By Jared Weiss | The Athletic, 2026-06-11 10:41:12
纽约——这一切都始于武当帮 (Wu-Tang Clan)。
当圣安东尼奥马刺队在半场更衣室里回味着他们本赛季打得最好的半场球时，武当帮已经登上了球场，向全场宣告：无论记分牌上写着什么，尼克斯依然会在5场内解决战斗。
武当帮依然深信不疑。他们必须相信。尼克斯也深信不疑。他们一贯如此。当然，事实证明他们是对的。
在麦迪逊广场花园，安逸只是一种幻觉。“没有领先是安全的”，人们常用这句玩笑话来表明，优势的稳固程度完全取决于你掌控它的力度。但圣安东尼奥马刺队变得贪心了。
他们以为胜券在握，却没意识到24分钟的漫长时间足够将一切付诸东流。在周三晚上以106-107惜败的比赛中，他们正是这样做的。当然，尼克斯展现了魔力，他们经常如此。但马刺的表现纯粹令人失望，他们展现出了最糟糕的自己。这是他们从未真正摆脱的一个版本：那些擅长跨越逆境、却在领跑时忘记了如何保持从容的“逆境跨栏者”。
当纽约完成了创下总决赛历史纪录的29分大逆转时，显而易见，马刺已经成了自己最大的敌人。
“我认为这只是执行力的问题，某种程度上的贪心，”维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 说道，“我们在下半场显然不是更有饥饿感的那支球队。”
如今，圣安东尼奥的这个赛季已经陷入了极少有人能生还的绝境。他们目前大比分1-3落后于尼克斯，正准备回到主场争取一线生机。考虑到这轮系列赛至今的走势，他们能生还的希望微乎其微。
这种“贪心”在比赛还剩12秒时达到了顶峰。当时达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 正全速冲向前场，他收球起步试图上篮。OG·阿奴诺比 (OG Anunoby) 封盖了这一投篮，让落后1分的尼克斯掌控了时间。在这种情况下，任何控球后卫都会选择运球消耗时间，因为他知道马刺已经处于加罚状态，一旦尼克斯犯规，他就可以通过罚球稳稳拿下这两分。
但出于某种原因，福克斯决定强攻。
“我以为我能跑得比他快，”他说道。
整个季后赛期间，马刺一直以为他们可以跑赢自己的年轻无经验。文班亚马一直在说，他们不知道什么是“不可能”，因为他们从未面对过不可能。这种初生牛犊不怕虎的劲头曾推动他们取得29分的领先优势，但也让他们重重地摔回了地面。讽刺的是，犯下致命错误的，偏偏是他们在进攻端极度依赖的稳定器——福克斯。
马刺全队失去了防守强度，体能耗尽，并在比赛胜负悬于一线时接连犯错。在这轮系列赛中，他们已经犯下了两次史诗级的失误，这表明他们实力足够夺冠，但其起伏不定的状态也足以让他们输掉总冠军。
据OptaStats的数据，在第四场比赛中，马刺成为NBA历史上第一支在上半场至少砍下76分、而在下半场仅得30分的球队。阿奴诺比和杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson) 在下半场联手砍下37分。这简直是双重面貌的极致体现，仿佛是两支不同的球队在打两场不同的比赛。
马刺主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 在下半场几乎让文班亚马打满，只让他休息了58秒，这位中锋在关键时刻显得有些体力不支。他开始满足于在外线跳投，并进入了他的一人区域联防模式，即队友在外线无限换防，而让他留在禁区护筐。尼克斯则想方设法将阿奴诺比调到弱侧底角，从而让文班亚马不得不去防守他，这给阿奴诺比创造了足够的出手空间，让他得以在外线火力全开。
在决定比赛命运的最后一防中，马刺在对位上出现了一些混乱，最终以文班亚马迫使布伦森投篮不中、但阿奴诺比完成了补篮绝杀而告终。这是缺乏经验的又一个迹象。对位混乱导致文班亚马（而非迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)）换防到布伦森面前，福克斯过来包夹，从而漏掉了无人防守的阿奴诺比。皮球必须弹得恰到好处，阿奴诺比才能完成那记补篮，否则马刺本可以赢下比赛。但马刺让自己暴露在了坏运气的风险中，并遭遇了那种足以摧毁一支球队和一个赛季的厄运。
文班亚马在上半场统治了比赛，但随后掉入了尼克斯为所有人设下的陷阱。卡尔-安东尼·唐斯 (Karl-Anthony Towns) 仅打了1分多钟就因陷入犯规麻烦而下场。这本是文班亚马的绝佳机会，他可以镇守禁区对抗米切尔·罗宾逊 (Mitchell Robinson)，从而瓦解尼克斯的整个进攻。这确实奏效了，甚至导致罗宾逊在回应文班亚马的垃圾话时，用肩膀狠狠撞向了后者的下巴。
“我搞崩你的心态了，小子！”文班亚马坐在地板上时，似乎对罗宾逊这样说道。
他确实做到了。但这转瞬即逝，在面对这支尼克斯时，任何优势都稍纵即逝。对阵他们，赢得一时半刻的胜利不过是延缓了不可避免的结局。无论落后多少，他们都会发起猛烈的反扑。马刺放虎归山，甚至可能因此亲手葬送了总冠军。
这解释了为什么人们普遍认为，球队在夺冠前必须先经历失败。尼克斯为此已经奋斗了多年。这支球队本可以解散，但他们紧密团结在一起，并证明了给予他们成长的时间是值得的。这里的每一位球员和教练都有着多年心碎的经历，这推动着他们度过每一个看似绝望的时刻。而马刺才刚刚开始磨砺出这种“老茧”。这就是打好半场球与打好整场比赛的区别。
