By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-06-01 15:10:35
在布鲁克林的肯辛顿街区长大，朱利安·尚帕尼 (Julian Champagnie) 曾与他的双胞胎兄弟贾斯汀·尚帕尼 (Justin Champagnie) 以及朋友们，在祖母家附近的卡罗尔公园球场上度过了无数个日夜。
正是在那里，这位马刺前锋第一次领悟到了极强好胜心的价值。这一特质让他受益匪浅——在2023赛季中期被马刺从豁免名单中认领后，他一路逆袭，成为了这支西部新科冠军阵中令人意想不到的首发主力。
“在那个地方长大，规则就是弱肉强食，不是你死就是我活，”谈到在布鲁克林街头柏油球场上打野外合练（接波）的经历时，他说道。
“在我的家乡就是这样。上了场，你就得自己想办法。如果你输了，你就得下场，而且今天剩下的时间可能都没法再上场了，这取决于你在哪个公园打球。这是一种磨炼。你必须埋头苦干，保持强硬。你必须想方设法赢球，必须咬牙坚持。”
正是这种“咬牙坚持”的韧性，帮助尚帕尼在NBA生涯初期被费城裁掉后挺了过来。也正是凭借这种精神，在周六马刺以111-103击败俄克拉荷马城的西部决赛抢七大战中，他轰下20分并飙中6记三分球，立下赫赫战功。
如今，这位自封为“布鲁克林小子”的球员期待在总决赛中展现更多这样的斗志，届时他将面对家乡球队纽约尼克斯，而这轮系列赛将至少有两场比赛在历史悠久的麦迪逊广场花园球馆进行。
现年24岁的尚帕尼出生于斯塔滕岛，但在布鲁克林长大，高中时效力于毕晓普洛林纪念高中雄狮队。在皇后区的圣约翰大学打大学联赛时，他曾在麦迪逊广场花园打过多场比赛，包括2020、2021和2022年的大东区（Big East）锦标赛。其中在2022年3月9日以92-73击败德保罗大学的比赛中，他砍下26分并投中7记三分。
“那是每个孩子的梦想，”谈到在这座篮球圣殿打总决赛时，尚帕尼说道。“我记得我第一次在麦迪逊广场花园打球的情景。当时我在圣约翰大学，我被那里承载的无数伟大传奇所震撼，也深知这对于一个来自这座城市的普通孩子意味着什么。在总决赛和尼克斯交手，这对我个人而言意义非凡。”
维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和尚帕尼的其他队友都很清楚，他在面对纽约的球队时有多么兴奋。在12月31日于弗罗斯特银行中心举行的一场NBA杯决赛重演中，他砍下职业生涯新高的36分，并创下单场11记三分球的队史纪录，帮助马刺以134-132逆转击败尼克斯。
“朱利安太不可思议了。他配得上得到的一切，”文班亚马说道。“他是那种会让你愿意在场上为他拼尽全力的家伙，因为他付出了太多努力，而且他的故事太励志了。”
他的家人和朋友，包括他以前在毕晓普洛林高中的篮球教练，都迫不及待地想在麦迪逊广场花园为他加油了。
“看抢七大战时我非常紧张，”过去17年一直执教雄狮队的埃德温·冈萨雷斯 (Edwin Gonzalez) 周一表示。“当他投篮不进时，我对着电视直着急。我大喊着‘投篮弧度再高一点，下一个就能进’。我真的太兴奋了。好多校友都给我打来电话。我为他感到无比自豪。他非常稳定，如果球传到他手里，他绝不害怕出手关键球。”
“他虽然不像文班亚马或斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 那样耀眼，但我为他感到无比自豪。”
尚帕尼并不是唯一一个与“大苹果城”纽约有渊源的马刺球员。新秀后卫迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 在新泽西长大，经常和他的父亲——五届NBA总冠军得主罗恩·哈珀 (Ron Harper) 一起去麦迪逊广场花园。
“我去过很多次尼克斯的季后赛，”小哈珀说。“我住的地方离球馆只有25到30分钟的车程，所以我知道肯定会有很多人找我要票，但到时候我会直接关机。”
“但这简直是梦想成真，是一种恩赐。这是我一直渴望打总决赛的地方。如果去年有人跟我说这些，我一定会觉得他疯了。”
尚帕尼为能代表纽约市仅次于皇后区的第二大行政区（布鲁克林）而感到自豪。正因如此，当他职业生涯初期的官方简介中写着他是斯塔滕岛人时，他感到非常不爽。
“每个人去谷歌搜索，看到上面写着我出生在斯塔滕岛，就以为我是那里人，”在2024年1月马刺客场对阵篮网之前，他告诉《圣安东尼奥快报》。“我出生的医院确实在斯塔滕岛，但我从未在那里生活过。我不知道该联系谁来修改这个，因为我根本不是斯塔滕岛人。我是纯正的布鲁克林孩子。”
尽管生活在布鲁克林面临着不少挑战，但尚帕尼依然热爱在他口中的“BK”（布鲁克林简称）长大的日子。
“那里并不是最容易生活的地方，但我绝对不是过得最惨的，”他说。“我见识了很多——很多好的一面，也有很多坏的一面。但我很享受。我过得很快乐。”
尚帕尼将自己和贾斯汀能够远离麻烦，归功于他们的父母——兰福德 (Ranford) 和克里斯蒂娜 (Christina)。
2015年，当朱利安和贾斯汀还是高一新生时，兰福德在毕晓普洛林高中创立了男子足球项目，此后他一直担任该校的男足教练。
克里斯蒂娜则在一家天主教私立学校担任了20多年的二年级教师。
“他们已经尽了最大的努力，我们对他们感激不尽，”朱利安说。除了效力于华盛顿奇才队的贾斯汀外，他还有一个名叫杰伦 (Jaylen) 的弟弟。“我们在一个环境艰苦的地方长大，我们不会回避这一点。但我的父母撑起了这个家。他们为我们准备好了一切，让我们远离麻烦，引导我们走在正确的道路上。我们从那里起步，然后一路向前。”
尚帕尼的父母和他们的儿子一样，深深热爱着布鲁克林。
