By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2026-06-06 09:45:10
圣安东尼奥——在周五的第二场决战最后几分钟，杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson) 再次接管了比赛。但这一次，维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 终于挡在了他的面前，并迫使他投篮不中。文班亚马收下篮板，准备带球推进，试图通过最后一投来扳平总决赛的大比分。
这正是他梦寐以求的时刻——一个完成载入史册的逆转胜利的机会。
马刺队在这些关键时刻有一套固定的战术公式：将球交到其中一位后卫手中，让文班亚马跑动起来，并在行进中把球传给他。因此，当他开始运球推进时，他环顾全场，用余光瞥见了斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle)，随即将传球送给了这位他所信任的后卫。
然而，就在球脱手的瞬间，绝望降临了。
卡斯尔当时看向了另一个方向。而布伦森没有。
在纽约尼克斯队几乎要在马刺主场用外线投射将他们击溃之后，马刺队在最后一分钟顽强地完成了惊人的逆转并取得领先。但这一切现在都悬于一线，文班亚马只能无奈地看着，期盼着卡斯尔能奇迹般地及时回头，看到飞向他的皮球。
“那球是我传丢了。我搞砸了，”在尼克斯以105-104击败马刺、取得总决赛2-0领先之后，文班亚马说道，“我们作为一个整体打得不够好。我们本需要拿下那场比赛。那场比赛本该属于我们。”
皮球砸在卡斯尔的背上弹开，直接落入布伦森手中，梦想就此破灭。
文班亚马的眼中流露出无法掩饰的心碎。他意识到，自己在那一瞬间的犹豫不决导致了毁灭性的后果。
这正是马刺队在这轮系列赛中所面临的问题。尼克斯队是一支充满信念的球队，拥有鲜明的风格，并且在最关键的时刻有着清晰的战术执行步骤。而马刺队则像是一个装满顶尖天赋的轮盘，能够以各种各样的手段赢得比赛。但尼克斯队知道，无论发生什么，他们都能用同一种方式赢下比赛。
然而，直到那一刻之前，马刺队都还牢牢掌握着主动权。他们及时找到了解决办法，再次凭借达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 在关键时刻的强硬表现咬住比分，本该在平局的情况下拥有最后一击的机会。
随后，文班传球失误。他本想做出正确的选择，却用错了方式。
“这是最让人沮丧的事情，”文班亚马说，“在付出了这么多努力之后，却把胜利拱手相让。”
但失误并未就此停止。文班亚马让错误雪上加霜，将一次失误变成了致命的匕首。他冲向尼克斯队的后卫，在布伦森做出虚晃动作时失去了重心飞身起跳，彻底交出了比赛的控制权。
这不仅仅是一次传球失误，更是传球后失去控制的表现。这是许多年轻球员的通病：在犯错之后，试图通过用力过猛的防守来弥补。但错误是无法被抹去的，只能被减轻。
“我现在脑子里依然很乱。这就是问题的关键，”文班亚马说，“我需要更加沉着冷静，对比赛有更多的掌控。”
当布伦森第二罚不中时，马刺队又获得了一次机会。最后，他们打出了一个执行力极佳的战术，由福克斯与文班亚马进行挡拆。这位身高7英尺4英寸的马刺球星迎着飞身封盖的米切尔·罗宾逊 (Mitchell Robinson) 投出了一个节奏极佳的空档球，但皮球砸在后沿弹飞，也让尼克斯队获得了创造历史的机会。
这种打铁只能归咎于运气。也是那种你可以坦然接受的投篮结果。
“我觉得在那个时刻，你必须把球投进。在这样的时刻，结果显然比过程更重要，”文班亚马在21投11中砍下29分后说道，“我们只需要得分。我只需要得分。这就是全部的意义所在。”
结果与过程的权衡是NBA赛季最后阶段的终极难题。马刺队本赛季本质上是一支注重过程的球队，因为他们通常需要通过一连串的配合才能将球交到他们最出色的球员手中。他们所面对的防守一直致力于在进攻端切断文班亚马与球的联系，而尼克斯队在防守端也一直在让他疲于奔命。
福克斯和文班亚马在这场比赛中打破了这一阻隔，这种突破本该让人看到他们夺冠的希望。但在一次失误和一次打铁之后，马刺队晋级的希望在历史上已经变得微乎其微。
不过，他们确实拥有终极的平衡器。文班亚马拥有将他们拉出泥潭的天赋。但他有这种斗志吗？马刺队有吗？
“我认为我们需要让自己处于更好的竞争状态，”文班亚马说，“我们正在给自己挖坑。这也是我们目前为止的主旋律。”
在第二场比赛结束后，文班亚马承认，自己本应该在分区决赛的兴奋劲过后调整得更好，但他们现在无法改变过去。他在前一天曾表示，他们就像是被宠坏的孩子，在与那些深知能够打进总决赛是多么幸运的球队交手。
“我们在职业生涯的第二或第三个赛季就打进了总决赛，而我们甚至还没有意识到这一点，”据《队报》(L’Equipe) 报道，文班亚马用法语说道，“我们没有意识到自己有多么幸运。”
面对卡尔-安东尼·唐斯 (Karl-Anthony Towns)——他曾公开表示自己是带着已故母亲的在天之灵在打球——文班亚马在这轮系列赛的大部分时间里都处于被动状态。唐斯的表现超出了预期，而文班亚马则仅仅是在努力达到外界对他寄予的极高期望。唐斯为了这一刻奋斗了十多年，而他的场上表现也证明了这一点。
相比之下，文班亚马在第一场比赛后显得异常冷静，并坚信自己能做出调整并扭转局面。当时他并没有表现出明显的紧迫感。直到他们在关键时刻临近时落后14分，这种紧迫感才真正显现出来。随后，他展现出了自己最理想的状态，马刺队也因此重整旗鼓。