考虑到这轮系列赛的焦灼程度，如果马刺能带着一场大胜回到主场，他们本可以牢牢掌握主动权。如今大比分1-3落后，他们既可以认为自己每晚都占有优势却白白挥霍，也可以认为自己已经毫无希望。前者更有可能是事实。但在目睹了刚刚发生的一切之后，几乎没有理由相信他们能连赢三场。
“我认为这会走向两个方向之一。一个坏的方向，一个好的方向，”文班亚马说道，“坏的方向是放弃。好的方向是通过这次经历变得更强大，更加团结。我知道这就是我们要做的。”
马刺必须找到摆脱这一困境的方法，彼此督促、承担责任，同时又不陷入互相怨恨的泥潭。坦率地说，队里的每个人几乎都要承担一部分责任。在NBA总决赛历史上最惨烈的崩盘中，没有人能全身而退。
“在那之后，我们要么能挺过去，要么不能，”文班亚马说道，“但我们已经证明了我们能够克服这些困难。尽管我们以前从未经历过这些，但我坚信我们天生就具备这样的特质，我们会从中汲取积极的力量。这会让我们更加紧密地团结在一起。”
事已至此，为什么还要相信马刺？这甚至不仅仅是因为纠结于他们在下半场崩盘的方式。而是因为尼克斯那永不言弃的韧性。没有理由认为尼克斯会妥协，而马刺刚刚用前所未有的方式证明了他们会掉链子。
这是一次对精神的重创，对希望的蚕食。相反，马刺在整个系列赛中已经证明了他们总能占据上风，现在只需要他们踩紧油门，绝不松懈。
“我觉得这场失利，该死，我是说，我会重新站起来的，”哈珀说道，“我们都会重新站起来。我们要向世界展示我们的成色。”
时间不多了。不过，他们似乎已经展示过了。他们是一支伟大的球队，拥有比任何人都出众的天赋。他们可以击败任何人，甚至是尼克斯。但“马刺是最好的球队”这一说法目前仍仅仅是一个假设。他们将理想转化为现实的机会已经所剩无几。
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：Spurs throw away their best shot at a title with a collapse for the ages
Spurs throw away their best shot at a title with a collapse for the ages
NEW YORK — It all started with the Wu-Tang Clan.
While the San Antonio Spurs were ruminating on their best half of the season in the halftime locker room, the Wu-Tang Clan was on the floor, making sure the whole arena knew it was still Knicks in 5, no matter what the scoreboard said.
The Wu still believed. They had to. The Knicks did. They always do. Of course, they were right.
Comfort is a fallacy in Madison Square Garden. No lead is safe, a fun thing people say to make the point that the upper hand is only as strong as its grip. But the San Antonio Spurs got greedy.
They thought the game was won, not realizing 24 minutes is an eternity to throw it all away. That’s exactly what they did in a 107-106 loss Wednesday night. Sure, the Knicks were magical, as they often are. But the Spurs were simply disappointing, the worst version of themselves. It’s a version they have never quite put to rest: the persistent adversity hurdlers who forget how to lead with aplomb.
When New York’s NBA Finals-record 29-point comeback was complete, it was clear that the Spurs had become their own worst enemy.
“I think it’s just execution, greediness of some sort,” Victor Wembanyama said. “We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half.”
Now, San Antonio’s season is in a place from which few have returned. They are now down 3-1 to the Knicks, heading back home for a chance to survive. Given the way this series has gone so far, there is little hope they can.
