By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-16 15:02:03
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上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) (1) 越过明尼苏达森林狼队后卫安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) (5) 完成上篮。
西部半决赛并没有在周五第六场上半场马刺队领先29分的那一刻就宣告结束。尽管还是一名青涩的新秀，迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 也很清楚这一点。
当第四节伊始马刺队仍领先明尼苏达26分时，任务依然没有完成。
在比赛还剩8分01秒，分差已经扩大到33分时，森林狼球星爱德华兹出现在了马刺队的暂停围拢中，他与对手握手、击拳，差一点就要为对手点燃胜利的雪茄了。
就在那时，哈珀明白了。
“比赛结束了，”哈珀说道，“（爱德华兹）心里有数，我们也心知肚明。”
在马刺队以139-109的比分无情地击败了6号种子森林狼队后，哈珀也明白了这意味着什么。这场比赛结束时，双方的替补席和标靶中心的大部分观众都已经离场。
“周一我们要去俄克拉荷马城 (OKC) 了，”哈珀说。
那里正是 NBA 卫冕冠军俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的主场，双方将展开西部决赛的第一场对决。这场系列赛是整个联盟数月以来一直预见到的重头戏。
雷霆队凭借64胜18负的全联盟最佳战绩夺得了西部头号种子。他们由得分高手谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 领衔，预计他将在周日蝉联联盟 MVP 奖项。
马刺队来到这里或许早于预期，他们凭借62胜20负的常规赛战绩夺得了2号种子。他们由文班亚马率领，这位22岁的“外星人”超级巨星以统治级的姿态闯入了他的首个 NBA 季后赛。
“光是‘分区决赛’这个词，就让人觉得疯狂，”文班亚马说，“这就像是我这辈子一直听到的词。现在身处其中，感觉非常特别。”
从账面实力来看，这轮系列赛将是一场真正的巅峰对决。
这将是自2017年以来首次有两支60胜球队在季后赛相遇。2017年，取得61胜的马刺队在他们最近一次分区决赛之旅中输给了67胜的金州勇士队。
这将是自1998年芝加哥公牛队在总决赛击败犹他爵士队以来，首次有两支常规赛至少取得62胜的球队在季后赛碰面。
俄克拉荷马城在2026年季后赛中尚未尝过败绩，他们在首轮横扫了8号种子菲尼克斯太阳队，并在次轮击败了伤兵满营的洛杉矶湖人队。
尽管马刺队在本赛季与这支强大的雷霆队的五次交手中赢下了四场，但主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 仍将自己的球队定位为系列赛的弱势方。
“我的意思是，他们是卫冕冠军，”约翰逊说，“他们在季后赛还没输过球，所以我们必须发挥出最佳水平才能保持竞争力。”
尽管主教练的示弱可以理解，但马刺队认为自己是这支强大雷霆队的合格对手。
如果有人有能力在俄克拉荷马城新兴王朝开启前将其摧毁，文班亚马领衔的马刺队相信那个人就是他们。
去年12月一段令人眩晕的12天时间里，马刺队曾三次击败雷霆队，这提供了有力的证明：他们在拉斯维加斯的 NBA 杯半决赛中以2分险胜，随后在圣安东尼奥大胜30分，并在圣诞大战中于佩科姆中心球馆 (Paycom Center) 以15分优势再下一城。
“这将是一场艰苦的系列赛，身体对抗会非常激烈，两支球队都有着宏大的目标，”后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 说道，他在第六场比赛中砍下32分11个篮板的杰作，帮助马刺队解决了明尼苏达，“他们现在打得非常好。我们也打得非常好。我们互为通往总决赛之路的障碍，所以我认为这会是一轮精彩的系列赛。”
在半决赛六场淘汰森林狼队的征程中，马刺队展现了他们在火力全开时所能达到的惊人高度。
马刺队在本轮系列赛的四场胜利中，有三场分别赢了38分、29分和30分。这是联盟历史上首次有球队在单轮季后赛系列赛中赢下三场分差至少29分的比赛。
总而言之，马刺队在这轮系列赛中净胜明尼苏达97分。
周五面对首次终结系列赛的机会，马刺队从第一个进球领先到了终场哨响。下半场开始后，分差从未缩小到13分以内。
“我们觉得队员们准备好了，这就是你所能要求的一切，”约翰逊说，“我们觉得自己准备充分。”
是卡斯尔在第六场比赛中为马刺队指明了方向，他投中了职业生涯新高的5记三分球，并在定下基调的第一节就砍下了14分。
德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 顶着右踝酸痛贡献了21分，而文班亚马则在猛烈的攻势中添上了19分和3次盖帽。
现在，马刺队将前往俄克拉荷马城，这支进步神速的球队目标是继续打破人们的预期。
“季后赛的本质决定了我们将面对越来越强大的对手，”文班亚马说，“第一轮和第二轮之间已经隔着一个档次的差距，而第二轮和第三轮之间的差距可能会更大。”
马刺队相信他们有能力迎接挑战。显然，森林狼队中至少有一位核心成员也这么认为。
这正是爱德华兹在周五闯入马刺队的暂停围拢并提前送上祝贺时希望传达的信息。
“我向他们致敬，”爱德华兹说，“他们就是那支更好的球队。”
随着一个全新且更强大的对手即将出现，马刺队的目标是继续通过每一场比赛来证明这一点。
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：Why Wembanyama and the Spurs are ready to tackle Oklahoma City
Why Wembanyama and the Spurs are ready to tackle Oklahoma City
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) gets the layup past Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) during the first half of Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals at Target Center in Minneapolis, Friday, May 15, 2026.
