By Ian O’Connor | The Athletic, 2026-06-04 11:00:36
《The Athletic》正在为您图文直播尼克斯对阵马刺的2026年NBA总决赛第二场。
圣安东尼奥——甚至连沃尔特·弗雷泽 (Walt Frazier) 都以为杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson) 已经彻底交代了、没戏了，要永远退出总决赛第一场了。
是的，就是那个弗雷泽。他曾亲眼目睹纽约尼克斯队队长威利斯·里德 (Willis Reed) 拖着一条伤腿，一瘸一拐地走出麦迪逊广场花园第七场的球员通道，并以此为灵感源泉，狂砍36分和19次助攻痛击洛杉矶湖人队，夺得了1970年的NBA总冠军。
是的，就是这个男人，他以为现任尼克斯队长在职业生涯首场总决赛甚至还没打满一整节的时候，就要提前打卡下班了。
“他当时投篮手感冰凉，走路一瘸一拐，然后回了更衣室。老兄，我当时觉得他没戏了，”弗雷泽告诉《The Athletic》。“我想着，‘他回不来了。’结果突然之间，他缓过劲来了。
“这就是为什么他是现役的‘关键先生’。这也是为什么这支球队能走到今天这一步。”
这就是为什么尼克斯队能在周三晚上抹平第三节14分的落后分差，并以105-95击败圣安东尼奥马刺队，迎来了季后赛12连胜。这追平了NBA历史上第二长的季后赛连胜纪录，而与之并列的正是1999年的马刺队——那是尼克斯队上一次闯入总决赛，当时击败他们的正是马刺。
81岁的弗雷泽身着他那标志性华丽考究的西装，这位70年和73年尼克斯传奇夺冠阵容中的不朽控卫，站在弗罗斯特银行中心通道深处，对球队现任的29岁控卫赞叹不已。首节后半段，队友兰德里·沙梅特 (Landry Shamet) 将马刺队的哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 撞向了布伦森的右膝，导致后者一瘸一拐地退场。当布伦森步履蹒跚地走向更衣室时，身旁尼克斯工作人员脸上的担忧神情，正如弗雷泽话语中所流露的一样。
布伦森重返赛场，但在第二节中段，这位尼克斯超级巨星在一次投篮命中后重重摔倒，结果左脚踝又被马刺队的卢克·科内特 (Luke Kornet) 踩了一下。布伦森屁股着地坐在底线外，沮丧地朝裁判斯科特·福斯特 (Scott Foster) 挥手。很快，这位平时极少对裁判大吼大叫的队长（其克制程度堪比当年另一位纽约队长德里克·基特 (Derek Jeter) 对裁判的态度），被看到愤怒地对福斯特吼道：“那他妈是个犯规！”
当晚的大部分时间里布伦森打得都异常挣扎，尽管他在开场就飙中一记三分帮助球队首开纪录。他一度在运动战中18投仅5中。这几乎让人觉得，他正背负着这支球队53年无冠的沉重历史包袱，以及长达27年的总决赛漫长等待。
同时，在每一次杀入禁区时，他都能感受到维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 那遮天蔽日般的巨大阴影。
但随后，仿佛收到了信号一般，布伦森开始在场上无处不在。他毫不畏惧在暗中伺机待发的文班，频频冲击篮筐，而现场反客为主的尼克斯球迷大军则再次在客场复制了麦迪逊广场花园的狂热氛围。在最后几分钟，布伦森在尼克斯投篮不中后拼抢下球权，并迅速在底角接球，飙中一记三分，帮助球队反超比分。
在比赛还剩37.8秒时，他送出了致命一击。他用一套令人难以置信的华丽脚步晃过德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell)，随后抛投命中，帮助尼克斯队领先6分。比赛结束时，布伦森径直走向裁判福斯特，开始为第二场比赛提前做裁判的工作。
“他拥有威利斯·里德的坚韧，”弗雷泽说，“而且他继承了我的冷静。”
除了这些，还能再多说什么呢？
事实上，另一位有着尼克斯背景的传奇后卫，也对那场愈发荒谬的争论发表了看法——即在篮球这项巨人的运动中，小个子球员（比如布伦森）究竟能否成为夺冠球队的头号超级巨星。
在现代NBA时代，曾带领球队夺冠的小个子建队基石寥寥无几，底特律活塞队的两届总冠军得主伊赛亚·托马斯 (Isiah Thomas) 以及金州勇士队的四届总冠军得主斯蒂芬·库里 (Steph Curry)（其中两次是在没有凯文·杜兰特 (Kevin Durant) 的情况下夺冠），或许就是这份名单的起点和终点。而曾在尼克斯队那段不景气的岁月中担任过总裁和主教练的托马斯，坚信布伦森也将加入这一行列。
“杰伦绝对足够优秀，足以带领球队赢得一切，”托马斯在第一场比赛前说道。“作为小个子球员，我们往往会被忽视，哪怕我们总是能击败那些大个子。在人们的观念中，夺冠似乎对身高和体重有着硬性要求。杰伦在高中时赢过（伊利诺伊州）州冠军，在大学时拿过两次全国冠军，现在他打进了NBA总决赛。他天生就是个赢家。
“人们会说，‘好吧，杰伦不如这个，也不如那个。’但当你把他和那些家伙放在球场上真刀真枪地对抗时，他的球队总能赢，而那些家伙的球队只能输。我们到底他妈的在质疑杰伦什么？人们说他没有身高或体型优势，但他击败了所有拥有这些优势的人。”