现在，马刺队需要将文班亚马在失误后展现出的那种拼命劲头转化为动力。他们必须拿出赛季生死存亡的态度去战斗。事实也确实如此。在注定将是这项运动有史以来最狂热的客场环境之一中，要想在0-2落后的情况下实现逆转，他们必须打出职业生涯中最好的表现。
尼克斯队已经证明了他们不仅仅是一支优秀的投篮球队。他们是一支伟大的球队，一支具有历史意义的球队。他们是长期以来登上总决赛舞台的最令人钦佩、最赏心悦目的球队之一。
这正是马刺队需要去克服的。这不仅仅关乎战术和执行力，更关乎一种精神。他们的意志力、他们的胆识，都在经受着考验。现在是最痛苦的阶段。他们不可能在0-3落后的情况下翻盘。年轻人的那套“我们会找到办法的”说辞已经行不通了。
希望曾真切存在，直到它砸在卡斯尔的背上弹开。
“我会为此感到后悔吗？是的，当然，”文班亚马说，“我会以此为动力，并在下一场比赛中激励我和我们全队吗？那是绝对的。”
每个人都常说，在学会赢之前必须先学会输。我们现在正亲眼见证这一过程。马刺队仍有可能夺冠。但这可能需要一个曾经创造过奇迹的人再次创造奇迹。
本文的早期版本曾错误地表述了杰伦·布伦森在比赛结束前罚丢的是哪一次罚球。他罚丢的是第二次罚球，而非第一次。
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 overextended trying to make up for Game 2 blunder. It sunk the Spurs
Victor Wembanyama overextended trying to make up for Game 2 blunder. It sunk the Spurs
SAN ANTONIO — Jalen Brunson was taking over the closing minutes of Friday’s Game 2, yet again. But this time, Victor Wembanyama finally got in his way and forced a miss. He corralled the rebound and looked to push the ball up the floor to get a final shot to try to even the NBA Finals.
This was the moment he had always dreamed of — the chance at a comeback win for the ages.
The Spurs have a formula for these moments. Get the ball in the hands of one of their guards, put Wembanyama in action, and get him the ball on the move. So as he started dribbling up the court, he scanned the floor, saw Stephon Castle in the corner of his eye, and sent the outlet pass to his trusted guard.
But as the ball left his hands, devastation set in.
Castle was looking the other way. Brunson wasn’t.
The Spurs had pulled off a striking comeback to take the lead in the final minute, working their way back after the New York Knicks were shooting them out of their own building. But all of it hung in the balance, as Wembanyama watched helplessly, hoping Castle would somehow turn around just in time to see the ball coming his way.
“I threw that one away. I messed up,” Wembanyama said after the Knicks beat the Spurs 105-104 to take a 2-0 NBA Finals lead. “We didn’t play great as a team. We needed to win that game. This game was ours.”
The ball plopped off Castle’s back, right into Brunson’s hands, and the dream was all but dead.
In Wembanyama’s eyes was an unmistakable look of heartbreak. The realization that his lack of certainty in the moment led to ruin.