“这里很不一样，”克里斯蒂娜在2024年接受《快报》采访时说。“这里有地铁，有都市感，有孩子们去打球的公园。一切都近在咫尺。我刚去圣安东尼奥看望了朱利安，他们去任何地方都得开车。那里很美，但就是完全不同。在布鲁克林，你想要咖啡馆、宠物店、杂货店、糕点店，所有的一切都触手可及。”
这其中也包括绝佳的篮球氛围。
“他们热爱篮球，”尚帕尼的高中教练冈萨雷斯说。“他们对自己的事业充满激情，对篮球无比执着。你必须想办法超越对手，而要做到这一点，你就必须保持强硬。你必须强硬才能在这里生存并打出名堂。如果你平庸，你是无法做到的。这就是这里的竞争法则。你必须付出努力。尚帕尼一次又一次地做到了，他会早上7点就到学校和他的兄弟一起练投篮，还会在训练结束后问我能不能再多留一个小时。”
“这就是你对他的最深印象，他付出的汗水。这个家庭有一点很特别，他们对自己的事业充满激情，并将这种精神灌输给了孩子们。他们坚信，如果你要做一件事，就必须付出百分之百的努力。”
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：'How 'digging deep' in Brooklyn molded the Spurs' Julian Champagnie
‘How ‘digging deep’ in Brooklyn molded the Spurs’ Julian Champagnie
Growing up in Brooklyn’s Kensington neighborhood, Julian Champagnie spent countless hours with his twin brother Justin and their friends playing in Carroll Park near their grandmother’s home.
It’s where the Spurs forward first learned the value of being ultra-competitive, a trait that has served him so well as an improbable starter for the upstart Western Conference champions after the club claimed him off waivers midway through the 2023 season.
“Being a kid over there, it’s kind of eat or be eaten, kill or be killed,” he said of playing in pick-up games on the borough’s blacktop courts.
“That’s just the way it goes at home. Get on the court, you figure it out. If you lose, you get off and you’re not playing for the rest of the day, depending on what park you’re at. It’s a grind. You got to put your head down. Got to be tough. You got to find a way. You got to dig deep.”
Digging deep is what helped Champagnie survive after getting cut early in his NBA career by Philadelphia. It also helped him bury six 3-pointers on his way to scoring 20 points in the Spurs’ 111-103 win over Oklahoma City on Saturday in Game 7 of the conference finals.
And he’s counting on doing more of it when the self-proclaimed “kid from Brooklyn” faces his hometown New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, which will included at least two games at historic Madison Square Garden.
Champagnie, 24, was born in Staten Island but grew up in Brooklyn and played high school ball for the Bishop Loughlin Memorial Lions. As a college player at St. John’s in Queens, he played in several games at MSG, including the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Big East Tournaments, a run that included scoring 26 points and hitting seven 3s in a 92-73 win over DePaul on March 9, 2022.
