By Charlie Thaddeus | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-05-19 17:33:40
在我作为一个虔诚的、爱看球的、深爱马刺的人的一生中，我不确定自己是否曾像讨厌维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在Logo位置投出的那个三分球一样，如此讨厌过任何一次出手。
在他起跳投篮的那一刻，我大喊了一声“不”。那一刻时间仿佛静止了。我能感觉到我的人生在眼前闪过。世界上所有美好的事物都在我周围崩塌。墙壁在碎裂，洪水在涌入，房间里的空气被瞬间抽干。
我当时真的很生气，你懂吗？就像……这场比赛本是如此精彩。我知道在这种情况下，人们总想抛出“瞬间经典”或“史上最佳”之类的词汇。我们总想实时地将眼前的画面与过去的一切进行对比，将它与我们的记忆叠放在一起，然后坚定地宣称：我们当时就在现场，我们亲眼见证了，我们一眼就看出了它的伟大。
我总是试图抵制这种诱惑，避免掉入陷阱，以免看起来像个被瞬间情绪冲昏头脑的傻瓜。但是，天哪，你真的能感觉到。这次确实不同。这是另一个层级的篮球。它在过度炒作的边缘危险地试探，却依然成功地达到、甚至超越了人们的预期。这当然只是一场篮球赛，但这场比赛在将近四个小时的时间里，抓住了我们的脑子，把它们在柜台上敲碎，然后在热锅上疯狂翻炒。
而他差点毁了这一切。
这个大男孩真是胆大包天。他全场只投了一个三分，还没进。他已经精疲力竭了。腿软了，脑子空了，连是非感都没了。他为什么要这样对我？对我们？比赛还没结束，但在斯蒂芬·库里 (Stephen Curry) 的射程投出一个祈祷式的三不沾，毫无疑问会葬送比赛。看台上那片蓝色海洋的欢呼声会汇聚成声浪的围墙，将我们彻底淹没。他们扛住了我们的最强一击，而这还不够。我们要怎么翻身？可能根本翻不了。
而且这真的很遗憾，因为小伙子们打得太漂亮了，不是吗？他们几乎做到了你所能要求的一切。在进攻端表现得沉稳而富有侵略性。得分遍布全队。冲击篮筐。及时的跳投。以正确的方式在禁区给文班喂球，疯狂收割篮板。
防守端呢？噢，那简直是大师级的表现。你不可能完全限制住像俄克拉荷马城雷霆 (Oklahoma City Thunder) 这么优秀的球队，但马刺在比赛的大部分时间里有效地中和了他们的威胁。谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 状态全无，切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren) 仿佛身处炼狱。除了亚历克斯·卡鲁索 (Alex Caruso) 之外，没人能展现出我们习以为常的那种魔力。一切都在按计划进行。这场表现足以让我们回味多年。我甚至能闻到胜利的味道。
然而，胜利正在溜走。一点一点地，雷霆从地板上爬了起来。分差缩小了，然后比分打平了。我们还遭受了切特在哨响前封盖文班的奇耻大辱。现在我们不得不继续战斗，果不其然，谢伊开始找回感觉了。他利用角度寻找空间，他直冲底线在斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 头上完成终结，他撕裂了我们的防守并在文班脸上扣篮。突然之间，一切都变了味。
球就像抹了油一样，我们怎么投都不进。尚帕尼错失了一个三分。雷霆发动了反击。每个人看起来都那么疲惫，完全耗尽了体力。他们为了实现这个奇迹已经付出了所有，但这似乎还不够。在比赛还剩不到一分钟时，我们即将落后两个球。梦想破灭了，我们没能挺住。
现在，我不知道为什么杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams) 决定通过一次不明智的强投中距离来给我们留一线生机，但这都不重要了，因为这个高大的笨蛋——这个身高7英尺4英寸的傻瓜，这个不成熟、愚蠢、狂妄的孩子，竟然打算在几万英里外起跳，投出一个绝望的祈祷球，把这份大礼直接扔进垃圾桶。简直是个笑话。简直是场灾难。简直是彻头彻尾的悲剧。
你在逗我吗？！
@ NBAonNBC pic.twitter.com/G29cWHfBfw
— 圣安东尼奥马刺 (@ spurs) 2026年5月19日
我不相信魔法，不相信奇迹。我不认为有什么神灵在干预体育比赛的磨难。我不会坐在这里假装在俄克拉荷马城的球场上发生了什么超越那记三分球本身意义的事情。
