By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-17 14:49:48
2026 年 2 月 4 日，星期三，在圣安东尼奥举行的一场 NBA 比赛上半场，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) (1) 在对阵俄克拉荷马城雷霆队得分后做出反应。(AP Photo/Eric Gay)
俄克拉荷马城 —— 周日，马刺队的球员和工作人员陆续登上了圣安东尼奥国际机场的一架包机。
下一站，俄克拉荷马城。西部决赛即将开战，而这组对决在去年十月时根本无人预料到。
“这感觉很不真实，”锋卫摇摆人德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 说道，“在过去的六年里，我们投入了如此多的时间、精力和汗水，但每次都在四月结束赛季，充满了失望和沮丧。我们一直期待着这一刻。”
马刺队应该习惯这种五月中旬前往俄克拉荷马的旅程。如果两支球队都按计划发展，这可能会成为一项年度传统。
周一在佩康中心 (Paycom Center) 对阵卫冕冠军雷霆队的首场比赛，不仅代表着又一轮季后赛的开始，更是一场关乎总决赛门票的较量。
除非未来十年发生什么意外，否则这可能标志着一段即将在未来几年蓬勃发展的季后赛宿敌关系的开端。
“我们当然有信心，”22 岁的超级巨星中锋文班亚马说道，他在 2023 年选秀中的到来让马刺队的重建进程瞬间按下了快进键，“但我们需要保持适度的自信。”
进入第一场比赛，这轮系列赛感觉就像一场老派的拳击赛：一位骄傲的冠军正盯着一位渴望鲜血和金腰带的新兴挑战者。
一方是文班亚马和马刺队，作为西部二号种子，他们在经历了连续六个无缘季后赛的赛季后，比任何人预想的都要更早地闯入了分区决赛。
另一方则是谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 率领的头号种子雷霆队，他们正力争成为自 2018 年金州勇士队以来首支实现卫冕的 NBA 球队。
阵容深度雄厚且年轻的俄克拉荷马城拥有一种新兴 NBA 王朝的坚定气场。而马刺队拥有身高 7 英尺 4 英寸的文班亚马，以及极具天赋的“20岁+”核心阵容，具备了成为潜在“王朝终结者”的所有特质。
如果雷霆队想要连续第二年晋级总决赛，马刺队绝不会让他们轻易过关。
“我们必须去赢得它，”雷霆队主教练马克·戴格诺特 (Mark Daigneault) 说道，“除此之外别无他法。”
这两支泰坦巨人自去年 12 月以来就一直处于碰撞轨道上，当时马刺队在 12 天内三次击败雷霆队。总的来说，马刺队在本赛季两队的五次交锋中赢下了四场。
在两队 12 月 13 日于拉斯维加斯举行的 NBA 杯半决赛首次交锋时，俄克拉荷马城战绩为 24 胜 1 负，正朝着打破 2016 年勇士队创造的 73 胜联盟历史单赛季胜场纪录迈进。
赛季结束时，雷霆队以 64 胜 18 负的骄人战绩位居联盟第一。紧随其后的是 62 胜 20 负的马刺队，他们送给了雷霆队常规赛中的四场失利。
马刺队意识到他们在常规赛对阵雷霆队的成功与接下来的比赛关系不大。
“我们周一要面对的是一个完全不同的对手，”新秀后卫迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 说道，“这种经历对我们所有人来说都很棒。但我们必须保持一种心态：无论发生什么，我们都要全力以赴。”
周日，28 岁的吉尔杰斯-亚历山大凭借场均 31.1 分（仅次于洛杉矶湖人队的卢卡·东契奇 (Luka Doncic)，位列联盟第二）连续第二年荣膺 NBA 常规赛 MVP。
在评选中，吉尔杰斯-亚历山大击败了文班亚马，后者在结束自己的第三个 NBA 赛季时场均贡献 25 分、11.5 个篮板和领跑全联盟的 3.1 次盖帽，并成为了首位全票当选最佳防守球员奖项的球员。
从很多方面来看，两人在 2026 年西部决赛的会师早在三年前就已经注定，当时马刺队赢得了选秀抽签，并获得了选择这位来自法国的足以改变队史的大个子的权利。
对于马刺队来说，这段旅程既迅速又艰辛。
在选中文班亚马的前一个赛季，马刺队赢了 22 场。在他的新秀赛季，马刺队赢了……22 场。
上个赛季，由于文班亚马因血栓问题缺席了最后两个月，马刺队的胜场数提高到了 34 场。
在 2025-26 赛季，马刺队的胜场数增加了 28 场，终结了队史最长的季后赛荒。
即便如此，人们仍然认为他们太年轻、太不成熟、太缺乏经验，无法在首次作为整体出战时应对 NBA 季后赛的严酷考验。
是的，马刺队看起来像是一支能够挑战强大的雷霆队的球队 —— 但那是“最终”，是在未来某个不确定的时刻。
而不是现在。
本赛季原本被认为是马刺队或许能挤进季后赛末尾，通过被一支更有经验的球队“毒打”来积累经验，然后在下个赛季变得更好。
然而，马刺队有自己的想法。相反，他们在首轮横扫波特兰，在次轮力克明尼苏达，自 2017 年以来首次杀入分区决赛。
在此过程中，马刺队找到了信念。
“我们比自己想象的更接近目标，”前锋朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 说道。
马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) —— 他自己也是 NBA 季后赛的新面孔 —— 在被问及球队的分区决赛之旅是否“提前完成计划”时嗤之以鼻。
“我不是在开玩笑，但‘提前’是相对于什么计划而言？”约翰逊说道，“我们从未谈论过我们会成为什么样的球队，或者我们要达到什么目标。我们只知道自己有很大的潜力，我们会努力成为最好的球队。”
马刺队本赛季一直在打破外界的预期。本周他们前往俄克拉荷马城，誓要让本赛季成为最后一次“打进分区决赛被视为惊喜”的赛季。
“我认为这将成为常态，”哈珀说道。
在未来的岁岁年年里。
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：Let the playoff rivalry between Spurs and Thunder begin
Let the playoff rivalry between Spurs and Thunder begin
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) reacts to a score against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Wednesday, February. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
OKLAHOMA CITY — One by one, Spurs players and staffers boarded a charter jet at San Antonio International Airport on Sunday.