身高6英尺2英寸的布伦森全场砍下30分，其中13分来自第四节，他的表现盖过了身高7英尺4英寸的文班亚马。后者给这位控卫带来的挑战，让人不禁回想起托马斯当年在内线必须面对的那些超级大个子。
卡里姆·阿卜杜勒-贾巴尔 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)、罗伯特·帕里什 (Robert Parish)、拉尔夫·桑普森 (Ralph Sampson)、哈基姆·奥拉朱旺 (Hakeem Olajuwon)、凯文·麦克海尔 (Kevin McHale)。
“但在我的一生中，从未有人必须面对像杰伦所面对的文班那样的对手，”托马斯说。“文班是一个如此独特的奇才，以至于整个篮球界都在试图找出他的弱点。面对那些盖帽高手，你必须提前出手，在他们赶到之前出手，而且出手弧度要更高。
“杰伦在面对文班时能做到这一点，因为他可以在任何地方发起进攻并得分。他拥有出色的脚步，能打内线、中距离，也能在三分线外发炮。杰伦无所不能。他是一个全能战士，能够限制并化解那些比他高大的对手的优势。”
这正是布伦森在周三晚上所做到的，让文班亚马在第一场比赛结束后走向更衣室时只能无奈摇头。
同时也让弗雷泽惊叹摇头。
“杰伦一直在咬牙坚持，你能看出来他很痛苦，”他说。“向教练致敬，他坚持让杰伦留在场上，并坚信杰伦能找回状态。
“我只是觉得，现在对他们来说这是一个命运之子般的赛季。一切都在水到渠成。”
杰伦·布伦森就是纽约尼克斯队已经忘记如何输球的原因。他每晚都在证明，一个小个子后卫同样可以成为夺冠球队的建队基石。
一个拥有威利斯·里德之坚韧与沃尔特·弗雷泽之冷静的小个子后卫。
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：Knicks captain Jalen Brunson proves again he can be lead superstar on a championship team
Knicks captain Jalen Brunson proves again he can be lead superstar on a championship team
The Athletic has live coverage of Knicks vs. Spurs in Game 2 of the 2026 NBA Finals.
SAN ANTONIO — Even Walt Frazier thought Jalen Brunson was done, cooked, out of Game 1 of the NBA Finals for keeps.
Yes, the same Frazier who once watched the New York Knicks’ captain, Willis Reed, hobble out the Game 7 tunnel in Madison Square Garden, with one leg all torn up, and used that source of inspiration to torch the Los Angeles Lakers with 36 points and 19 assists to win the 1970 NBA championship.
Yes, that same guy thought the current Knicks captain was calling it a night before playing even one full quarter of his first career finals game.
“He had his poor shooting and he was hobbling around, went to the locker room. I counted him out, man,” Frazier told The Athletic. “I thought, ‘He’s not coming back.’ And all of a sudden he got a second wind.
“That’s why he’s the reigning Mr. Clutch. And that’s why this team is where they are.”
That’s why the Knicks erased a 14-point third-quarter deficit Wednesday night and beat the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 for their 12th consecutive postseason victory, tied for the second-longest streak in NBA history with the 1999 Spurs, who beat the Knicks the last time they reached the finals.