That’s been the Spurs’ problem in this series. The Knicks are a team with conviction, an unmistakable identity with a clear process in the biggest moments. The Spurs are a roulette wheel of exceptional talent, capable of winning a game in so many ways. But the Knicks know they can win a game in the same way, no matter what.
And yet, the Spurs were in the driver’s seat until that moment. They figured things out just in time, got another De’Aaron Fox crunchtime banger, and should’ve had the last shot with the game tied.
Then Wemby threw it away, trying to do the right thing but doing it the wrong way.
“That’s the most frustrating thing,” Wembanyama said. “To throw it away after putting in all this work.”
But the error didn’t stop there. Wembanyama compounded it, going from a blunder to a dagger. He ran up to the Knicks guard, left his feet when Brunson did a pump fake and handed over the keys to the game.
It wasn’t just the pass. It was the lack of control after the pass. It was the tendency of many young players to make a mistake and then overextend to make up for it. But mistakes can’t be erased, only mitigated.
“I’m still very blurry. That’s the whole problem,” Wembanyama said. “I need to have more poise, more control over the game.”
The Spurs were gifted another opportunity when Brunson bricked his second free throw. In the end, they ran a well-executed pick-and-roll between Fox and Wembanyama. The 7-foot-4 Spurs star got off a clean shot in rhythm over an outstretched Mitchell Robinson, clanking it off the back rim and giving the Knicks a shot at history.
The kind of clank that is left up to chance. The kind you can live with.
“I feel like in this moment you need to shoot to score. In moments like this, it’s like results matter more than process,” Wembanyama said after scoring 29 points on 11-for-21 shooting. “We just need to score. I just need to score. That’s the whole point.”
Results vs. process is the ultimate conundrum in the NBA season’s final stage. The Spurs have been an inherently process-based team this season, as they usually need a chain of events to finish a possession in their best player’s hands. The defenses they have faced have focused on disconnecting Wembanyama from the ball on offense and the Knicks have kept him chasing it on defense.
Fox and Wembanyama bridged that divide in this game, a breakthrough that should’ve inspired hope that they could win the championship. But after a blunder and a brick, the Spurs’ chances are historically slim.
They do have the ultimate equalizer, though. Wembanyama has the talent to pull them out of this hole. But does he have the fight? Do the Spurs?
“I think we need to put ourselves in better conditions,” Wembanyama said. “We’re digging ourselves a hole. That’s been the theme so far.”
After Game 2, Wembanyama admitted he could have been better at recovering from the high of the conference finals, but they can’t change the past now. He said the day before that they were like spoiled kids, playing against teams who understand how lucky they are to be in the finals.
“We’re in the finals in just our second or third season, and we don’t even realize it,” Wembanyama said in French, per L’Equipe. “We don’t appreciate how lucky we are.”
Going against Karl-Anthony Towns, who has been vocal about playing while feeling the spirit of his late mother, Wembanyama has been on his back foot for much of this series. Towns has stepped up in a way that has exceeded expectations, but Wembanyama is just trying to live up to the lofty ones he has commanded. Towns has fought for over a decade to get to this moment and he’s playing like it.
His counterpart, Wembanyama, was surprisingly cool after Game 1 and felt confident he would find his adjustments and turn things around. There was no apparent sense of urgency. There wasn’t really one until they were down by 14 approaching crunch time. Then he looked like the idealized version of himself, and therefore the Spurs did as well.
Now the Spurs need to channel that desperation Wembanyama showed after his turnover. They have to play like their season is on the line. It is. Coming back from down 2-0 in what will assuredly be one of the wildest environments the sport has ever seen, it will take the best play of their lives.
The Knicks have proved to be more than just a great shooting team. They are a great team. A historic one. They are one of the most admirable and enjoyable teams to grace the finals in a long time.
That’s what the Spurs are overcoming. Not just game plans and execution. But a spirit. Their mental fortitude, their gut, it’s all being tested. Now is the painful part. They’re not coming back from down 3-0. The youthful “we’ll figure it out” thing ain’t gonna cut it.
The hope was there until it caromed off Castle’s back.
“Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course,” Wembanyama said. “Am I going to use that to fuel me and to fuel us next game? Absolutely.”
Everyone always says they have to lose before they can win. We’re seeing that play out right now. The Spurs could still win it. But it might take a miracle from a man who’s made them happen before.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated which free throw Jalen Brunson missed at the end of the game. He missed the second free throw, not the first.
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic