By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer | San Antonio Express-News (SAEN), 2026-06-14 14:45:23
2026年6月13日星期六，在霜冻银行中心举行的NBA总决赛第五场第四节中，神情落寞的圣安东尼奥马刺队中锋维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) (1) 坐在地板上。
周六深夜，霜冻银行中心球馆上空弥漫着一团烟雾，而此时许多马刺球员早已离开球馆，独自去舔舐伤口。
杰里米·索汉 (Jeremy Sochan)——这位前马刺前锋如今已成为NBA总冠军——正与几位纽约队友一起抽着胜利雪茄，庆祝尼克斯半个多世纪以来的首个总冠军。
管他什么城市卫生条例。
“你能相信吗？”索汉并没有针对特定的人，兴奋地大喊道。
他在圣安东尼奥的前队友们，显然无法相信。
在纽约尼克斯在总决赛第五场以94-90险胜马刺夺冠之后，直到过了午夜，尼克斯版的狂欢才宣告结束，而此时大多数马刺球员早已不见了踪影。
但在狂欢开始的那一刻，他们都在场。这就足够了。
“这真的很痛，”后卫德文·瓦塞尔 (Devin Vassell) 说道。此时，球馆地板上正传来联盟总裁亚当·肖华 (Adam Silver) 向尼克斯颁发拉里·奥布莱恩杯的声音，那声音清晰得根本无法被隔绝。
“现在听到这些声音，看着他们在我们的主场冲进球馆庆祝，这真的很难受，”瓦塞尔说，“我们知道我们会竭尽全力——去拼、去抢——重新回到这个位置，并争取一个不同的结局。”
圣安东尼奥马刺队历史上或许最令人意想不到的总决赛之旅在周六戛然而止。最终荣膺总决赛MVP的杰伦·布伦森 (Jalen Brunson) 砍下45分，用一记季后赛代表作以及在第四节锁定胜局的统治级表现，为系列赛画上了句号。
在这轮系列赛中，这支永不言弃的尼克斯队沿着一条驾轻就熟的路线驶向了冠军之城。
在这轮系列赛中，马刺曾五次领先达到两位数，也曾五次在第四节保持领先。
然而，尼克斯却四次完成了逆转，夺得了自1973年以来的首个总冠军，也是建队80年来的第三座总冠军奖杯。
在第五场夺冠战中，纽约直到比赛还剩1分06秒时，才凭借布伦森的一记抛投，取得了下半场的首次领先。
“每场比赛的剧本都一模一样，”维克托·文班亚马说道，这位22岁的超级巨星在自己的第三个NBA赛季就带领马刺走到了总冠军的门口，“系列赛的所有五场比赛都是同一个剧本——我们犯错时有多么执迷不悟，他们惩罚我们时就有多么毫不留情。”
痛苦孕育坚持，挫败激发斗志，失望铸就决心。
无论如何，这正是主教练米奇·约翰逊 (Mitch Johnson) 所寄望的。
“我希望这能让他们比以往任何时候都更加饥渴，”约翰逊说，“我也希望这能让他们比以往任何时候都更有动力。”
凭借这次胜利，尼克斯成为了过去八个赛季中第八支捧起拉里·奥布莱恩杯的不同球队。
下个赛季，马刺的目标是成为第九支。
凭借着NBA总决赛历史上第二年轻的阵容，他们今年如此提前地杀入了总决赛，因此，他们不得不先等待属于自己的时刻，这也并不令人意外。
对于文班亚马这位马刺在2023年用状元签选中的7英尺4英寸绝代天才来说，也是如此。
即使对于历史级的伟大球星而言，季后赛的失败也是一步无法逾越的必经之路。
沙奎尔·奥尼尔 (Shaquille O’Neal) 22岁时代表奥兰多魔术队首次打进NBA总决赛，结果被休斯敦火箭队横扫。
勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James) 23岁时首次打进总决赛，结果被马刺横扫。
迈克尔·乔丹 (Michael Jordan) 首次登上总决赛舞台时是27岁。尼古拉·约基奇 (Nikola Jokic) 也是如此。斯蒂芬·库里 (Stephen Curry) 直到26岁才完成总决赛首秀。
“我相信你提到的所有这些人，他们都不会满足于在季后赛首轮被淘汰或无缘季后赛，”文班亚马说，“而我，也不会满足于没有赢得胜利。”
在未来的某个时刻，赛季折戟的痛苦终会淡去，马刺也将能够静下心来，去欣赏他们本赛季所取得的一切成就。
这个赛季开始时，他们的既定目标仅仅是打进季后赛，而最终却以常规赛62胜以及一次意料之外的总决赛之旅画上了句号。
在常规赛期间，马刺从未遭遇过两场以上的连败。他们仅有两次输球超过15分。他们还是全联盟唯一一支在两个月份（10月和2月）保持全胜的球队。
他们见证了文班亚马一跃进入MVP的讨论范围。他们也见证了斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 以及随后的迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper) 初露巨星锋芒。
作为一个整体，马刺以优异的成绩通过了前三轮季后赛的考验。他们在西部决赛第七场客场击败了卫冕冠军俄克拉荷马雷霆队。
