By Mike Finger | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-23 03:13:31
2026年5月22日，星期五，西部决赛第三场（G3）下半场，在圣安东尼奥霜银中心，俄克拉荷马雷霆前锋杰林·威廉姆斯 (Jaylin Williams)（6号）拉扯圣安东尼奥马刺前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)（1号）的球衣。马刺最终以108-123不敌雷霆，雷霆在系列赛中大比分2-1领先。
当事情开始变糟，每个人都会提出自己的假设。关于强韧度、关于阵容调整、关于裁判判罚，各种理论层出不穷。
但这才是马刺输掉西决G3的真正原因：几周以来，他们第一次打得“合乎常理”了。
他们的表现，就像是一群从未在NBA季后赛中走得如此之远的年轻球员。
这很合理，因为他们确实没经历过。
他们的表现，就像是阵中两位最重要的进攻组织核心各自正拖着一条伤腿在场上奔跑。
这很合理，因为事实确实如此。
他们的表现，也暴露出面对那些在通往总决赛道路上久经沙场的争冠劲旅所抛出的重重挑战时，他们其实并没有轻松破局的办法。这依然很合理，因为在联盟半个多世纪的历史中，像马刺这样缺乏经验的球队，从未有人能做到这一点。
这并不是说周五那场完全合乎情理的108-123惨败给俄克拉荷马意味着马刺的季后赛之旅已到终点。他们依然由一位颠覆时空物理法则的超级巨星领衔，而且在过去的五个月里，他们不止一次证明了世俗的常规标准并不适用于他们。
但即使在文班亚马引发的狂欢热潮最鼎盛的时期，人们也很容易预见到这样一次“校正”终会到来。
“我们那样的开局是无法持久的，”马刺主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 说道。
他具体指的是G3中那波15-0的梦幻开局，当时几乎要掀翻霜银中心那略显陈旧的屋顶。但从某种意义上说，这句话或许同样适用于这支年轻球队在季后赛初体验中所展现出的惊艳开局。
马刺主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 谈投篮挣扎：“我认为今晚有些时候我们有点在被动追赶比赛。我们没有掌控好比赛节奏，也没能让自己沉下心来。……我觉得我们有几次打得太急躁了。我们自己乱了阵脚。” pic.twitter.com/nY90l39mVL
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) 2026年5月23日
如此迅速地达到这种高度，且不经历任何季后赛的成长阵痛？这听起来本就有些不切实际，而卫冕冠军也非常乐意用实际行动来给马刺上一课。
经验并非万能，但它至关重要，尤其是当雷霆这样的一支队伍还兼具顶级天赋时。你可以尽情嘲讽谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 是个“假摔哨子精”——周五晚上霜银中心的现场观众确实整晚都在这么嘘他——但他比任何人都更擅长制造身体接触并借此转化为优势，尤其是在季后赛这个舞台上。
尽管斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 在他惊艳的二年级赛季中表现堪称现象级，但他显然还没能参透季后赛里那些细微的门道。而另外两位后卫德阿隆·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 和迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 虽在季后赛的某些阶段表现亮眼，但很明显，他们两人目前都远未达到百分之百的健康状态。
因脚踝扭伤缺席了西决前两场后，福克斯在周五迎来复出并首发出战，他迅速带领马刺进入状态。然而，第三节与卢·多尔特 (Lou Dort) 的一次惨烈相撞让他不得不离场接受治疗，尽管此后重新披挂上阵，但他显然已不复神勇。
与此同时，哈珀则是顶着球队所称的内收肌伤势强行出战，且状态不容乐观。这位新秀失去了往日犀利的爆发力，这或许解释了为什么他在季后赛前期屡试不爽的突破攻筐，如今却大多妥协成了中远距离投篮，也解释了为何他此役登场17分钟，仅靠7投2中拿到尴尬的6分。
同样，这一切都完全合乎逻辑。正如马刺终究会撞上三分球命中率波动的“新低谷”一样（他们周五在三分线外仅有41投13中）；也正如他们绝无可能在整个季后赛的征程中，不被对手的某位奇兵角色球员所惩罚。
首轮对阵波特兰，马刺只让斯库特·亨德森 (Scoot Henderson) 爆发了一场，随后便将其限制。次轮对阵明尼苏达，安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards) 虽凭借个人能力帮森林狼苦苦支撑，但马刺始终没有给他的帮手们起势的机会，直到胜负已分。
但雷霆完全是另一头猛兽。俄克拉荷马城的替补席上人才济济，坐拥亚历克斯·卡鲁索 (Alex Caruso)、杰林·威廉姆斯、凯森·华莱士 (Cason Wallace) 以及贾里德·麦凯恩 (Jared McCain) 等一众悍将。其中麦凯恩这位后卫，是雷霆总经理萨姆·普雷斯蒂 (Sam Presti) 在交易截止日前从费城“打劫”而来的，他在此役疯狂砍下了24分。
将这些因素叠加在一起，雷霆替补群在得分上以76-23彻底碾压马刺替补，也就完全不足为奇了。即便雷霆自身也面临着伤病困扰，这一结果依然合情合理。
杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams) 周五高挂免战牌，阿杰伊·米切尔 (Ajay Mitchell) 也被限制在仅出场17分钟。但作为卫冕冠军，他们见招拆招，展现出了一支底蕴深厚的冠军之师应有的调整能力。
反观马刺，他们则迎来了数月以来旁人一直警告他们的“试金石时刻”。
“艰难的考验终归会来，”文班亚马说道，“但现在，是时候看看我们到底成色几何了。”
或许，顺便去验证一两个全新的假设。
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：Why did Spurs lose Game 3? They finally stopped defying logic
Why did Spurs lose Game 3? They finally stopped defying logic
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams (6) grabs the shirt of San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the second half of Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Friday, May 22, 2026. The Spurs fell 123-108 to the Thunder, who now lead the series 2-1.