Dressed in all his sartorial splendor, the 81-year-old Frazier, immortal point guard of the immortal Knicks title teams of ’70 and ’73, stood in the bowels of Frost Bank Center in awe of his team’s incumbent 29-year-old point guard. Brunson limped out of the game late in the first quarter after teammate Landry Shamet blasted San Antonio’s Harrison Barnes into his right knee. The Knicks staffers around Brunson on his hobble to the locker room looked about as concerned as Frazier sounded.
Brunson returned only to have the Spurs’ Luke Kornet step on his left ankle in the middle of the second quarter, after the Knicks’ superstar crash-landed on a made basket. From his rump on the baseline, Brunson waved in frustration at referee Scott Foster. Soon enough, a captain who screams at refs about as often as another New York captain, Derek Jeter, used to scream at umps, was seen angrily shouting at Foster, “That’s a f—ing foul.”
Most of the night was a struggle for Brunson, even after he opened the scoring by knocking down a 3. At one point, he was 5-for-18 from the floor. It almost seemed like he was feeling the burden of the franchise’s 53-year title drought and 27-year wait between trips to the championship round.
And feeling the endlessly long shadow of Victor Wembanyama on his excursions into the lane.
But then, on cue, Brunson was making plays all over the court, driving to the basket without any fear of the lurking Wemby while the invading army of Knicks fans once again cloned the Garden on the road. In the closing minutes, Brunson kept alive a New York miss and immediately got the ball back in the corner for a 3 that gave his team the lead.
He delivered the dagger with 37.8 seconds to go, using an unreal series of dance moves on Devin Vassell followed by a floater that put the Knicks up by six. When it was all over, Brunson went right over to the ref, Foster, and started working him for Game 2.
“He’s got the tenacity of Willis Reed,” said Frazier, “and he’s got my cool.”
What more was there to say than that?
Actually, another legendary guard with a Knicks past had something to say about the increasingly absurd debate over whether a small player — in this case Brunson — can be the lead superstar on a championship team in a big man’s sport.
Isiah Thomas, two-time champ with the Detroit Pistons, and Steph Curry, four-time champ with the Warriors (and two-time champ without Kevin Durant), may represent the beginning and the end of the list of small franchise players who pulled it off in the modern NBA age. And Thomas, a former Knicks president and coach in much less prosperous times, firmly believes Brunson will join that list.
“Jalen is absolutely good enough to win it all,” Thomas said before Game 1. “As small players, we tend to get overlooked even though we’re always beating bigger players. In people’s minds there seems to be some height and weight requirement to win a championship. Jalen won (an Illinois) state title in high school. He won two national titles in college, and now he’s in the NBA Finals. He’s just a winner.
“People say, ‘Well, Jalen’s not as good as this one or that one,’ but when you put him between the lines with those guys, his teams win and those guys’ teams lose. What the hell are we doubting Jalen for? People say he doesn’t have the height or body type, but he beats all the people who do have those things.”
The 6-foot-2 Brunson finished with 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and outplayed the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama, who presented a challenge to the point guard that brought back memories of the big men Thomas had to confront in the paint in his day.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Robert Parish. Ralph Sampson. Hakeem Olajuwon. Kevin McHale.
“But nobody in my lifetime ever had to face a person like Jalen has to face in Wemby,” Thomas said. “Wemby is such a unique talent that the entire basketball community is trying to figure out what his weaknesses are. With big shot blockers, you have to shoot it earlier, shoot it before they get there, and shoot it higher.
“Jalen can do that against Wemby because he can play and score from anywhere. He’s got the footwork and he can play inside, mid-range, from the 3-point line. Jalen has got it all. He’s the total package, and he can neutralize people who are bigger than him.”
That’s exactly what Brunson did Wednesday night, leaving Wembanyama shaking his head after Game 1 as he made his way to his locker room.
And leaving Frazier shaking his head, too.
“Jalen kept struggling through it, and you could see he was hurting,” he said. “Kudos to the coach for keeping him out there and thinking Jalen can still get it back.
“I just think it’s a season of destiny for them now. Everything is falling into place.”
Jalen Brunson is the reason the New York Knicks have forgotten how to lose. He proves every night that a small guard can be a franchise player on a championship team.
A small guard with Willis Reed’s tenacity and Walt Frazier’s cool.
By Ian O’Connor, via The Athletic