By Ian O’Connor | The Athletic, 2026-06-09 09:30:55
纽约——迈克·布朗 (Mike Brown) 已经保持了很长时间的完美执教表现，所以，是的，这个人理应得到一些宽容和理解。在总决赛白热化的对抗中，一次“失误”并不能否定他作为纽约尼克斯队首年主帅所做出的无可挑剔的工作。
但是，天哪，在遭遇自4月23日（感觉像是九个月前的事了）以来的首场失利后，他的说辞简直像是直接从某个“输不起的人”的教科书里抄出来的。布朗基本上将球队历史性的季后赛13连胜终结归咎于下半场的判罚，这对于在麦迪逊广场花园执法第三场比赛的裁判来说显然是不公平的。
更严重的是，这对于圣安东尼奥马刺队也不公平。马刺队在周一晚上以 115-111 击败了尼克斯队，他们不应该听到布朗抱怨场上公正的裁判坑了主队。
这三位裁判的名字是马克·戴维斯 (Marc Davis)、约翰·戈布尔 (John Goble) 和柯蒂斯·布莱尔 (Curtis Blair)，尽管布朗在赛后新闻发布会上并没有点出他们的名字。然而，在讲台前坐下后不久，布朗就明确暗示，相比于在这段惊人连胜期间他所信赖的一些主力球员——米卡尔·布里奇斯 (Mikal Bridges)（5投仅得2分）、兰德里·沙梅特 (Landry Shamet)（8投1中仅得3分）以及卡尔-安东尼·唐斯 (Karl-Anthony Towns)（完全被维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 压制）——裁判更应该为搞砸这场27年来在花园球馆举办的首场总决赛负责。
“首先，”布朗开场说道，“我想确保把一件事说清楚。米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 教练和马刺队赢下了今晚的比赛。他们来到这里，夺走了胜利。”
实际上，这是一个很好的开场。布朗一直以来都对他的球员、教练组和球迷群体强调担当与诚实。
尽管有唐纳德·特朗普 (Donald Trump) 作为首位现场观看总决赛的现任美国总统莅临，场边环绕的名流也多到足以塞满十几个奥斯卡颁奖礼后的派对，但马刺队还是长驱直入，从尼克斯队手中夺走了这场胜利。他们确实就是这么做的。
“但我必须说，”布朗继续说道，“我从没想过自己会在NBA总决赛中，看到一支球队在下半场获得24次罚球，而另一支球队只有8次。”
这位输球的主帅顺着这个思路，突然开始走偏了。他没有提到尼克斯队在上半场获得了14次罚球，而圣安东尼奥只有8次；他也没有提到双方最终的罚球总数对比（32比22）并没有呈现出特别离谱的差距，尤其是考虑到马刺队是一支拿下了62胜、并且拥有一位被称为“外星人”的7英尺4英寸超级巨星的球队。
布朗提到他平时很少抱怨裁判或公平性，这确实是事实。他称赞圣安东尼奥是一支伟大的球队，但随后他又把矛头对准了那些表现不那么伟大的裁判。
“如果我们在第四场比赛中，下半场他们得到24次罚球而我们只有8次，这将会极大地、极大地降低我们的胜算，”布朗说，“也许我们确实犯规了。也许我们犯规了，但他们也犯规了。（唐斯）在拼抢到地板球篮板后出手，他的手臂被狠狠打到了，他们把球碰出了底线，却没有任何犯规判罚。”
“当时是有机会吹罚犯规的，至少应该试着让双方的罚球数看起来平衡一些。”
这种做法有失风度。在过去六个多星期里，布朗和尼克斯队因其讨人喜欢的特质而理所当然地广受赞誉，因为他们在连续13场比赛中摧枯拉朽般地击败了对手，创造了联盟历史上第二长的季后赛连胜纪录。
这些话你已经听过无数次了：尼克斯队总是能找到空位队友；他们打的是团队防守；他们用正确的方式打球；他们为彼此而战。
杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson)（关键先生）在场上掌控全局，而布朗则在板凳席上运筹帷幄。人们很容易去支持这位尼克斯队的主教练。他从不自命不凡，而且在做出一些大胆的战术调整时，他也从未害怕过失败的后果，正是这些调整让尼克斯队有机会去争夺自1973年以来的首个总冠军。
无论是在地方还是在全国范围内，他都理应获得这些赞誉。再一次，真真切切地，他的球队似乎已经忘记了如何输球，这真是一件令人瞩目的壮举。
这段温情蜜月在周一晚上戛然而止，但这也没关系。没有什么是永恒的。马刺队可不是亚特兰大老鹰队、费城76人队或克利夫兰骑士队。他们绝不会让尼克斯队用一场横扫来羞辱他们，我们大多数人本该明白这一点的。
但他的球队忘记如何输球，似乎带来了一个副作用，那就是布朗也忘记了如何面对失败。他前脚刚承认尼克斯队在第三场比赛中犯了不少无谓的失误，后脚在谈到罚球数据时就说：“我从没想过会在一场NBA总决赛中看到这样的数据，但我今晚见识到了。”
“当你面对一支伟大的球队时，这（罚球差距）是很难克服的。”
布朗谈到了文班和斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 的出色发挥，也谈到了马刺队极具侵略性的身体对抗以及冲击内线的能力。他声称自己不想否定马刺队的努力，但他却一直在做着否定他们努力的事。
“如果抛开那些在我看来本应该更均衡一些的犯规和罚球，”布朗说，“我再强调一次，也许我们确实犯规了那么多次。但他们也犯规了，而这最终并没有体现在技术统计表上。”
