By Jeph Duarte | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2026-05-25 11:00:00
“经验并不重要。”
这是德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 在面对“你和马刺队认为你们本赛季对自己有了哪些新的认识？”这一问题时的回答。
你不能再用“超出预期”来形容他们，不能再用“进度超前”来评价他们，也不能再认为他们还需要几年的时间才能成气候。
马刺队的态度早就非常明确。他们全员都已全心投入，而现在，球迷们也开始深信不疑。
在常规赛豪取62胜、斩获年度最佳防守球员奖和最佳第六人奖，并在经历与波特兰开拓者队的五场大战以及与明尼苏达森林狼队的六场对决后，马刺队在西部决赛中与俄克拉荷马雷霆队战成了平手。
在第四场大胜之后，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 提到，在放松下来之前，他还要再赢下“六场胜利”。他并不满足于仅仅拿下这轮系列赛，他的目光已经锁定了总冠军。
在迄今为止的四场比赛中，马刺队在限制谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 的进攻效率上取得了成效。这绝非易事，因为SGA刚刚蝉联了他的第二座MVP奖杯，并斩获了职业生涯首个年度关键球员奖。
在第一场比赛中，马刺队对这位雷霆队的明星后卫制定了针对性的防守策略，不仅限制了他的投篮，也切断了他的传球路线，迫使其产生失误，并最终通过双加时赢得了胜利。
在第二和第三场比赛中，雷霆队做出了调整，在SGA遭遇包夹时寻找空位队友。外线的高命中率帮助卫冕冠军取得了大比分领先。
昨晚，银黑军团调整了防守策略，对SGA实施了更紧密的包夹并切断了传球路线，这让雷霆队的进攻彻底窒息，三分线外仅投出了惨不忍睹的18%命中率。
马刺队还在减少对吉尔杰斯-亚历山大的犯规，这同样是一项艰巨的任务。他依然能站上罚球线，但无法再像以前那样，通过倒地动作来持续获得哨子。
本赛季早些时候，文班亚马曾表示他对纯粹篮球很感兴趣。这位年轻的超级巨星将这个词带入了篮球讨论的词汇库中。相比之下，俄克拉荷马雷霆队则一直被指责在“骗犯规”和“要哨子”。
这轮系列赛汇聚了联盟中最年轻、最具天赋的两支球队，两队都拥有长期的建队规划。而且，他们打着两种截然不同的篮球风格。
雷霆队的打法在上赛季为他们赢得了一座总冠军奖杯。但马刺队在贯彻自己的战术、不受争议判罚干扰以及凭借自身天赋奠定比赛基调方面，也找到了成功的秘诀。
因此，或许德文的看法几乎是完全正确的。
经验确实重要。而马刺队不断证明，他们吸收经验并转化出解决方案的速度，是许多人前所未见的。
悬念依然存在——这是否足以让他们跨越俄克拉荷马雷霆队这座大山？
周二晚上，在俄克拉荷马城，我们将离这个问题的答案更近一步。
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：Open Thread: Ethical basketball evens up the Western Conference Finals
Open Thread: Ethical basketball evens up the Western Conference Finals
“Experience does not matter.”
This was Devin Vassell’s response to the question, “What do you and the Spurs think you’ve learned about yourself this season?”
You can no longer say they have exceeded expectations. You can no longer say they are ahead of schedule. You can no longer say that they are a couple of years away.
The Spurs have been clear for quite some time. They have all bought in. And now fans are buying in.
After 62 regular season wins, a Defensive Player of the Year honor, a Sixth Man of the Year award, a five-game series against the Portland Trail Blazers, and a six-game series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Spurs are tied against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.
After the Game 4 throttling, Victor Wembanyama referred to winning “six more wins” before he relaxes. He’s not comfortable with just taking this series, he’s focused on winning it all.
In the four games thus far, the Spurs have found success when limiting the productivity of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Not an easy task as SGA just picked up his second consecutive MVP trophy as well as his first ever Clutch Player of the Year honors.
In Game 1, the Spurs executed a defensive strategy on the Thunder’s star guard that stifled his shooting as well as his passing, producing turnovers which led to the double-overtime victory.
In Games 2 and 3, the Thunder adjusted by exposing the open man when SGA was double teamed. High percentage shooting from beyond the arc gave the defending champs a one game lead.
Last night, the Silver & Black altered its defense to double SGA closer in, cutting off the passing lanes, which suffocated OKC’s offense and leaving an abysmal 18% from three-point range.
The Spurs are also limiting fouls to Gilgeous-Alexander, another difficult task. He’s still making his way to the line, but is unable to sustain the level of calls he earns when paired with taking a tumble.
Earlier this season, Victor Wembanyama stated he was interested in ethical basketball. The young superstar elevated the term into the lexicon of basketball conversations. By comparison, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been accused of foul baiting and playing for the call.
The series features two of the youngest and most talented teams in the league, both with longevity in its plan. And they play two entirely different styles of basketball.
What the Thunder are doing won them a title last season. But the Spurs have found success in implementing their game, tuning out questionable calls, and allowing their talent to set the tone.
So perhaps Devin’s comment is almost fully correct.
Experience does matter. And the Spurs continue to prove that they internalize their experiences and process solutions at a rate that many have not seen before.
The question remains — will this be enough to overcome the obstacle of the Oklahoma City Thunder?
We get one step closer to answering that question on Tuesday night in Oklahoma City.
By Jeph Duarte, via Pounding The Rock