By Sam Amick | The Athletic, 2026-05-29 10:40:54
《The Athletic》将对2026年西部决赛中马刺对阵雷霆的第七战进行实时报道。
圣安东尼奥——这从来都不是因为维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在躲避记者。
周二晚上，在经历了一场糟糕的第五战表现后，这位圣安东尼奥马刺队的大个子选择避开镜头和麦克风，留下他的队友们去面对媒体，讨论他们是如何在西部决赛中错失主场领先俄克拉荷马雷霆队的大好机会的。当时，他所遭受的铺天盖地的批评，主要是针对他选择保持沉默所传递出的信号。这就像是一次消失引发了另一次消失。如果在两天后生死攸关的比赛中，当聚光灯再次聚焦时，文班亚马没能挺身而出，那么他将不得不面对一个极其残酷的休赛期舆论环境。然而，在两场比赛之间的这两天里，围绕这位22岁年轻人的舆论风向急转直下，但他却用一场非凡的表现做出了回应，尽显他的胆识与魄力。
就在两天前，文班亚马的表现还如此低迷，以至于外界纷纷猜测他是否在季后赛的这个关键节点被疲劳击垮。但在那场118-91的大胜中，他在出场的28分钟里砍下28分（21投10中，三分球9投4中）、10个篮板、3次盖帽、2次抢断和2次助攻，正负值高达+13。危机解除，赛季得以延续。这位NBA未来的门面、年轻的天才，有机会在周六的第七战中将卫冕冠军提前送回家，从而震惊整个篮球界。他用自己的赛场表现，说出了所有需要说的话。
正如年轻人常说的那样，他是挺起胸膛做到的。而且说实话，他的教练和队友们在赛后对他的评价，远比这位超级巨星本人的发言更具启发性。
“这纯粹是渴望挺身而出迎接挑战的决心，”当被问及文班亚马的回应时，马刺队主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 解释道。“他并不总是完美的，有时我们也必须帮助他。显然，他只有22岁，但他对于身处这个位置、站在风口浪尖的热情与渴望，以及他承担责任、角色和重担的决心，让我不知道还能用什么语言来赞美。
“无论结果如何，无论场面看起来怎样，他都能坦然面对。我认为这也许是他今年最大的成长——不再等待一切都完美，也不再纠结于是否时刻知道该怎么做，而是主动出击，保持正确的态度，并接受最终的结果。”
文班亚马身边的人表示，他选择不说话纯粹是因为沮丧。他在第五战中对自己感到失望，因此决定避开媒体采访，以便将全部精力集中在接下来的艰巨任务上。
冒着被指责对文班亚马过于宽容的风险——是的，如今针对媒体和NBA的这种指责不绝于耳——但不容忽视的是，他的成长进度已经远超预期。他距离达到租车法定年龄还有三年，但现在却拥有了毕其功于一役、晋级职业生涯首次总决赛的机会。他现在的年龄与2007年的勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James) 相同，当时詹姆斯率领的克利夫兰骑士队被圣安东尼奥马刺队横扫。
迈克尔·乔丹 (Michael Jordan) 直到28岁才首次打进总决赛，当时他率领的芝加哥公牛队以4-1击败了洛杉矶湖人队。卡里姆·阿卜杜勒-贾巴尔 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) 在24岁时（当时还叫卢·阿尔辛多 (Lew Alcindor)）率领密尔沃基雄鹿队横扫巴尔的摩子弹队夺冠。科比·布莱恩特 (Kobe Bryant) 在21岁时随湖人队在六场大战中击败印第安纳步行者队夺冠。威尔特·张伯伦 (Wilt Chamberlain) 在27岁时，他效力的旧金山勇士队在五场比赛中输给了波士顿凯尔特人队。比尔·拉塞尔 (Bill Russell) 在23岁的新秀赛季，便带领波士顿凯尔特人队在抢七大战中击败圣路易斯老鹰队。杰里·韦斯特 (Jerry West) 在24岁时，他所在的湖人队在抢七中输给了波士顿。而雷霆队蝉联MVP的谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)——也是文班亚马想要将其拉下马并取而代之成为联盟第一人的对手——在上赛季以26岁的年纪首次打进总决赛并夺得首冠。
这就是文班亚马正在追赶的伟大行列。
在周四晚上击败雷霆队的比赛中，文班亚马砍下28分。(罗纳德·科尔特斯 (Ronald Cortes) / Getty Images)
无论马刺队最终能否夺冠，在职业生涯的头几年就带领球队杀入总决赛，本身就是一种强有力的宣言。文班亚马曾一再表示，他不在乎马刺队缺乏经验，而这是他职业生涯的首次季后赛这一事实，也不应该影响他能带领球队走多远。但这种想法未免有些不切实际。
篮球历史告诉我们，成功之前几乎总是伴随着伤痛的洗礼。然而，在第六战中，文班亚马和马刺队在近11次交手中第7次击败了这支雷霆队，他们完全有理由相信自己能在系列赛的终局之战中再次做到这一点。而在第五战后对队友直言不讳、却对记者选择沉默的文班亚马，正以一种让人不禁猜测是否会有冷门发生的方式在前行。
“他今天打得更有侵略性了，仅此而已，”马刺队前锋朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 说道。“老实说，对我们而言，我们认为他是世界上最好的球员。我认为他就是世界上最好的球员。我觉得他应该清楚这一点，他应该有这种自信。
“他一上场，投的每一个球都是他自己想投的，你懂我的意思吗？即使是三分球——开局阶段的那几个三分——他出手时也显得信心十足。他冲击篮下、积极快攻、拼抢篮板。他主动寻求身体对抗，打得极具侵略性。我认为他展现了自己的统治力。”
在某种程度上，这轮系列赛的焦点并不完全在球星身上。这更像是一场板凳深度的较量，阵容深度决定了比赛走向，而胜负取决于哪支球队的替补阵容更具统治力。但没有哪个球员能像文班亚马那样，以一己之力左右整轮系列赛的走向。
即便是SGA，他在周四晚上的28分钟里正负值低至-28，18投仅6中，三分球5投0中。在面对马刺队充满活力的后卫群时，他在这轮系列赛中场均仅得到24.3分（投篮命中率37.9%，三分命中率26.1%）、8.8次助攻、2.7个篮板、1.7次抢断和3.2次失误。
也不是切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren)，这位雷霆队中锋根本无法应对文班亚马带来的威胁；他在第六战中得到10分、11个篮板，正负值为-9。尽管系列赛前外界对此大肆炒作，但所谓的“神兽对决”实际上并未上演。
这轮系列赛的结局很可能取决于文班。他会是第一战1、第二战2和第六战6中的那个他，完美兑现作为联盟最新“独角兽”所承载的所有极高期望吗？又或者，他会更像我们在第三战3、第四战4和第五战5中所看到的那个年轻人——在经历前两场狂揽41个篮板后，那三场比赛一共只抢下了18个篮板？