在通往总决赛的道路上，布朗在执教对决中先后击败了老鹰队的奎因·斯奈德 (Quin Snyder)、76人队的尼克·纳斯 (Nick Nurse) 以及骑士队的肯尼·阿特金森 (Kenny Atkinson)。尤其是阿特金森，在与布朗的交手中显得有些手忙脚乱，他甚至把东部决赛形容为自己那支惨败的骑士队在数据分析上的一场胜利。
第三场比赛结束后，布朗的话听起来倒也没那么疯狂，而且他的言论中显然带着一些帕特·莱利 (Pat Riley) 和菲尔·杰克逊 (Phil Jackson) 式的老练心理战，试图在第四场比赛中争取到更多的哨声。然而，有些时候你可以向裁判施压，而有些时候你则需要放手。
在14场比赛中首次遭遇季后赛失利，这绝对是一个该放手的时候。归根结底，球员们很清楚，尼克斯队之所以输球，是因为他们进攻停滞且处理球过于草率。
“我认为我们失误太多了，而且……我们确实犯规了很多次，”布伦森说。
“那（判罚）并没有让我们输掉比赛，”唐斯在谈到裁判时说道。
“他们更有身体对抗性，”沙梅特在谈到马刺队时说，“他们先发制人。必须要赞赏他们，他们打出了一场极其精彩的比赛。他们今晚把我们揍扁了……每晚都会有一些有争议的判罚，这并不是什么新鲜事。我们不能坐在这里找借口。”
球员们没有找借口，但教练却找了。迈克·布朗丢掉了他的完美比赛，他需要重整旗鼓，迎接第四场比赛。
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：Mike Brown picked the wrong time to make excuses for the Knicks
Mike Brown picked the wrong time to make excuses for the Knicks
NEW YORK — Mike Brown has been pitching a perfect game for a very long time, so yes, the man deserves some space and grace. One wild pitch in the heat of the NBA Finals will not define his impeccable work as the first-year head coach of the New York Knicks.
But man, what he was selling after his first defeat since April 23 — which feels like nine months ago — was ripped straight from somebody’s sore loser manual. Brown essentially blamed the second-half officiating for the end of his team’s historic 13-game postseason winning streak, and that was hardly fair to the refs working Game 3 in Madison Square Garden.
Of greater consequence, it wasn’t fair to the San Antonio Spurs, who beat the Knicks 115-111 on Monday night and did not deserve to hear from Brown that the impartial arbiters of the court screwed the home team.
Their names are Marc Davis, John Goble and Curtis Blair, though Brown didn’t identify them in his postgame news conference. However, moments after he sat down at the podium, Brown made it clear the refs were more responsible for blowing the first finals game in the Garden in 27 years than some of his old reliables during this staggering run — Mikal Bridges (two points on five shots), Landry Shamet (three points on 1-of-8 shooting) and Karl-Anthony Towns (completely outplayed by Victor Wembanyama).
“First of all,” Brown opened, “I want to make sure I get something clear. Coach Mitch Johnson and the Spurs, they won the game tonight. They came and took the game.”