Next stop, Oklahoma City and the start of a Western Conference finals series absolutely nobody had booked back in October.
“It seems surreal,” swingman Devin Vassell said. “So much time, effort and hard work put into these past six years, ending off the season every time in April and being disappointed and being frustrated. We’ve been looking forward to this.”
The Spurs should get used to making this mid-May trip to Oklahoma. If all goes to plan for both clubs, it could become an annual tradition.
Game 1 against the defending champion Thunder on Monday at the Paycom Center does not simply represent the start of another playoff series, this one with an NBA Finals berth on the line.
Barring something unforeseen over the next decade, it could mark the opening salvo in a nascent playoff rivalry set to blossom for years to come.
“Of course we’re confident,” said Wembanyama, the 22-year-old superstar center whose arrival in the 2023 draft pressed an immediate fast-forward on the Spurs’ rebuilding project. “But we need to keep the right confidence level.”
Heading into Game 1, the series feels like an old-time prize fight, with a proud champion staring down an up-and-coming contender out for blood and belt.
In one corner stands Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs, the No. 2 seed in the West, who arrived at the conference finals sooner than anyone expected after six consecutive postseason-less campaigns.
In the other, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the top-seeded Thunder, who are looking to become the NBA’s first repeat title-winners since Golden State in 2018.
Deep, loaded and young, Oklahoma City has the unflinching aura of a burgeoning NBA dynasty. With the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama at the center of ultra-talented 20-something core, the Spurs have all the markings of a potential dynasty stopper.
If the Thunder are to advance to their second consecutive Finals, the Spurs won’t let it come easy.
“We’re going to have to earn it,” OKC coach Mark Daigneault said. “You wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The two titans have been on a collision course since December, when the Spurs defeated the Thunder three times in the span of 12 days. Overall, the Spurs won four of five clashes between the clubs this season.
At the time of the first meeting, a Dec. 13 matchup in Las Vegas in the NBA Cup semifinals, Oklahoma City was 24-1 and on pace to smash league’s all-time single-season wins record of 73 set by the 2016 Warriors.
By season’s end, the Thunder finished with a still-formidable 64-18 record, best in the NBA. Right behind them in the standings, at 62-20, lurked a Spurs team that had supplied four of OKC’s losses.
The Spurs realize their regular-season success against the Thunder has little bearing on what comes next.
“What we’re walking into on Monday is a different animal,” rookie guard Dylan Harper said. “The experience is great for all of us. But we’ve just got to have the mindset of we’re going to keep the foot on the gas no matter what.”
On Sunday, the 28-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander earned his second consecutive NBA MVP award after averaging 31.1 points, second in the league behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic.
In doing so, Gilgeous-Alexander beat out Wembanyama, who was a strong contender after ending his third NBA season averaging 25 points, 11.5 rebounds and a league-leading 3.1 blocks while becoming the first unanimous winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award.
In many ways, the pair’s meeting in the 2026 Western Conference finals was preordained three years ago, when the Spurs won the draft lottery and the right to select the franchise-changing big man out of France.
For the Spurs, the journey has been at once rapid and painstaking.
The season before selecting Wembanyama, the Spurs won 22 games. In his rookie season, the Spurs won … 22 games.
Last season, with Wembanyama missing the final two months with a blood clot issue, the Spurs improved to 34 wins.
The Spurs added 28 victories to their ledger in 2025-26, stopping the longest playoff drought in club history.
Even so, they were considered too young, too immature, too inexperienced to navigate the rigors of the NBA postseason in their first taste of it as a group.
Yes, the Spurs seemed like a team that could challenge the vaunted Thunder — eventually, at some undetermined place down the road.
Not now.
This was the season for the Spurs to perhaps wiggle their way into the bottom of the playoff bracket, gain some experience by being punched in the mouth by a more experienced team, then come back next season better for it.
The Spurs, however, had other ideas. Instead, they tore through Portland in the first round and out-wrestled Minnesota in the second to qualify for their first conference finals since 2017.
In doing so, the Spurs found their belief.
“We’re closer than we think we are,” forward Julian Champagnie said.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson — himself a newcomer to the NBA playoffs — scoffed when asked if his team’s conference finals run felt ahead of schedule
"I’m not being facetious, but ahead of schedule of what?” Johnson said. “We never talked about what we were going to be or what we were going to do. We just knew that we had a lot of potential, and we were going to try to be the best team we can be.”
The Spurs have spent the season flying in the face of outside expectations. They headed to Oklahoma City this week vowing this would be the last season a trip to the conference finals will be considered a surprise.
“I think this is going to be the standard,” Harper said.
For years and years to come.
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News