这些问题的答案，远比他在久违地重返新闻发布会讲台时所说的任何话都重要得多。
“我自己吗？”当被问及为什么在第六战的表现比第五战好得多时，文班亚马回答道，“信任比赛计划。与教练组和队友讨论战术。”
现场再次陷入了尴尬的沉默。然而，正如老将前锋哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 所透露的那样，文班亚马在幕后做出了许多极具价值的发声，并以一种在同龄人中罕见的方式成长为一名领袖。
“我认为，能够在这些情况下发声，能够充满自信地交流，在那些时刻不仅以身作则，还能用声音去领导球队，这非常关键，对吧？”巴恩斯说道，“在职业生涯第三年，在这个舞台上，承担着他目前在球队中的这种重任，你很难见到有多少球员能像他那样，如此从容地掌控局面。”
现在，随着雷霆队即将在过去六次季后赛系列赛中第三次迎来抢七大战，整个篮球界都在拭目以待，看文班亚马是否能阻挡这支潜在王朝球队的脚步。
“我们会利用接下来的40个小时左右的时间做好充分准备，”约翰逊说道，“在西部决赛中，深入敌后去挑战卫冕冠军，面对一支多次经历过这种场面且深谙取胜之道的球队，我预计会迎来他们最猛烈的反击。我会保持高度警惕，全力以赴迎接挑战。”
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：Victor Wembanyama didn't speak after Game 5. His Game 6 performance spoke volumes
Victor Wembanyama didn’t speak after Game 5. His Game 6 performance spoke volumes
The Athletic has live coverage of Spurs vs. Thunder in Game 7 of the 2026 Western Conference finals.
SAN ANTONIO — It was never about Victor Wembanyama ducking reporters.
When the San Antonio Spurs big man chose to walk away from the cameras and microphones after his terrible Game 5 showing on Tuesday night, with his teammates left to discuss how they’d blown a chance to take the lead against the Oklahoma City Thunder at home in these Western Conference finals, the widespread criticism that came his way was about the message he sent by choosing silence. It was one vanishing act begetting another, with Wembanyama setting the stage for a brutal offseason to come if he hadn’t found a way to deliver when the spotlight returned with the season on the line two days later. And then, with the conversation surrounding the 22-year-old taking such a negative turn in the two days between games, he turned in a special performance that spoke volumes about his moxie.
Wembanyama, who was so underwhelming two nights before that there was widespread speculation about fatigue getting the best of him at this juncture of the postseason, finished with 28 points (10-of-21 shooting; 4-of-9 from three), 10 rebounds, three blocks, two steals, two assists and a plus-13 mark in his 28 minutes of the 118-91 win. Crisis averted. Season saved. The future face of the NBA, this young phenom who has a chance to shock the basketball world by sending the defending champs home early in Game 7 on Saturday, said everything he needed to say with his play.
With his chest, as the kids say. And truth be told, it’s what his coaches and teammates said about him afterward that was more enlightening than anything that came from the superstar subject himself.
“Just a desire to meet the moment,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson explained when asked about Wembanyama’s response. “He’s not always perfect, and we’ve got to help him at times. Obviously, he’s 22 years old, but his passion and desire for being right where he is and at the forefront of it all, and to take the responsibility and the role and the burden of what he does, I don’t know what else to say.
