By Ian O’Connor | The Athletic, 2026-06-10 10:00:58
纽约——周二，当纽约尼克斯队抵达麦迪逊广场花园面对媒体时，肢体语言专家或许能察觉到一些微妙的变化。他们的眼神中似乎少了一丝往日的光芒，脚步也不再那么轻快。
尽管在自1999年以来首次打进的总决赛中依然以2-1领先，尽管他们那刚刚被终结的季后赛13连胜将永远载入史册，但尼克斯还是被无情地提醒了这项运动残酷的一面。
输球的感觉糟透了。过去如此，现在如此，未来也永远如此。
从外人的角度来看，主教练迈克·布朗 (Mike Brown) 似乎没有心情像周日两场比赛之间的休息日那样，在总决赛2-0领先的情况下与胖乔 (Fat Joe) 和本·斯蒂勒 (Ben Stiller) 开玩笑了。周一晚上，他们在麦迪逊广场花园输掉了与圣安东尼奥马刺队的第三场对决，而周二下午则是对这场失利进行冷静反思的时间。那场在花园球馆举行的比赛原本备受瞩目，人们本以为尼克斯会用一场胜利来为这一阶段的征程完美收官。
布朗、球员和球迷们不得不对球队自4月23日以来的首场失利进行“验尸”剖析。老实说，27年前剥夺了尼克斯夺冠游行机会的马刺传奇教头格雷格·波波维奇 (Gregg Popovich)，本可以用录像带帮帮他们——放一段马刺辉煌时期他在总决赛暂停时那些标志性的训话。
“这本来就很难，”波波曾对他的球员们怒吼道，“这可是总决赛。”
在横扫亚特兰大老鹰、费城76人和克利夫兰骑士，并在本轮系列赛客场先下两城之后，尼克斯终于体会到了这有多难。马刺是不同的。当年他们从尼克斯手中夺走的那个冠军，是他们五个总冠军中的第一个。
他们是一套成熟的体系，而不仅仅是一支球队。在“赢球或回家”的重压之下，体系要比单纯的球队更难被击垮。
“我们知道他们不会乖乖躺下，让我们连赢四场，”乔什·哈特 (Josh Hart) 说道，“我们知道这将是一场硬仗。”
不过对尼克斯球迷来说，这里有一个好消息：在周三晚上于花园球馆进行的第四场比赛之前，他们的球队已经赢得了所有人的信任，即便面对质疑，大家也愿意选择相信他们。
尼克斯给三州地区的数百万拥趸提供了充足的理由，让他们相信球队将自1973年以来首次夺冠。在原本有望迎来14连胜的这场比赛中，他们在过去13场比赛中所展现的美妙团队篮球暂时消失了。这支以分享球为建队基石的主队，在全场比赛中仅仅送出了18次助攻。
“太多人看着球，站着不动了，”米卡尔·布里奇斯 (Mikal Bridges) 说道，他形容自己仅得2分的表现非常糟糕，“我们必须保持移动。”
没有任何理由怀疑尼克斯不会尽快重新开始传切配合。这就是他们的本色，也终将回归本色。
马刺的身体对抗打乱了他们的节奏，但尼克斯在以往的意志力考验中已经证明了自己的强韧。针对维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 对杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson) 的那次凶狠放倒，预计2026版的尼克斯在第四场比赛中会展现出更多上世纪90年代尼克斯的铁血球风。就像第一场比赛中兰德里·沙梅特 (Landry Shamet) 在一次凶狠的卡位中撞开哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes) 那样——尽管那次对抗不幸直接撞到了布伦森的右膝。
这位队长在对阵马刺的系列赛中还没有打出一场堪称经典的代表作，尽管他在第四节投进过一些标志性的关键球。布伦森呼吁尼克斯减少失误，并更加关注那些决定胜负的细节。在接受媒体采访时，布伦森两次强调尼克斯需要“继续做我们自己”。
当被问及今年季后赛积累的赢球肌肉记忆在多大程度上能帮助球队从失利中恢复时，布伦森回答道：“这绝对有帮助。而且，能有一个重新调整的机会总是好事。”
没错，这场失利让尼克斯有机会去解决那些可能被连胜掩盖的漏洞。卡尔-安东尼·唐斯 (Karl-Anthony Towns) 表示，他的球队有“50天的录像来展示我们处于最佳状态时的样子。……我们会回到我们的基本功上，回到那些让我们变得伟大、让我们曾经如此出色的东西上。”
直到周一晚上。马刺比尼克斯多了10次助攻，利用失误多拿了14分。赛后，布朗对裁判进行了猛烈抨击，其势头甚至比文班对布伦森的防守还要凶猛。裁判在每场比赛中都会有漏判，但这绝不是尼克斯在漫长的连胜后首次输球的原因，甚至边都沾不上。马刺是堂堂正正地击败了他们。
在狂热的现场观众面前，输掉这场花园球馆历史上最受瞩目的盛事之一，必然让尼克斯深感刺痛。他们没有公开讨论过这一点，但在内心深处，他们肯定极度渴望像横扫76人和骑士那样横扫马刺。如果成功，尼克斯将成为NBA历史上第一支以季后赛15连胜夺冠的球队。目前的纪录保持者——2017年的金州勇士队，在五场击败克利夫兰的系列赛中，其15连胜的纪录也宣告终结。
想象一下吧。如果尼克斯在第三场比赛中发挥出前13场比赛的水平，他们本可以在周三晚上奠定自己作为这项运动有史以来最伟大季后赛统治者的地位。
不过没关系，只要再对马刺取得两场胜利，依然有无数的历史等待他们去创造。
“没有人恐慌或有类似的情绪，”布朗说道，“大家只是感到失望，因为我们没有打出应有的执行力，没有达到我们自己的标准。这并不是要抹杀马刺的功劳，但我们觉得我们可以打得比这好得多。我们期待着回到赛场并证明这一点。”
考虑到布朗的执教方式以及球员们的竞争状态，没有任何理由认为他们会在花园球馆丢掉这轮总决赛的控制权。
尼克斯依然是篮球界最好、最炙手可热的球队。至少，他们在过去七周里取得的13胜1负的战绩，意味着他们配得上所有人的信任，即便偶有起伏也无需动摇。
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：Despite deflating defeat, Knicks have earned New York’s full faith in their title pursuit
Despite deflating defeat, Knicks have earned New York’s full faith in their title pursuit
NEW YORK — A body language expert might have detected something subtle about the New York Knicks as they arrived at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday to meet the media. Perhaps there was not quite the same twinkle in their eyes or pep in their step.
