[外絮] 灰狼三頭中鋒怪物的凱旋之歌(長文)

https://t.ly/A6HXa
這篇寫在金狼戰G7之後，忠實呈現了G7比賽中改變比賽的變因，以及那些造成氣勢轉換的理由，我看了覺得很生動，翻出來跟大家分享

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The Triumph of the Timberwolves'Three-Headed Center Monster
灰狼三頭中鋒怪物的凱旋之歌m


The story of Minnesota’s earth-shaking Game 7 comeback—and, in many ways, of
the series overall—is the story of Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz
Reid. In the most important game in franchise history, the Wolves’ gigantic
trio took on Nikola Jokic and knocked off the reigning champs.
明尼蘇達在第七場比賽中的驚人逆轉故事 -- 以及在很多方面，和這整個整個系列賽有關的 -- 是Rudy Gobert、Karl-Anthony Towns和Naz Reid的故事。在球隊歷史上最重要的比賽中，灰狼的這三位巨頭迎戰Nikola Jokic並擊敗了衛冕冠軍。

The fate of the Minnesota Timberwolves was out of Anthony Edwards’s hands.
The Denver Nuggets made sure of it, pressuring Minnesota’s ascendant star
with so many defenders that it was impossible for him to take over Game 7 in
the way he would have liked. Those sorts of traps are a test—of a team’s
game-planning, of its coordination, of its sense of purpose. And in those
clarifying moments, the ball found its way, time and again, to one of the
Wolves’ three bigs.
這次灰狼隊無法將命運控制在Anthony Edwards手中，且金塊確保了這一點，他們對這位冉冉升起的明星，施加了非常高的防守壓力，使他無法以自己喜歡的方式接管第七場比賽。這樣的防守陷阱是對球隊比賽計劃、溝通協調，和目標執行力的考驗。在那些關鍵的時刻，球一次又一次地找到灰狼的三名大個子。

It’s those three centers who set the Wolves apart, and it’s those three
centers who made the most critical plays in the most important game in
Timberwolves history. Together, they ground the gears of a defending champion, punching Minnesota’s ticket to the conference finals for the first time in
20 years. “I think they’re built to beat us,” Jokic said after the game. “
Just look at their roster.” And built, more specifically, to beat him.
正是這三位中鋒，讓灰狼與眾不同，是他們在灰狼隊史上最重要的比賽中，做出了最關鍵的表現。三人合力擋住了衛冕冠軍，讓明尼蘇達20年來首次進入西區決賽。「我覺得他們就是為了打敗我們而組建的，」Jokic賽後說。「看看他們的陣容就知道。」這陣容更具體地說，是為了擊敗他。

Towns never gave Jokic a moment’s reprieve on Sunday, forcing him to fight
for every step while Gobert loomed in help. And when all those bumps and holds finally got Towns into foul trouble in the fourth quarter, Reid tagged in tobody up the three-time MVP with even fresher legs—blocking his shot twice in
crunch time alone. There was something resonant in Jokic trying, desperately,to get his shot up inside, only to see it devoured by a pack of Wolves:
週日，Towns讓Jokic從未有片刻的喘息機會，迫使他為每一步而奮鬥，而Gobert則在旁邊協防。當所有這些碰撞和牽制，最終讓Towns在第四節陷入犯規麻煩被迫下場時，Reid接著上來，用更新鮮的雙腿，來對付這位三屆MVP -- 僅在關鍵時刻就兩次封蓋了他的投籃。看看Jokic拼命想要在內線出手，卻被一堆狼群吞噬，真是有些震撼：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnc5RkTTxqo

To watch Jokic down the stretch was to see the best player in the world
without answers, utterly exhausted from fending off big, physical opponents
while dealing with the mental overhead of Minnesota’s swarming help. Over the course of this series, Jokic had his shot blocked 11 times by various
Timberwolves—the most, by far, in any series he’s played to date. Even when
Jokic played well, he was off his usual rhythm; the 34 points, 19 rebounds,
and seven assists he put up in Game 7 are impressive by any standard, but by
game’s end he couldn’t muster the certainty or force needed to overcome a
front line like Minnesota’s. None of the Nuggets could.
看著Jokic在比賽最後階段的頑強抵抗，就好像看到世界上最好的球員在沒有答案的情況下，筋疲力盡地對抗最強壯的對手，同時還要應對明尼蘇達瘋狂的協防。在這個系列賽中，Jokic的投籃被各種灰狼球員封蓋了11次，這是他迄今為止在任何系列賽中最多的一次。即使Jokic表現得很好，他也失去了平常的節奏；他在第七場比賽中得到的34分、19個籃板和7次助攻，按照任何標準來看都很出色，但比賽結束時，他依舊無法拿出足夠的確定性和力量，來克服像明尼蘇達這樣的前場。金塊隊的其他球員則是更沒有辦法。

This was the Timberwolves'design from the start of last season and the
vision that Tim Connelly—who originally drafted Jokic in Denver—brought to
life. No team can match Minnesota’s collective size. The only real means of
scoring on the Wolves is to go well out of your way—to take circuitous routes around all the long arms and ferocious contests in the hope that there mightbe some sliver of daylight on the other side. Often, there’s not. But Denver
painstakingly built a 20-point lead on Sunday, only to give it back as all
that roundabout execution took its toll. Towns and Gobert, the reigning, if
maligned, Defensive Player of the Year, made the Nuggets work for everything
they got.
這是灰狼從上個賽季就開始的設計，是Tim Connelly(就是他最初在丹佛選中了Jokic)
實現的願景。沒有球隊能夠匹敵明尼蘇達的整體身高。唯一能對付灰狼的得分方法，是繞開所有的長臂和兇猛的對抗，尋找可能出現的曙光，只是，通常這樣的機會並不存在。週日，丹佛曾經非常辛苦地建立了20分的領先優勢，但這些優勢在異常艱困的防守執行中，逐漸還了回去。Towns和Gobert，這位備受批評的年度最佳防守球員，讓金塊隊為他們得到的每一分，都付出了巨大代價。

