By Jared Weiss / The Athletic, 2026-10-30 18:45:22
在一个仿佛一夜之间被伤病重塑的联盟里，圣安东尼奥马刺看起来终于找到了自己的新定位。
俄克拉荷马城的杰伦·威廉姆斯和卡森·华莱士需要接受手术，这削弱了马刺重返NBA总决赛道路上的最大障碍。明尼苏达森林狼则将失去他们的球星一段时间。
与此同时，随着维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 渐入佳境，马刺的新蓝图正在成形。面对雷霆和休斯顿火箭这两支联盟顶级防守球队时，马刺一度打得颇为挣扎。上周火箭在鏖战中击败马刺，展现出争冠者的姿态，并且至今保持不败。但过去一周给了马刺探索自身打法的空间。
有组织的战术配合正为文班亚马创造出高质量的出手机会。在周三客场战胜犹他的比赛中，文班亚马成为继大卫·罗宾逊之后，第二位单场砍下至少35分、10个篮板和5次助攻且零失误的马刺球员。他的外线投篮依然不准，但已开始找到接球投篮的节奏。他甚至命中了短挡拆后的15英尺跳投——这需要成为他武器库中的一项稳定杀招。
对阵犹他，马刺大量使用挡拆，让文班亚马要么获得大空位三分，要么在防线身后轻松完成空接。这正是马刺需要文班亚马常态化展现的高效稳定版本。
但球队仍有一些明显的问题需要解决。文班亚马下场休息的时间段一直是巨大的软肋。主教练米奇·约翰逊表示，部分问题在于第二阵容中围绕卢克·科内特的四名球员需要打得更好。托拜厄斯·哈里斯的赛季首秀将大大有助于确保文班亚马离场时进攻端能够维持运转。但这依然是一个痛点。
周二对阵萨克拉门托国王，维克托·文班亚马与马刺队友和凯尔登·约翰逊一同庆祝。（Daniel Dunn / Imagn Images）
此外还有关键时刻的一些瞬间决策问题。当文班亚马在比赛末段进攻时间关闭的情况下抢到篮板时，他常常试图直接推进球，而不是叫暂停。叫暂停停表并将球推进到前场几乎是所有球队的通行做法。在某些情况下，如果时间足够推进过半场并布置战术，球队也会选择直接打，尤其是当有想要针对的对位时。
对阵爵士，文班亚马抢下篮板后没有叫暂停，导致球队错失了在常规时间终结比赛的机会。约翰逊主动承担了没有叫暂停的责任，但这也暴露出马刺这位球星需要在高速高压的情况下提升决策能力和比赛感觉。
他在阅读场上局势和破解不同防守策略方面已有进步。犹他一战是他本赛季的最佳表现，马刺设计了大量高位手递手配合，诱使对手在禁区外夹击，或者采用清空一侧的挡拆，让他在防线身后接球完成空接。
对于一个处于第四个赛季的球员来说，他或许已经足够出色，但如今标准早已不是这样。当你以MVP最大热门的身份开启赛季时，人们就期待你打出MVP级别的表现。这是第一场文班亚马真正展现出MVP相的强强对话。
马刺在文班亚马于高位发起进攻的打法中找到了可喜的东西——后卫们可以绕着他跑位，直到篮下出现空位。马刺常规时间的最后一球，正是爵士夹击文班亚马后德文·瓦塞尔的空切得分，这一球颇具代表性。马刺有不少能突到篮下的持球人，但球队并不能稳定地杀到篮下获得干净的出手机会。文班亚马在禁区外吸引夹击，是更稳定获得这些机会的简单办法，同时也能节省他的体能消耗。
尽管季前赛表现平平，但马刺打磨了一些需要成为看家本领的战术配合。如今，开局那段强敌连番的赛程已经过去，他们在训练营中的努力开始显现成效。
开局慢热是他们更换首发阵容时所冒风险的必然结果。但当联盟几乎每天都在损失关键球员时，随着马刺的表现日益提升，他们的道路也变得稍微平坦了一些。
在日历年结束之前，马刺只剩下五场对阵上赛季50胜球队的 比赛：底特律活塞、洛杉矶湖人、波士顿凯尔特人、克利夫兰骑士和纽约尼克斯。在此期间，他们还有两场对阵犹他、波特兰开拓者和多伦多猛龙的比赛——这些球队要么已经证明了自己的竞争力，要么正期待证明这一点。但对于一支终于站稳脚跟的球队来说，前方的道路看起来相对平坦。
由生成式 AI 翻译，翻译内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
查看原文：The Spurs are hitting their stride, and Victor Wembanyama is finding his groove
The Spurs are hitting their stride, and Victor Wembanyama is finding his groove
In a league reshaped by injuries seemingly overnight, the San Antonio Spurs look like they are finally finding their new identity.
Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace need surgery, hampering the Spurs’ biggest obstacle to returning to the NBA Finals. The Minnesota Timberwolves have lost their star for some time.
The Spurs’ new vision, meanwhile, is taking shape now that Victor Wembanyama is hitting his stride. Things looked sticky facing two of the league’s best defenses in the Thunder and the Houston Rockets. Houston looked ready to step up as contenders when it outlasted San Antonio last week and has continued to look strong in its undefeated start. But the past week has provided the Spurs room to explore how they want to play.
The organized sets are getting Wembanyama quality looks. In Wednesday’s win in Utah, Wembanyama joined David Robinson as the second Spur to have at least 35 points, 10 rebounds and five assists with no turnovers. He’s still shooting poorly from deep but is starting to shoot in rhythm off the catch. He even hit the short-roll 15-footer that needs to become a consistent weapon in his arsenal.
Against Utah, the Spurs used a plethora of pick-and-rolls to get Wembanyama either wide-open 3s or uncontested alley-oops behind the defense. It was the efficient and steady version of Wembanyama that the Spurs will need routinely.
But there are still some glaring concerns the team has to work through. The minutes when Wembanyama hits the bench have been a huge vulnerability. Coach Mitch Johnson said part of the issue is that the four players surrounding Luke Kornet in the second unit need to play better. Tobias Harris’ eventual season debut will go a long way to ensure the offense holds up when Wembanyama walks off the floor. But it remains a pain point.
Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs celebrate with Keldon Johnson against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. (Daniel Dunn / Imagn Images)
Then there are some of the split-second decisions in key moments. When Wembanyama gets a rebound with the shot clock turned off at the end of the game, he often tries to move the ball up the floor instead of calling a timeout. It’s a near-universal practice to immediately call a timeout to stop the clock and advance the ball to the frontcourt. In some scenarios, teams elect to play it out if there is enough time to get up the floor and set something up, especially if there is a matchup they want to target.
Against the Jazz, Wembanyama corralled a rebound and didn’t call a timeout, resulting in a wasted chance to win the game in regulation. Johnson took the blame for not calling that timeout, but it was also an example of how the Spurs’ star needs to improve his decision-making and feel in high-speed, high-pressure situations.
He’s improved at reading the floor and figuring out how to beat different defensive coverages. The Utah game was his best work of the season, as the Spurs dialed up lots of high-post handoffs to draw doubles out of the paint or empty side pick-and-rolls to get him behind the coverage for a lob.
He may be doing fine for someone in their fourth season, but that’s not the standard anymore. When you walk into the season as the MVP favorite, you are expected to look like an MVP. This was the first competitive game where Wembanyama looked the part.
The Spurs found something promising with Wembanyama creating out of the high post, where guards could loop in curls around him until they were open under the rim. The Spurs’ last bucket in regulation came on a Devin Vassell cut while the Jazz doubled Wembanyama, which was notable. The Spurs have a lot of drivers who can get near the rim, but the team doesn’t get all the way to the basket with clean looks reliably. Wembanyama drawing doubles out of the paint is an easy way to get those looks more reliably while also limiting his energy expenditure.
Though their preseason was a dud, the Spurs built on some of the actions that they need to become their bread and butter. Now that the opening slate of juggernauts is out of the way, the work they did through training camp is starting to reveal itself.
The slow start was inherent to the risk they took when they changed the starting lineup. But while the league loses key players on nearly a daily basis, the Spurs’ path gets a little bit easier as their play gets a little bit stronger.
The Spurs have only five games left in the calendar year against teams that won 50 games last season: the Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks. They have a pair of matchups against Utah, the Portland Trail Blazers and Toronto Raptors in that span — teams that have either proven or expect to prove competitive. But the road ahead looks relatively smooth for a team finally finding its footing.
By Jared Weiss / The Athletic