Even with a 2-1 lead in their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, and even with their snapped 13-game postseason winning streak preserved for eternity, the Knicks were reminded of an unforgiving part of their business.
Losing sucks. Always has and always will.
From the outside looking in, coach Mike Brown did not appear to be in the mood to, say, joke around with Fat Joe and Ben Stiller, as he had during Sunday’s break between games, while holding a 2-0 finals lead. This was an afternoon for sober reflection on the Game 3 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, an off-the-hook Garden event that was booked with the idea that the Knicks would, you know, wrap a bow around the proceedings with a W.
Brown, the players and the fans were left to perform an autopsy of the team’s first defeat since April 23. Honestly, Spurs icon Gregg Popovich, the man who denied the Knicks a parade 27 years ago, could have helped them out with a tape of one of his signature championship-round huddle speeches during San Antonio’s glory days.
“It’s supposed to be hard,” Pop barked at his players. “It’s the finals.”
The Knicks found out how hard after laying waste to the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers, and after winning the first two games of this series on the road. The Spurs are different. The title they took from the Knicks back in the day was their first of five.
They are a program, not merely a team, and programs are much harder to dismantle under win-or-else pressure.
“We knew they weren’t just going to lay down and let us win four straight,” Josh Hart said. “We knew this was going to be a battle.”
And here’s the good news for Knicks fans: Their team has earned the benefit of everyone’s doubt entering Wednesday night’s Game 4 at the Garden.
The Knicks have given millions of followers in the tri-state area every reason to believe they will win it all for the first time since 1973. The beautiful ball they played over those 13 games took a temporary leave of absence in what would’ve been consecutive victory No. 14, which featured only 18 assists for a home team that had built its identity around sharing the rock.
“Too much ball watching, standing around,” said Mikal Bridges, who described his two-point performance as terrible. “We just got to keep moving.”
There’s no reason to think the Knicks won’t start passing and cutting again ASAP. It’s who they are, and who they will be again.
San Antonio’s physicality knocked them off their spot, but the Knicks have proved their own toughness in previous tests of will. In response to Victor Wembanyama’s hard takedown of Jalen Brunson, expect a little more of the ’90s Knicks from the 2026 version in Game 4. A little more of the Game 1 play Landry Shamet made when he bulldozed Harrison Barnes on a nasty box-out, though unfortunately straight into Brunson’s right knee.
The captain has yet to deliver a vintage game against the Spurs, though he has made vintage fourth-quarter shots. Brunson called on the Knicks to reduce their turnovers and to pay better attention to the little things on the margins that separate the winners from the losers. In his meeting with the media, Brunson twice said the Knicks need to “continue to be who we are.”
Asked how much all of the winning muscle memory from this postseason will help his team recover from defeat, Brunson replied, “It definitely helps. It’s also always good to have a reset.”
Yes, the loss gives the Knicks a chance to address vulnerabilities that might’ve been cloaked by the winning streak. Karl-Anthony Towns said his team has “50 days of film to show what it looks like when we’re at our best. … We’ll get back to our fundamentals, what makes us great, what made us great.”
Until Monday night. San Antonio had 10 more assists than the Knicks had and 14 more points off turnovers, and afterward, Brown went after the officials harder than Wemby had gone after Brunson. The refs miss calls in every game. They weren’t the reason the Knicks lost for the first time in forever, not even close. The Spurs beat them fairly and squarely.
In front of an electric crowd, it had to hurt the Knicks to lose one of the most hyped events the Garden has ever staged. They didn’t discuss this publicly, but deep down, they surely burned to sweep the Spurs like they had swept the Sixers and Cavs. The Knicks would have become the first team in NBA history to win the championship with a 15th straight postseason victory. The current record holders, the 2017 Golden State Warriors, saw their own 15-game streak end in their five-game conquest of Cleveland.
Imagine that. Had the Knicks performed in Game 3 like they had in their previous 13 games, they would be in position Wednesday night to go down as the greatest postseason juggernaut the sport has known.
But hey, there remains so much history to make with two more victories against the Spurs.
“Nobody is panicking or anything like that,” Brown said. “Everybody is disappointed that we didn’t go out and execute and play to what we feel our standard is. That’s not taking anything away from San Antonio, but we feel like we can play a lot better than we did. We’re looking forward to going out on the floor and showing it.”
Given the way Brown has coached and the way his players have competed, there’s no reason to think they will surrender control of this finals at the Garden.
The Knicks remain the best and hottest team in basketball. At the very least, their 13-1 record over the last seven weeks means they deserve everyone’s benefit of the doubt.
By Ian O’Connor, via The Athletic