By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-05-25 12:05:57
2026年5月24日，周日，在圣安东尼奥弗罗斯特银行中心进行的西部决赛第四场比赛中，圣安东尼奥马刺队前锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)（1号）和圣安东尼奥马刺队后卫斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)（5号）庆祝文班亚马在第二节结束时投中压哨三分。
俄克拉荷马城——周日，在第三节还剩2分32秒时，裁判暂停了马刺与俄克拉荷马雷霆之间的第四场较量，以便清理“犯罪现场”。
弗罗斯特银行中心球馆变成了一个字面意义上的“血斗场”——地板的一端有血迹，像杰克逊·波洛克的抽象画一样泼洒在凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson) 的球衣背后，甚至连其中一个篮板上也（不知怎的）沾上了血。
“那（该死的）血迹到处都是，”马刺前锋卡特·布莱恩特 (Carter Bryant) 说道。
在经历了一周宛如“酒吧肉搏”般惨烈的西部决赛洗礼后，马刺后卫卡斯尔对于系列赛最终演变成流血冲突并不感到意外。
他不需要CSI（犯罪现场调查）实验室的检测，就能看出周日这场比赛中谁伤得最重。
“我觉得今晚流的都是他们队的血，”卡斯尔说。
确实，马刺队通过一场惨烈且见血的103-82大胜，痛击了卫冕冠军，将系列赛大比分扳成2-2平，并将战局重新带回了红河以北。
在文班亚马砍下33分撑起球队进攻大旗的同时，马刺队展现了一场防守教科书般的表演，他们不仅击败了雷霆，更是将对手彻底窒息。
“你绝对不想带着1-3落后的大比分去客场，”马刺后卫德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 说，“我们知道必须做出回应。而这就是我们的回应方式。”
随着至关重要的第五场对决将于周二在Paycom中心球馆打响，马刺面临的挑战将是把这样的表现再复制两次。
周日的比赛已经给出了清晰的蓝图。
在雷霆队的一众角色球员在第二场和第三场比赛中集体爆发后，马刺队调整了他们的防守策略。
他们选择在很大程度上单防两届常规赛MVP谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)，而卡斯尔承担了大部分的防守任务。这让其他防守球员能够坚守各自位置，防范雷霆的射手，从而限制了对手在外线的空位出手。
结果是：吉尔杰斯-亚历山大15投仅6中，低效地砍下可以接受的19分，而雷霆全队也被限制在自2021年以来的单场最低得分。
马刺队凭借强硬的身体对抗和不惜肉搏的拼劲做到了这一点，将每一次球权争夺都变成了火星撞地球般的碰撞。
“当你打了12场季后赛，不可能每一场都是杰作，”雷霆主帅马克·戴格诺特 (Mark Daigneault) 说，“尽管你极度渴望胜利，但总有一些夜晚，因为各种原因，你就是找不到状态。”
地板上的血迹来自雷霆内线切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren)，他在第三节末段试图封盖一次投篮时，手指被篮板划破。
霍姆格伦的伤口流血不止，迅速将弗罗斯特银行中心变成了万圣节般的“惊悚”现场，需要大批场馆工作人员合力清理。
赛后，吉尔杰斯-亚历山大之所以选择用充满暴力色彩的词汇来描述球队的遭遇，原因显而易见。
“他们一开场就直接一拳打在了我们脸上，”在垃圾时间里坐在替补席上看完整个第四季度的吉尔杰斯-亚历山大说道，“这已经是他们连续两场比赛率先展现出侵略性了。上一场我们还能及时纠错，而（周日）这一场，我们没能做到。”
在马刺队第三场失利后的近48小时里，主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 及其教练组齐聚一堂，试图解决他所说的“进退两难（the rock and the hard place）”的困境。
马刺究竟是想继续把过多的防守注意力放在吉尔杰斯-亚历山大身上，并冒着他的帮手们投进空位投篮的风险？还是想让一名防守球员孤悬孤岛去单防吉尔杰斯-亚历山大，并冒着这位联盟得分榜次席的超级球星彻底爆发的风险？
“你想防住这一点，那一点就会伤害你；接着你又想防住那一点，”约翰逊说，“你可能会陷入顾此失彼、原地打转的窘境。”
马刺后卫德文·瓦塞尔谈到斯蒂芬·卡斯尔：“他是联盟中最好的外线防守者，他也用这个标准来要求自己。他始终全身心投入。他的身体对抗极其强悍。他懂得如何滑动脚步，下手极快，整场比赛就像个甩不掉的牛皮糖。” pic.twitter.com/R0dnkSrIcw
— 马刺国度 (@ Spurs_Nation) 2026年5月25日
在第四场比赛中，马刺队找到了两全其美的方法，既防住了重点，又化解了困境。
在吉尔杰斯-亚历山大被卡斯尔死死缠住的情况下，雷霆的角色球员也未能发挥作用。
贾里德·麦凯恩 (Jared McCain)、杰林·威廉姆斯 (Jaylin Williams) 和亚历克斯·卡鲁索 (Alex Caruso)——这三位在第三场比赛中替补出场合砍57分击败马刺的雷霆“三剑客”，在周日总共20投仅8中，合力只拿到19分。
由于杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams) 和阿杰伊·米切尔 (Ajay Mitchell) 因伤缺阵，雷霆缺少了两位关键的持球组织者，在马刺队窒息般的防守压力下，他们遭遇了本赛季仅有的第二场失误达到20次的比赛。
“我们拥有出色的个人防守者，”文班亚马说。他在第四场比赛中送出了3次盖帽，但这根本无法完全体现他在防守端极具毁灭性的威慑力。“当我们把个人防守融入到团队防守中时，就能将对手的得分限制在很低的水平。”
周日马刺队的防守究竟有多么令人窒息？
他们本场比赛每百回合的进攻效率仅为101.6分。作为对比，常规赛期间全联盟进攻最差的奥兰多魔术队 (Orlando Magic)，其赛季平均进攻效率也有101.9。
然而，马刺队依然在这场西部决赛中赢了整整21分。
“我们真的非常注重细节，比第三场好得多，”卡斯尔说，“通过观看录像，我们发现之前给了他们太多直线突破的机会，轮转防守也没有达到平时的训练要求。我们只是努力纠正了这些细节，而这也收到了成效。”
随着西部决赛的控制权悬而未决，马刺队希望这些调整在第五场比赛中能再次奏效。
周日真正的意外，并不是弗罗斯特银行中心的地板上洒下了鲜血，而是马刺和雷霆竟然直到系列赛第四场才见血。
“老实说，我本以为会更早见血，”卡斯尔说，“这轮系列赛一直就是这种对抗强度。”
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：When it comes to Spurs-Thunder, bloodshed was inevitable
When it comes to Spurs-Thunder, bloodshed was inevitable
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) and San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) celebrate Wembanyama’s three point shot at the buzzer to end the second quarter of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Sunday, May 24, 2026.
OKLAHOMA CITY – With 2:32 remaining in the third quarter Sunday, officials paused Game 4 between the Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder to clean up a crime scene.
The Frost Bank Center had become a literal bloodbath — blood at one end of the court, blood Jackson Pollacked across the back of Keldon Johnson’s jersey, blood (somehow) on one of the backboards.
“That (expletive) was everywhere,” Spurs forward Carter Bryant said.
Having spent a week inside the barroom knife fight masquerading as the Western Conference finals, Spurs guard Stephon Castle was not surprised the series had finally resulted in bloodshed.
He didn’t need a CSI lab test to tell him who got the worst of it Sunday.
“I think that was their team’s blood tonight,” Castle said.
Indeed, the Spurs bludgeoned their way back into the conference finals with a brutal and bloody 103-82 beatdown of the defending champions that returned the series north of the Red River at a 2-2 stalemate.
With Victor Wembanyama supplying the bulk of the offense with 33 points, the Spurs put on a defensive showcase that didn’t defeat the Thunder so much as strangle the living daylights out of them.