这让他们队史第七次杀入总决赛，也是第一次在没有队史标志性球星蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan) 的情况下做到这一点。
“我认为除了（更衣室）里的那些人，没有人能料到我们会走到这里，”约翰逊说。
马刺凭借着全联盟最年轻的阵容之一做到了这一点，而带领他们的，是一位执教首个完整赛季的主教练。
所有这一切，同样值得庆祝。
“就积累经验而言，这是极其不可思议的一年，”文班亚马说，“我不认为我们能在一个季后赛征程和一个赛季中，学到比这更多、收获比这更丰富的经验了。”
然而，在周六马刺神奇赛季结束后的那一刻，他们很难坦然接受这个现实。
马刺眼睁睁地看着他们的赛季化为一缕青烟，就像索汉赛后胜利雪茄末端飘出的那一缕烟雾一样。
他们被允许有一段时间去沉浸在悲伤之中。
周六在马刺主场发生的一切令人痛心。这是无可否认的。
如果他们的主教练能够如愿，这种感觉将成为推动马刺迈向未来的动力。
“I want them to feel all the emotions,” 约翰逊说，“无论他们感受到什么，那都是真实的。这就是竞争力的本质。这就是让你变得更好的东西。这就是推动你在无人关注的漫长黑暗岁月中继续提升自我的动力。
“我们有了更多继续变得更好的动力。”
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：How the Spurs hope to gain fuel from Knicks' NBA title celebration
How the Spurs hope to gain fuel from Knicks’ NBA title celebration
A dejected San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) sits on the court during the fourth quarter of game five of the NBA Championship at Frost Bank Center on Saturday, June13, 2026.
A billow of smoke hung over the Frost Bank Center court late Saturday night, long after many Spurs players had left the building to lick their wounds.
Jeremy Sochan, former Spurs forward turned NBA champion, was puffing on a victory cigar with several of his New York teammates in celebration of the Knicks’ first title in more than half a century.
City health ordinances be darned.
“Can you believe this?” Sochan crowed to nobody in particular.
Sochan’s former teammates in San Antonio most assuredly cannot.
Most of the Spurs were not around by the time the Knicks’ version of Fiesta ended, well after midnight, in the aftermath of New York’s 94-90 triumph in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
But they were there when it started. That was enough.
“It hurts a lot,” guard Devin Vassell said over the not-quite-muffled sound of league commissioner Adam Silver presenting the Knicks with a Larry O’Brien trophy on the arena floor.
“Hearing that right now, seeing them storming the court on our home court, it’s tough,” Vassell said. “We know we’ll do everything we can — scratch, fight — to get back into this position and have a different outcome.”