“That’s every kid’s dream,” Champagnie said of playing in the Finals at the basketball mecca. “I remember my first time actually playing in the Garden. I was at St. John’s and I was in awe of just how much greatness has gone through there and what that means for a kid from the city. Playing against (the Knicks) for a championship, that’s personal.”
Victor Wembanyama and the rest of Champagnie’s teammates know how much he gets up facing teams from New York after he had a career-high 36 points and set a franchise record with 11 3s to help the Spurs rally to beat the Knicks 134-132 on Dec. 31 at the Frost Bank Center in a rematch of their NBA Cup final.
“Julian’s amazing. He deserves everything he gets,” Wembanyama said. “And he’s the type of guy that makes you want to die for him on the court, because he gives so much effort and he’s got such an amazing story.”
His family and friends, including his former basketball coach at Bishop Loughlin, can’t wait to cheer him on at MSG.
“I was nervous when I was watching Game 7,” Edwin Gonzalez, who has coached the Lions for the past 17 years, said Monday. "When his shots didn’t go in, I cursed at the TV. I was (yelling) put a little more arc on your shots, you’ll make the next one. I am very excited. We have had so many alums calling me. I can’t be more proud of him. He’s very consistent and he’s not afraid to take the big shot if the ball finds him.
“He’s no Victor (Wembanyama) or (Stephon) Castle, but I can’t be more proud of him.”
Champagnie isn’t the only Spurs player with ties to the Big Apple. Rookie guard Dylan Harper grew up in New Jersey and was a frequent visitor to Madison Square Garden with his father, five-time NBA champion Ron Harper.
“I’ve been to so many Knicks playoff games,” the younger Harper said. "I live 25, 30 minutes from the arena, so I know it’s going to be a whole lot of tickets I get asked for, but my phone will be off for that.
“But just a dream come true, it’s a blessing. It’s where I’ve always wanted to play for the Finals. If you would have told me this last year, I would have told you you’re crazy.”
Champagnie is proud to represent NYC’s second largest borough behind Queens. So much so it rankled him that his bios early in his NBA career stated he was a Staten Island native.
“Everybody goes on Google and see it says I was born in Staten Island and they think that’s where I’m from,” he told the San Antonio Express-News in January 2024 before the Spurs played at Brooklyn. “The hospital I was born in was at Staten Island, but I have never lived in Staten Island. I don’t know who to contact to fix that because I am not from Staten Island. I am a Brooklyn baby.”
Although living in the borough had its share of challenges, Champagnie loved growing up in what he calls “BK.”
“It wasn’t the easiest place to live, but I definitely didn’t have it the hardest,” he said. “I got to see a lot — a lot of good and a lot of bad. But I enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun.”
Champagnie credits his parents, Ranford and Christina, for helping him and Justin stay out of trouble.
Ranford coaches boys soccer at Bishop Loughlin after he started the program at the school in 2015 when Julian and Justin were freshmen.
Christina has taught second grade at a Catholic private school for 20-plus years.
“They did the very best they could and we appreciate them to the max,” said Julian, who in addition to Justin, who plays for the Washington Wizards, has a younger brother named Jaylen. “We grew up in a tough place. We are not going to shy away from that. But my parents made it work. They made everything happen for us. They kept us out of trouble, kept us in the right areas. We took it from there and just kind of ran with it.”
Champagnie’s parents share their sons’ love of Brooklyn.
“It’s different here,” Christina told the Express-News in 2024. “It’s the subways, it’s the city, it’s the parks the kids go play ball in. Everything is right there. I just visited Julian in San Antonio and they have to jump in a car to go everywhere. It was beautiful, but it’s just so different. In Brooklyn, you want a coffee shop, you want a pet store, you want a bodega, you want a pastry shop, you got everything lined up for you at your fingertips.”
That includes great hoops.
“They love their basketball,” Gonzalez, Champagnie’s prep coach said. "They are passionate about what they do, adamant about their basketball. You want to outdo the next guy and you have to be tough to do it. You have to be tough to survive here and to make a name for yourself. You are not going to do that if you are mediocre. It is the nature of the beast here. You got to put your work in. (Champagnie) did that time in and time out, from getting here at school at 7 a.m to shoot with his brother to asking me if they could stay late after practice for another hour.
“That’s what you remember about him, the work he put in. One thing about the family, they are passionate about what they do and they instilled it in their kids. They believe if you are going to do it, you might as well do it 100 percent.”
By Tom Orsborn, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News