When good things go wrong, everybody has a hypothesis. There are theories about toughness. About lineup decisions. About officiating.
But here’s the real reason why the Spurs lost Game 3 of the Western Conference finals: For the first time in weeks, they did something that made sense.
They played like a bunch of guys who never have made it this deep into an NBA postseason.
Which made sense, because they haven’t.
They played like two of their most important offensive creators were running around on one good leg apiece. Which made sense, because they were.
And they played like they actually might not have easy answers for every challenge thrown at them by every tried-and-true contender on the way to the NBA Finals. Which made sense, because over about a half-century of league history, no team as inexperienced as the Spurs are ever has.
This isn’t to say that Friday’s thoroughly explainable 123-108 smackdown by Oklahoma City means that the end to the Spurs’ run is imminent. They still are led by a superstar who defies every rule in the space-time continuum, and over the past five months they’ve proven more than once that traditional expectations don’t apply to them.
But even at the height of the Victor Wembanyama-induced fiesta delirium, it was easy to see a correction like this coming.
“That wasn’t sustainable, how we started,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
He was talking specifically about a rip-roaring 15-0 start to Game 3 that nearly blew the rusted roof off of Frost Bank Center. But in a way, the statement probably also applies to a young team’s rip-roaring start to its playoff life.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson, on shooting struggles: “I thought there were some times tonight we were chasing the game a little bit. We weren’t working the game and trying to settle in. … I thought we got in a hurry a couple of times. We rushed ourselves.” pic.twitter.com/nY90l39mVL
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) May 23, 2026
Being this good, this fast, without enduring any postseason growing pains? That always seemed almost too implausible to be true, and the defending champions have proven more than willing to remind the Spurs why.
Experience isn’t everything, but it matters, especially when a team like the Thunder also has the talent to go with it. Call Shai Gilgeous-Alexander a flopper all you want — and the crowd at Frost Bank Center did it plenty Friday night – but he’s better than anybody at drawing contact and using it to advantage, especially this time of year.
As incredible as Stephon Castle has been throughout a brilliant sophomore season, he still hasn’t picked up all those playoff intricacies yet. And as great as fellow guards De’Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper have been for stretches of the postseason, it’s clear that neither one of them is close to 100%.
After missing the first two games of the conference finals due to a sprained ankle, Fox started on Friday and got the Spurs rolling, but a third-quarter collision with Lou Dort knocked him out of the game for a while, and he wasn’t himself when he returned.
Harper, meanwhile, played through what the team termed as an adductor injury, and it didn’t look great. The rookie lacked his usual burst, which might have been why some of the drives that ended with layups and dunks earlier this postseason were abandoned in favor of jumpers, and why he was held to six points on 2-of-7 shooting in 17 minutes.
Again, all of this made perfect sense. So did the idea that the Spurs finally would succumb to the ugly side of 3-point shooting variance (they made just 13 of 41 on Friday). And so did the fact that they weren’t going to make it through an entire postseason without being burned by role players.
In the first round against Portland, the Spurs gave up one big night to Scoot Henderson, but that was about it. In the conference semifinals against Minnesota, Anthony Edwards kept the Timberwolves in it for a while, but the Spurs didn’t let his supporting cast get loose until it was too late.
The Thunder are a different beast. Oklahoma City’s bench is populated with guys like Alex Caruso, Jaylin Williams, Cason Wallace and Jared McCain, the guard who general manager Sam Presti swindled from Philadelphia at the trade deadline and who poured in 24 points on Friday.
Put all that together, and it makes sense that Oklahoma City would outscore the San Antonio bench by a margin of 76-23. It makes sense even though the Thunder were dealing with injury issues of their own.
Jalen Williams didn’t play at all on Friday. Ajay Mitchell was limited to 17 minutes. But the champs dealt with it and adapted like a team that had been there before.
On the other side, for the first time, the Spurs are facing the moment of truth they’d been warned about for months.
“Of course there were going to be hard trials,” Wembanyama said. “But now we’re going to see what we’re made of.”
And maybe test a new hypothesis or two.
By Mike Finger, via San Antonio Express-News