The greediness peaked when De’Aaron Fox was streaking down the court with 12 seconds left, picked up the ball and went for the layup. OG Anunoby blocked the shot, giving the Knicks control of the clock down one. This was a situation in which any point guard would try to dribble out the clock, knowing the Spurs were in the bonus and he could get those two points at the line when the Knicks fouled.
But for some reason, Fox decided to go for it.
“I thought I’d be able to outrun him,” he said.
Throughout the playoffs, the Spurs have thought they could outrun their inexperience. Wembanyama has kept saying that they don’t know what’s impossible because they’ve never faced the impossible. That has propelled them to 29-point leads, then brought them crashing down to earth. It was ironic that Fox, the steady hand on offense they’ve relied on dearly, made the fatal error.
The Spurs as a whole lost their intensity, burned out and made mistake after mistake with the game on the line. They’ve had two blunders for the ages in this series, a sign that they are good enough to win the title but erratic enough to lose it.
In Game 4, the Spurs became the first team in NBA history to score at least 76 points in the first half and 30 points in the second half, per OptaStats. Anunoby and Jalen Brunson combined for 37 points in the second half. This was as Jekyll and Hyde as it gets, two different teams playing two different games.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson played Wembanyama all but 58 seconds in the second half, and the center looked like he lost some of his energy in crunch time. He started settling for jump shots, and went into his one-man zone, where the defense switches across the perimeter to keep him in the paint. The Knicks found ways to get Anunoby into the weak-side corner so that Wembanyama would be responsible for him, giving Anunoby enough daylight to continue to light it up from downtown.
The Spurs had some matchup confusion heading into the game’s fateful play, which ended with Wembanyama forcing a Brunson miss but Anunoby getting the game-winning putback. Another sign of inexperience. The confusion led to Wembanyama, instead of Dylan Harper, switching onto Brunson, Fox coming over to double and Anunoby being left uncovered. The ball had to bounce just right for Anunoby to pull off his tip-in, otherwise the Spurs would have won the game. But the Spurs exposed themselves to unlucky breaks and got the type of misfortune that breaks teams and seasons.
Wembanyama owned the first half, but fell into a trap the Knicks have been laying for everyone. Karl-Anthony Towns was out of the game after little more than a minute, already in foul trouble. This was the golden opportunity for Wembanyama, who could then park in the paint against Mitchell Robinson and thwart the entire Knicks offense. It worked, culminating in Robinson responding to some Wembanyama trash talk by shoulder checking him in the jaw.
“I’m in your head, boy!” Wembanyama appeared to tell Robinson while sitting on the floor.
He was. But that was just a moment, which are fleeting against these Knicks. Winning the moments is just a mere delaying of the inevitable against them. They will storm back, no matter how far they have to charge. The Spurs let them back in and may have thrown away a championship.
This explains the prevailing belief that teams have to fail before they can win. The Knicks have been going at this for years. The team could’ve been disbanded, but it stuck together and proved worthy of the time it has been given to grow. Each of those players and coaches has years of heartbreak to push them through every hopeless moment. The Spurs are just kind of building that callus. It’s the difference between playing a great half and a good game.
Considering how close this series has been, a Spurs blowout heading back home would have firmly planted them in the driver’s seat. Now down 3-1 they can either look at this like they’ve had the advantage but squandered it every night, or that they are just hopeless. The former is most likely the case. But there is also little reason to believe they can win three games in a row after what we just witnessed.
“I think it’s going to go one of two ways. A bad one and a good one,” Wembanyama said. “The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”
The Spurs have to find their way out of this mess by holding each other accountable without succumbing to resentment. Frankly, pretty much everyone on the team can take a share of the blame. Nobody comes out unscathed from the biggest failure in NBA Finals history.
“And after that, we either got it or we don’t,” Wembanyama said. “But we’ve proven that we can surpass these difficulties. Even though we haven’t been there before, I’m convinced we’re built that way and we’re going to use the better of this. It’s going to tighten us up.”
At this point, why believe in the Spurs? It’s not even so much about fixating on the way their game disintegrated in the second half. It’s just how the Knicks never die. There is no reason to think the Knicks will ever relent, while the Spurs just showed they can, in unprecedented ways.
This is a spirit-killer, a depleter of hope. Conversely, the Spurs have demonstrated throughout this series that they can always get the upper hand, and it’s just on them to keep their foot on the pedal.
“I feel like this loss, s—, I mean, I’m going to bounce back,” Harper said. “We’re all going to bounce back. We’re going to show the world what we’re made of.”
Time is running out. It appears they have already shown it anyway. They are a great team with more talent than anybody. They can beat anyone, even the Knicks. But the idea of the Spurs being the best team is still just a hypothetical. They’re almost out of chances to bring what they aim to be into reality.
By Jared Weiss, via The Athletic