我唯一能报告的是，在那之后我的感觉不同了。我体内的化学反应发生了变化。就像“特修斯之船”一样，我从另一端走出来时，功能上虽然没变，但在基础层面上已经发生了翻天覆地的变化。
我从未像维克托在Logo位置起跳时那样讨厌过一次投篮。
我想，我也从未像维克托在Logo位置起跳时那样热爱过一次投篮。
赛后要点
- 呼，马刺球迷们，大家还好吗？你们觉得我们能挺过这一整轮系列赛吗？说实话，在接下来的比赛中，我的身心状态可能都得被列入“赛前决定”的观察名单了。
- 我想现在就正式记录下来：每当有人说出类似“这就是真正的NBA总决赛”这种话时，都会让我感到紧张。我不在乎马刺和雷霆有多强，也不在乎尼克斯和骑士有多棒。这种本末倒置的做法让我抓狂。别再这么说了！如果我们能设法从这轮系列赛中突围，我们还得跌跌撞撞地走进麦迪逊广场花园，去挑战一支今年多次击败过我们的球队。如果我们认为常规赛对阵雷霆的战绩不重要，那我们就不能假装常规赛对阵尼克斯的失利也不重要。骑士也可能在那等着。（截至发稿时，作者对骑士还没有其他想法。呃，请关注后续报道。）
- 我觉得我可以接受亚历克斯·卡鲁索的表现。我的意思是，我们大概会继续沿用这个策略，对吧？他显然打出了超神表现，而我们显然愿意采取“如果卡鲁索击败了我们，那就认了”的策略。如果我们真的需要锁死卡鲁索，我的老伙计肖恩·斯威尼 (Sean Sweeney) 肯定能想出办法，但这很可能要以牺牲对谢伊的全场包夹为代价。我们每次都会选择后者，对吧？虽然我不喜欢看他在接下来的两周里投进大空位的底角三分，但我愿意赌一把概率。
- 雷霆球迷在主队投进第一球之前绝不坐下的传统，如果我在现场的话会感到非常不适。我实在看不出这有什么好处。如果他们进球快，那还好，坐下就行了。如果他们七分钟没进球，大家就只能尴尬地站在那儿面面相觑。这对我没影响，所以，随他们去吧。但我真的不理解。马刺球迷是完美的，从不做任何奇怪的事。结案。
- 我很喜欢马刺偶尔派出卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 去防守谢伊，就是为了贴脸防守制造麻烦。太精彩了。真是有趣的战术变招！你能感觉到每次布莱恩特踏上球场时，谢伊都会摇摇头，心想“怎么又是这家伙”。他们应该在系列赛结束时颁发一个“别是这家伙”奖，就像MVP一样，颁给那个对位时最让人心烦的球员。把奖杯做得越讨人厌越好。亚当·萧华，你知道在哪能找到我，我还有几十个这样的点子。
WWL 赛后新闻发布会
你有一个讨厌的投篮排行榜吗？
没有，我觉得我会尽可能忘记那些我讨厌的投篮。我非常清晰地记得这些年来我讨厌过马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili) 的很多次投篮，但你知道，我觉得在他的案例中，结果最终证明了过程的合理性。
他算是那种典型的“不，不，不，好球！”类型的球员，对吧？
当然。那是他的个人标签。
那2008年蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 对阵太阳时的那个三分呢？我敢肯定你当时一定没觉得兴奋。
你看，那和文班现在的情况完全不同。文班是在转换进攻中起跳的，当时还有充足的时间去做些合理的事。比如落位进攻、跑个战术、消耗点时间。正常的事，对吧？我讨厌文班的出手，因为它违背了我大脑在弥留之际拼命抓住的逻辑。而蒂姆的奇迹三分完全是另一回事。当时只剩四秒了，他必须出手。虽然直到现在，我还是搞不明白为什么偏偏是他站在三分线外，而马努却冲进了禁区，但嘿，上帝的旨意总是难以捉摸。
我以为你说过你不相信神灵会干预体育比赛。
听着，我说过很多话。我还说过昨晚我的脑子在热锅上被翻炒了四个小时，所以，体谅一下吧。
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 1 win over the Thunder
What We Learned from the Spurs Game 1 win over the Thunder
In my life as a god-fearing, basketball-watching, Spurs-loving human being, I’m not sure I’ve ever hated a shot more than that three Victor took from the logo.