Arguably the most unexpected Finals run in Spurs history ended suddenly Saturday, with eventual series MVP Jalen Brunson finishing his 45-point playoff magnum opus with a championship-clinching fourth quarter.
In that, the never-say-die Knicks followed a well-worn map to Title Town.
Five times in the series the Spurs led a game by double digits. Five times they led in the fourth quarter.
Four times, the Knicks rallied to beat them anyway, earning their first championship since 1973 and the third in their 80 years as a franchise.
In the Game 5 close-out, New York did not take its first lead of the second half until a Brunson floater with 1:06 remaining.
“Every game had the same scenario,” said Victor Wembanyama, the 22-year-old mega star who got the Spurs to the cusp of a championship in his third NBA season. “All five games in the series had the same scenario — how relentless we were in our mistakes and (how relentless) they were in punishing them.”
From pain comes perseverance. From frustration comes fight. From disappointment comes determination.
That is coach Mitch Johnson’s hope anyway.
“I hope it leads to them being hungrier than they’ve ever been,” Johnson said. “And I hope it leads them to be more motivated than they’ve ever been.”
With the victory, the Knicks became the eighth different team in the past eight seasons to raise the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Next season, the Spurs will aim to become the ninth.
They arrived at this year’s championship round so far ahead of schedule, on the back of the second-youngest roster in NBA Finals history, it is no surprise they were forced to wait their turn.
The same goes for Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 generational talent the Spurs drafted No. 1 overall in 2023.
Even for the all-time greats, playoff failure is a step that cannot be skipped.
Shaquille O’Neal played in his first NBA Finals at age 22 with Orlando, and got swept by Houston.
LeBron James played in his first Finals at 23, and got swept by the Spurs.
Michael Jordan was 27 when he first graced a Finals stage. So was Nikola Jokic. Stephen Curry did not make his Finals debut until age 26.
“I’m sure all these guys you named, they’re not satisfied with being eliminated in earlier rounds or not making the playoffs,” Wembanyama said. “I’m not satisfied with not winning.”
At some point in the days to come, the pain of their season-ending shortfall will dull and the Spurs will be able to appreciate all they accomplished this season.
A campaign that began with the stated goal of simply making the playoffs ended with 62 regular-season victories and an unexpected trip to the NBA Finals.
The Spurs never lost more than two games in a row during the regular season. They were only blown out by more than 15 points twice. They were the only team in the NBA to post two undefeated months (October and February).
They watched Wembanyama make the leap into the MVP conversation. They watched Stephon Castle and then Dylan Harper flirt with budding stardom.
The Spurs passed their first three playoff tests as a group with flying colors. They won Game 7 of the Western Conference finals on the road against defending champion Oklahoma City.
That put them in the Finals for the seventh time in franchise history, and the first time without franchise icon Tim Duncan on the roster.
“I don’t think anybody other than the people in that (locker) room expected us to be here,” Johnson said.
The Spurs did it with one of the youngest rosters in the NBA, led by a coach in his first full season on the bench.
All of that is worth celebrating, too.
“This has been a hell of a year in terms of experience,” Wembanyama said “I don’t think we could have learned more and gained more experience in one playoff run and in one season.”
In the moments after the Spurs’ magical season ended Saturday, however, acceptance was hard to come by.
The Spurs had just seen their season go up in a puff of smoke, like the one wisping from the end of Sochan’s postgame victory cigar.
They are allowed a window to wallow.
What happened on the Spurs’ home floor Saturday hurt. There is no denying it.
If their coach has his way, that feeling will fuel the Spurs into what comes next.
“I want them to feel all the emotions,” Johnson said. “Whatever they feel, that’s real. That’s what competitiveness is. That’s what makes you better. That’s what pushes you to continue to improve in the dark, long hours when nobody is around.
“We have a lot more motivation to continue to get better.”
By Jeff McDonald, Staff Writer, via San Antonio Express-News