It was a good start, actually. Brown has been all about accountability and honesty with his players, his staff and his fanbase.
With Donald Trump in the house as the first sitting U.S. president to attend a finals game, and with enough celebrities ringing the court to fill a dozen after-hours parties at the Oscars, the Spurs came right in and took this game from the Knicks. That is exactly what they did.
“But I will say this,” Brown continued, “I never thought I would be in the NBA Finals and see a team get 24 free-throw attempts in the second half to another team’s eight.”
The losing coach was suddenly heading for a cliff with this line of thought. He didn’t mention that the Knicks were awarded 14 foul shots to San Antonio’s eight in the first half, or that the final tally of free throws (32 to 22) didn’t represent a particularly egregious disparity, especially when the Spurs are a 62-win team with a 7-foot-4 megastar known as “The Alien.”
Brown mentioned that he doesn’t complain much about officials or fairness, and that is a fact. He called San Antonio a great team, but then he went right back in on the not-so-great refs.
“It’s going to lower our odds big time, big time, if we play Game 4, and in the second half, they get 24 free-throw attempts to our eight,” Brown said. “Maybe we were fouling. Maybe we were fouling. But they fouled, too. (Towns) gets the ball off of a loose-ball rebound and he shoots it, and he gets whacked across the arm, and they hit the ball and it goes out of bounds on the baseline. There’s no foul.
“There were opportunities for fouls to be called, to at least try to even the free throws out.”
This was bad form. For more than six weeks, Brown and the Knicks have been rightfully celebrated for their likability as they obliterated their opponents over those 13 consecutive games, the second-longest postseason streak in league history.
You heard it a million times. The Knicks hit the open man. They play team defense. They play the game the right way. They play for one another.
Jalen Brunson (Captain Clutch) was running the show on the floor, while Brown was running it from the bench. It’s easy to root for the Knicks’ coach. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, and he’s never feared the consequences of failure when making some of the bold moves that have put the Knicks in position to win their first championship since 1973.
He deserved his flowers, locally and nationally. Once more, with feeling, his basketball team had forgotten how to lose, and it was a remarkable thing to see.
The love fest ended Monday night abruptly, and that’s OK. Nothing lasts forever. The Spurs aren’t the Atlanta Hawks or the Philadelphia 76ers or the Cleveland Cavaliers. They weren’t about to let the Knicks embarrass them in a sweep, and most of us should have known better.
But an apparent byproduct of his team forgetting how to lose was Brown forgetting how to handle defeat. In one breath, he admitted that the Knicks made their share of unforced errors in Game 3, and in the next, he said of the free-throw numbers, “I never thought I’d see that in an NBA Finals game, and I saw it tonight.
“That’s tough to overcome when you’re playing against a great team.”
Brown talked about how wonderfully Wemby and Stephon Castle played, and about the Spurs’ extreme physicality and their ability to get into the paint. He didn’t want to take anything away from the Spurs, yet he kept taking things away from them.
“If you take away the fouls and the free throws that should have, in my opinion, been a little bit more even,” Brown said, “and again, maybe we fouled that many times. But they fouled too, and it’s not shown at the end of the day on this box score.”
Brown had outcoached Atlanta’s Quin Snyder, Philly’s Nick Nurse and Cleveland’s Kenny Atkinson on the way to this championship round. Atkinson, in particular, sounded flustered by the matchup with Brown, all but calling the Eastern Conference finals an analytical triumph for his blown-out Cavs.
Brown didn’t sound that crazy after Game 3, and certainly there was some of that old Pat Riley-Phil Jackson gamesmanship in his remarks, trying to get an extra whistle in Game 4. And yet, there are times to work the refs and times to let it go.
Losing in the playoffs for the first time in 14 games is definitely a time to let it go. In the end, the players knew the Knicks lost because they were stagnant on offense and reckless with the ball.
“I think we turned the ball over a lot and … we were definitely fouling a lot,” Brunson said.
“That (didn’t) cost us the game,” Towns said of the officiating.
“They were more physical,” Shamet said of the Spurs. “They hit first. Give them credit, they played a hell of a game. They kicked our ass tonight. … There are questionable calls every night. That’s not something new. We can’t sit here and make excuses.”
The players didn’t make excuses, but the coach did. Mike Brown lost his perfect game and needs to dust himself off for Game 4.
By Ian O’Connor, via The Athletic