As soon as he pulled up I shouted NO. It felt like time stopped. I could sense my life flashing before my eyes. Everything good in the world was crashing down around me. The walls were crumbling. The water was rushing in. The air was sucked out of the room.
I was just so mad, you know? Like. The game was so good. I know the urge to throw around phrases like “instant classic” or “best ever” is strong in these situations. We want to contextualize something in real time against whatever has come before. Stack it up against our memories and definitively state that we were there. We witnessed it live. We knew right away. We saw the light and it was good.
I’m always trying to resist this temptation, to avoid the trap. To sidestep looking like a fool who got carried away in the moment. But, man, you could just feel it. This was different. This was another level of basketball. It was something that was perilously tiptoeing along the edge of becoming overhyped and still managing to meet, even exceed, expectations. It was just a basketball game, sure, but it was a basketball game that was taking our brains, cracking them against the counter, and scrambling them on a hot pan for almost four hours.
And he was about to ruin it.
The audacity of this manchild. He’d taken only one three all game and bricked it. He was so gassed. Legs gone. Brain gone. Sense of right and wrong, gone. Why would he do this to me? To us? The game wasn’t over but airballing a prayer of a three from Steph Curry range was going to, without a doubt, kill it. The blue shirts in the crowd would crescendo into a wall of sound that would swallow us completely. They took our best punch and it wasn’t enough. How would we come back from that? We probably wouldn’t.
It would be a shame, too, because the boys played beautifully, didn’t they? They gave almost everything you could possibly ask for. A measured but aggressive approach on the offensive end. Scoring spread across the roster. Attacking the rim. Timely jumpers. Feeding Wembanyama in the paint in all the right ways, gobbling up boards.
And defensively? Oh, it was a masterclass. You’re not going to stop a team as good as the Thunder, but the Spurs effectively neutralized them for most of the game. Shai was out of sorts. Chet was in purgatory. No one outside of Alex Caruso could conjure anything close to the magic we’re used to seeing from them. It was all going according to plan. We were going to bask in the glow of this performance for years. I could taste it.
It was slipping away, though. Little by little, the Thunder were getting off the mat. The score was closer. Then the score was tied. We suffered the indignity of Chet blocking Wemby at the buzzer. Now we had to keep playing and, sure enough, Shai was starting to find it. He was working his angles. He was finding space. He charged baseline and finished over Steph. He sliced through our defense and dunked in Wemby’s face. Everything tasted sour all of a sudden.
The ball was made of grease. We couldn’t buy a basket. Champagnie missed a three. The Thunder were off and running. Everyone looked so tired. Just absolutely spent. They had given everything they had to try and pull off this miracle and it wasn’t going to be enough. We were about to be down two possessions with under a minute. The dream was over. We hadn’t survived.
Now, I don’t know why Jalen Williams decided to give us life by taking an ill-advised contested mid-range, but it didn’t matter, because of this colossal doofus. This 7-foot-4 buffoon. This immature, foolish, arrogant boy was about to throw that gift in the trash by pulling up from a million miles out and launching a desperate prayer. What a joke. What a disaster. What an absolute tragedy.
R U KIDDING ME?!