“He is comfortable with that, regardless of the outcome and what that may look like. And I think that’s maybe his biggest growth this year (is) not waiting for it to be perfect, (or) necessarily to know what to do all the time, but (to) attack the moment and have the right approach and live with the results.”
Those closest to him say he didn’t talk out of sheer frustration. He let himself down in Game 5, and decided to skirt the media obligations as a way of focusing on the monumental task that was coming next.
At the risk of being accused of being too soft on Wembanyama — and yes, those accusations are flying at the media and the NBA these days — it should not be overlooked that he’s so ahead of schedule. He’s still three years away from being able to rent a car, yet now has this all-or-nothing chance to reach his first finals at the same age as LeBron James back in 2007, when his Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by San Antonio.
Michael Jordan didn’t get there until he was 28, when his Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 24 when, as Lew Alcindor, his Milwaukee Bucks swept the Baltimore Bullets. Kobe Bryant was 21 when his Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers in six games. Wilt Chamberlain was 27 when his San Francisco Warriors lost to the Boston Celtics in five games. Bill Russell was 23 when, as a rookie, he led Boston to a seven-game win against the St. Louis Hawks. Jerry West was 24 when his Lakers lost to Boston in seven games. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder’s back-to-back MVP who Wembanyama wants to dethrone as the game’s best player, made his first finals appearance and won his first title last season at the age of 26.
This is the company Wembanyama is trying to keep.
Wembanyama scored 28 points in Thursday night’s win over the Thunder. (Ronald Cortes / Getty Images)
Regardless of whether the Spurs go on to win it all, there’s a certain statement that comes with carrying a team to the finals stage in the first few years of one’s career. Wembanyama has said time and again that he doesn’t care about San Antonio’s lack of experience, how the fact that this is his first postseason should have no bearing on how far he’s able to take his group. But that’s a delusional outlook.
The history of this game tells us that the scars almost always come before the success. Yet here Wembanyama and the Spurs were in Game 6, beating these Thunder for the seventh time in 11 tries, with every reason to believe that they can do it again in the series finale. And Wembanyama, who was outspoken with his teammates after Game 5 before choosing to be muted with reporters, is moving in the sort of way that makes you wonder if there’s an upset on the way.
“He was just more assertive today; that’s all it was,” Spurs forward Julian Champagnie said. “Honestly, for us, we think he’s the best player in the world. I think he’s the best player in the world. I think he should know that. He should feel that.
“He came out and the shots that he took were the ones that he wanted to take, you know what I’m saying? Even if it was a 3 — a couple early 3s — he shot them like he wanted them. Worked his way towards the basket, ran the floor, rebounded. He was hitting first, being physical. And I think he just showed his dominance.”
To some degree, this series has not been about the stars. It has been the battle of the benches, with depth reigning supreme and the victor determined by whichever team’s reserves were more dominant. But there is no other player who can swing a series quite like Wembanyama.
Not SGA, who was a minus-28 in his 28 minutes Thursday night and who hit just 6 of 18 shots while missing all five of his 3s. He’s now averaging 24.3 points (on 37.9 percent shooting overall; 26.1 percent from 3), 8.8 assists, 2.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 3.2 turnovers in this series while dealing with the Spurs’ dynamic guards.
Not Chet Holmgren, the Thunder center who simply isn’t equipped to deal with what Wembanyama brings; he had 10 points, 11 rebounds and a minus-nine mark in Game 6. There is, despite all of the pre-series hype on this front, no battle of the bigs happening here.
The outcome of this will likely boil down to Wemby. Will he be the player he was in Games 1, 2, and 6, when he met all those lofty expectations that come with being the league’s latest unicorn? Or, perhaps, might he play more like the young man we saw in Games 3, 4 and 5, when he grabbed a combined 18 rebounds after snatching 41 in the first two?
The answer to those questions will matter a whole lot more than whatever he might have said at the long-awaited return to the news-conference podium.
“Myself?” Wembanyama said in response to a question of why he played so much better in Game 6 than he had in Game 5. “Trusting the game plan. Discussing tactics with the staff and teammates.”
An awkward silence ensued — again. Yet as veteran forward Harrison Barnes shared, Wembanyama is making all sorts of valuable noise behind the scenes while developing as a leader in ways that are typically not seen.
“I think (it’s being) able to speak in these situations, to be able to talk with confidence, to be able to not only lead by example, but to lead with your voice in those moments, right?” Barnes said. “You don’t see a lot of guys in their third year, at this stage, with this level of responsibility that he has on our team, be able to step into that moment with the comfort that he has.”
And now, with the Thunder about to face a Game 7 for the third time in their past six playoff series, the basketball world will wait to see if Wembanyama can derail a dynasty.
“We’ll be prepared to take the next 40 hours or whatever it may be to try to get ready,” Johnson said. “Go into a hostile environment against the defending champs in the Western Conference finals, (against) a team that’s done it multiple times and knows exactly what it takes. I would expect to get their best punch. I’m gonna go over there eyes wide open and expecting nothing less.”
By Sam Amick, via The Athletic