had stolen the opener by making all the big plays down the stretch, and they thought they had the Spurs shaken.
According to one firsthand witness, when Naz Reid outmuscled Keldon Johnson for a rebound, he called Johnson soft. Then Reid stopped in front of the Spurs’ bench, where he allegedly used some colorful language to make the same general characterization about the entire team.
The Spurs won that game by 38 points. They won two others in the series by at least 29. And the only game they lost after Reid made his declaration was the one in which Wembanyama was ejected for throwing an elbow in Reid’s face.
This isn’t to say that the Thunder will go down anywhere near as easily, if at all. But they might have their own assumptions about how the Spurs will react to their first high-stakes series against a defending champion, and there’s at least a chance that assumption will be as wrong as Reid’s was.
If nothing else, the Spurs now believe that no matter what NBA tradition says, experiencing playoff misery doesn’t have to be a prerequisite for tasting playoff success.
After all, there are plenty of guys in that locker room who’ve paid their share of dues. And when Vassell was informed of young Bryant’s sentiment? When he heard Bryant’s claim that the kids don’t need to learn any more lessons through losing, because his older teammates had already done it for them?
Vassell laughed and nodded his head.
“We did enough suffering,” Vassell said.
And it’s not mandatory anymore.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News