— San Antonio Spurs (@ spurs) May 19, 2026
I don’t believe in magic. I don’t believe in miracles. I don’t think there’s some kind of divine presence intervening in the trials and tribulations of sport. I won’t sit here and pretend something happened out there on the court in Oklahoma that means anything beyond the three points that went on the board after that ball fell through the hoop.
All I can report is that I felt different afterwards. The chemistry inside my body changed. Like the Ship of Theseus, I came out the other end functionally the same but radically altered on a fundamental level.
I’ve never hated a shot more than I did when Victor pulled up from the logo.
I don’t think I’ve ever loved a shot more than when Victor pulled up from the logo.
Takeaways
- Hoo boy, Spurs fans. Are we okay? Do we think we can survive a whole round of this? My mind, body, and soul are, honestly, going to be a game-time decision the rest of the way.
- I’d like to go ahead and get this on the record now: every single instance of someone saying some version of “This is the actual NBA Finals right here” puts me on edge. I don’t care how good the Spurs and Thunder are. I don’t care how good the Knicks and Cavs are. The concept of putting the cart so significantly before the horse drives me insane. Stop doing it! If we somehow manage to survive this series, we have to trundle into Madison Square Garden and topple a team that’s handed us losses repeatedly this year. We’re not allowed to pretend the regular season games against the Thunder matter if we’re going to say the regular season games against the Knicks don’t. The Cavs might also be there. (At press time, Charlie did not have any other thoughts on the Cavs. Uh, stay tuned as this story develops.)
- I think I’m okay with the Alex Caruso of it all. Like, I think we probably run that back, right? He obviously played out of his mind, and we were clearly willing to go with the strategy of “if Alex Caruso beats us then so be it.” If we needed to shut down Alex Caruso, my boy Sean Sweeney could probably dial something up, it would just likely come at the expense of stuffing Shai in a locker all night. We make that trade every time, yea? I’m not going to enjoy him bombing wide open corner threes for the next two weeks, but I’m willing to play the odds.
- The thing where Thunder fans don’t sit until they score their first basket would make me so uncomfortable if I were in that crowd. I just don’t understand the upside. If they score quickly, great, it’s over and you’re just sitting. If they go seven minutes without scoring, everyone is just standing there staring at each other making it awkward. It doesn’t affect me at all, so you know, go with God or whatever. But I do not understand it. Spurs fans are perfect and don’t do anything weird. Case closed.
- I loved the Spurs unleashing Carter Bryant on Shai every once in a while just to go get in his face and cause problems. What a delight. What a fun wrinkle! You could just feel Shai shake his head like “not this guy” every time Bryant stepped on the court. They should give a “Not This Guy” award at the end of the series, like an MVP, for whoever was the most annoying to play against. Make the trophy obnoxious. Adam Silver, you know where to find me. I have dozens of ideas like this.
WWL Post Game Press Conference
Do you have a ranking of shots that you hated?
No, I think I try to forget about the shots I hate as much as possible. I have a pretty distinct memory of hating a lot of Manu’s shots over the years but, you know, I think in his case the ends ended up justifying the means over time.
He was kind of the archetypal “No, no, no, YES” player, right?
For sure. That was like his brand.
What about the Tim Duncan three against the Suns in ’08? I’m sure you weren’t psyched about that.
See, that’s a totally different thing than the Wemby situation here. Wemby pulled up in the middle of transition with a ton of time left on the clock to, I don’t know, do something reasonable. Set up the offense. Run a play. Burn some clock. Normal things, right? I hated Wemby’s shot because it defied the logic my brain was desperately grasping onto in its dying moments. Timmy’s miracle three was born out of something else entirely. There were like four seconds left. He had to take that thing. Now, for the life of me I still have no idea why he, of all people, was standing out beyond the arc while Manu barreled into the lane, but hey. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
I thought you said you didn’t believe in a divine presence intervening in the trials and tribulations of sport.
Look, I say a lot of things. I also said my brain was scrambled on a hot pan for four hours last night, so maybe give a guy a break.
By Charlie Thaddeus, via Pounding The Rock