The Western Conference semifinals did not end at the moment the Spurs went ahead by 29 points in the first half of Game 6 on Friday. Even as a callow rookie, Dylan Harper knew better.
The job still wasn’t done at the dawn of the fourth quarter, when the Spurs still led Minnesota by 26.
With 8:01 remaining and the gap having swelled to 33 points, Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards appeared in the Spurs’ timeout huddle, shaking hands, bumping fists and all but offering his opponents a light for their victory cigars.
That’s when Harper knew.
“It was over,” Harper said. “(Edwards) kind of knew what it was. We kind of knew what it was.”
Harper understood what that meant, too, after the Spurs finished off a ruthless 139-109 victory over the sixth-seeded Timberwolves that ended with both benches and most of the Target Center emptied.
“We’re going to OKC on Monday,” Harper said.
That would be Oklahoma City, home of the defending NBA champions, for Game 1 of a Western Conference finals series the entire league has seen coming for months.
The Thunder earned the conference’s No. 1 seed courtesy of a 64-18 record that ranks as the best in the NBA. They are led by high-scoring guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who come Sunday is expected to win his second consecutive league MVP award.
The Spurs arrived here perhaps ahead of schedule, seizing the No. 2 seed by virtue of a 62-20 regular-season mark. They are led by Victor Wembanyama, a 22-year-old extraterrestrial superstar who has crashed his first NBA postseason in dominating fashion.
“Just the words ‘conference finals,’ it’s crazy,” Wembanyama said. “It’s like something I heard my whole life. Now being in it is just special.”
On paper, the series shapes up to be a true battle of titans.
It will mark the first time two 60-win teams have met in the playoffs since 2017, when the 61-win Spurs lost in their most recent trip to the conference finals against a 67-win Golden State club.
It will mark the first time two teams with at least 62 regular-season wins have met in the playoffs since 1998, when Chicago defeated Utah in the NBA Finals.
Oklahoma City has yet to lose a game in the 2026 postseason, having swept eighth-seeded Phoenix in the first round and a hobbled Los Angeles Lakers squad in the second.
Even though the Spurs defeated the vaunted Thunder four times in five meetings this season, coach Mitch Johnson is painting his team as the underdog in the series.
“I mean, they’re the defending champs,” Johnson said. “They haven’t lost the game in the playoffs, so we’ll have to be at our best to make it competitive.”
Despite their head coach’s understandable sandbagging, the Spurs consider themselves worth adversaries for the big, bad Thunder.
If anyone has what it takes to sabotage burgeoning dynasty in Oklahoma City before it begins, the Wembanyama-led Spurs believe it could be them.
Proof positive came during one dizzying 12-day stretch in December, when the Spurs defeated OKC three times, logging a two-point win in the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas, a 30-point win in San Antonio and a 15-point Christmas Day victory at the Paycom Center.
“It’s going to be a hard-fought series, very physical, two teams with high aspirations,” said guard Stephon Castle, whose 32-point, 11-rebound opus in Game 6 helped the Spurs put away Minnesota. “They’re playing really well right now. We’re playing really well right now. We’re in each other’s way of going to the finals, so I think it’ll be a good series.”
In their six-game triumph over the Timberwolves in the semifinals, the Spurs showed the light-headed heights they can hit when operating on all cylinders.
Three of the Spurs’ four victories in the series came by 38, 29 and 30 points. It was the first playoff series in league history to see one team win three games by at least 29 points.
All told, the Spurs outscored Minnesota by 97 points in the series.
Faced with their first chance to eliminate the Wolves on Friday, the Spurs led from first basket to final horn. The score was never closer than 13 points after halftime.
“We felt our guys were ready and that’s all you can ask for,” Johnson said. “We felt we were prepared.”
It was Castle who charted the Spurs’ path in Game 6, canning a career-high five 3-pointers and netting 14 of his points during a tone-setting first quarter.
De’Aaron Fox added 21 points while playing on a sore right ankle, while Wembanyama added 19 points and three blocks to the onslaught.
Now it’s off to Oklahoma City, where the ahead-of-schedule Spurs aim to continue to defy expectations.
“The nature of the playoffs makes it so that we’re going to play against better and better teams,” Wembanyama said. “There was already a league between the first and second round and it’s going to be probably even bigger league between second and third.”
The Spurs believe they have what it takes to rise to the challenge. At least one prominent member of the Timberwolves apparently does too.
That was the message Edwards hoped to convey when he invaded the Spurs’ timeout huddle Friday to offer premature congratulations.
“I just tip my hat to them,” Edwards said. “They were just the better team.”
With a new and more formidable opponent on the horizon, the Spurs’ goal is to keep proving as much, one game at a time.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News