“You definitely don’t want to go down 3-1, going to their house,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “We knew we had to respond. And that’s how you respond.”
With a crucial Game 5 looming Tuesday at the Paycom Center, the trick for the Spurs will be to it two more times.
The blueprint was evident Sunday.
After a bevy of Oklahoma City role players went ballistic in Games 2 and 3, the Spurs tweaked their defensive approach.
They opted to defend two-time league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander more or less one-on-one, with Castle most often drawing the assignment. That kept defenders home against the Thunder shooters, limiting open looks from the perimeter.
The outcome: A manageable 19 points for Gilgeous-Alexander on an inefficient 6 of 15 shooting night, while the Thunder were held to their lowest point total since 2021.
The Spurs did so with muscle and physicality and complete disregard for life and limb, transforming every possession into its own car crash.
“When you play 12 playoff games, they’re not all going to be masterpieces,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “As much as you want to win, there’s nights where you just don’t have it for whatever reason.”
The blood on the floor belonged to Oklahoma City big man Chet Holmgren, who sliced a finger on the backboard while trying to block a shot attempt late in the third quarter.
Holmgren’s laceration rapidly turned the Frost Bank Center into a Halloween scene that required an army of arena workers to mop up.
After the game, it was no secret why Gilgeous-Alexander chose to describe what had happened to his team in terms of violence.
“They just punched us in our face early,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who watched the entire fourth quarter of the blowout from the bench. “It’s two games in a row they’ve come out the aggressor. The last game we were able to course correct. (Sunday), we just didn’t do so.”
For nearly 48 hours after the Spurs’ Game 3 defeat, coach Mitch Johnson and his staff convened to solve the problem of what he called “the rock and the hard place.”
Did the Spurs want to continue to devote outsized defensive attention to Gilgeous-Alexander and risk his sidekicks knocking down open shots? Or did they want to leave a defender on an uncomfortable island with Gilgeous-Alexander and risk the NBA’s second-leading scorer going nuclear?
“You want to take this away and then that hurts you, and then you want to take that away,” Johnson said. “You can get caught chasing your tail.”
Spurs guard Devin Vassell, on Stephon Castle: “Best perimeter defender in the league, and he holds himself to that standard. He buys in all the time. He’s ultra physical. He knows how to slide his feet. Has quick hands, and is just a pest the whole game." pic.twitter.com/R0dnkSrIcw
— Spurs Nation (@ Spurs_Nation) May 25, 2026
In Game 4, the Spurs found a way to cover the rock while stuffing the hard place.
With Gilgeous-Alexander effectively bear-hugged by Castle, Oklahoma City’s role players could not get going, either.
Jared McCain, Jaylin Williams and Alex Caruso — the Thunder triumvirate that slayed the Spurs with a combined 57 points off the bench in Game 3 — finished 8 of 20 on Sunday for a total of 19 points.
Down a pair of key ballhandlers in the injured Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, and under relentless pressure from the Spurs’ defense, the Thunder endured only their second 20-turnover game of the season.
“We’ve got good individual defenders,” said Wembanyama, whose three blocks belie how devastating his defensive presence was in Game 4. “When we connect the individual to the team defense, it holds teams to low scoring numbers.”
Just how asphyxiating was the Spurs’ defense Sunday?
They posted an offensive rating of 101.6 points per 100 possessions. For comparison, the NBA’s worst offensive team during the regular season, the Orlando Magic, had a rating of 101.9.
The Spurs won a conference finals game by 21 points anyway.
“We really paid attention to detail, a lot better than Game 3,” Castle said. “Watching the film, we gave them a lot of straight-line drives, just not rotating how we practiced. We just tried to sharpen those things up and it worked for us.”
With control of the conference finals in the balance, the Spurs will hope it works again in Game 5.
The real surprise Sunday was not that blood was spilled on the Frost Bank Center floor. It’s that it took four games between the Spurs and Thunder to make it happen.
“I really expected it sooner, honestly,” Castle said. “That’s the kind of series it’s been.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News