The value in a player like Gobert doesn't come through in how he guards Jokic one-on-one, but in how he makes Jokic second-guess himself even when he isn’t guarding him. Gobert’s presence simply demands to be accounted for; if an
opponent goes up too slowly or softly or indecisively, their attempts are
likely to suffer the same fate as this double-clutch try from Jamal Murray:
像Gobert這樣的球員的價值，不在於他如何單防Jokic，而在於他如何讓Jokic即使在不防守他的時候也猶豫不決。Gobert的存在讓對手不得不考慮他的影響；如果對手動作過慢、過輕或猶豫不決，他們的嘗試就會像Jamal Murray這次雙手扣籃一樣遭遇失敗：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSNXOHz6w9w

Denver converted just 48 percent of its shots around the rim in what would
become the final game of its season. That’s Gobert—often behind Towns or
Reid, putting an added layer of resistance between the Nuggets and the easy
buckets they were desperate to create. In these playoffs, the Wolves have runthrough a premier jump-shooting team that was supposed to give them trouble
and a title-winning juggernaut that was supposed to get the better of them.
The Wolves outscored the Suns and the Nuggets by an incredible 19 points per
100 possessions with Gobert on the floor and were outscored by 10, in turn,
when he sat. A 7-footer makes for a convenient lightning rod, it turns out,
but a better defensive anchor.
在這個賽季的最後一場比賽中，金塊籃框周圍的投籃命中率僅為48%。這是Gobert所產生的影響 -- 經常在Towns或Reid後面，增加了一道防守，使金塊隊難以得到他們渴望的輕鬆得分。在這次季後賽中，灰狼擊敗了一支原本應該給他們帶來麻煩的頂級跳投球隊，和一支預期會擊敗他們的冠軍強隊。當Gobert在場時，灰狼每100次進攻得分，比太陽和金塊高出驚人的19分；而當他不在場時，被對手多得了10分。這位7英尺球員經常成為眾矢之的，但事實上，他也是一個更好的防守支柱。

The coverage overall was breathtaking—perfectly calibrated by Gobert and his
fellow bigs at every step, allowing Edwards and Jaden McDaniels to hound the
ball with relentless abandon. All of which explains how a Wolves team that
could at times barely scrounge up points was able to pull off the biggest
comeback in Game 7 history. Scoring can be notoriously hard to come by in
these winner-take-all affairs, but in a bit of a plot twist, Minnesota found a kind of ragged stability through Towns. The career Timberwolf has struggled
in playoffs past to find his place in things, floating through possessions
when he needed to be assertive and hard-charging into mistakes when he neededto be patient. Yet with Edwards contained in the first half, Minnesota turnedto Towns in the post, and he came up with some crucial, life-giving offense en route to 23 points and 12 rebounds on the night.
灰狼隊的防守令人驚嘆 -- Gobert和他的隊友每一步都完美協調，使Edwards和Jaden
McDaniels能夠不斷地在外圍騷擾持球者。這某種程度解釋了，為什麼一支有時難以得分的球隊，能夠完成歷史上最大的G7逆轉。在這種決勝負的比賽中，得分通常是艱難的，但，令人意想不到的是，明尼蘇達通過Towns，找到了某種不太平衡的穩定感。這位職業生涯都在灰狼度過的球員，在過去的季後賽征程中，一直難以找到自己的定位；在需要果斷時顯得飄忽不定，而在需要耐心時，則容易犯下錯誤。然而，當Edwards上半場被限制找不到狀態時，明尼蘇達將重心轉移到了低位的Towns，整場比賽他拿下23分和12個籃板，提供了一些關鍵且凝聚氣勢的進攻。

“He made all the right plays tonight,” Edwards said. “He only took 14 shots
. He’s always super efficient from the field, and he carried us tonight.
Every time we needed a bucket, he was there for us.”
「今晚他做出了所有正確的決定，」Edwards說。「他只出手了14次。他在場上總是非常高效，他今晚帶領了我們。每當我們需要得分時，他總是站出來。」

You could say the same for all three bigs. When the Wolves went scoreless forover five minutes bridging the first and second quarters, they found a
lifeline by dumping the ball to Gobert inside against mismatches—and relying
on him in a way that the Jazz never did. He drew enough fouls to keep the
Wolves alive. He also hit an honest-to-goodness fadeaway jumper in the heat of the fourth, taking a two-point lead to four:
而對另外兩位大個子，這麼形容也絲毫不含糊。當灰狼在第一和第二節之間，長達五分多鐘未能得分時，他們在Gobert身上找到了一線生機，不斷地傳給籃下，讓他去攻擊錯位，這是在爵士隊時期從未做到的，在進攻端上依賴他。他製造了足夠的犯規讓灰狼得以生存。他還在第四節白熱階段，投進了名副其實的後仰跳投，將兩分領先擴大到四分：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR3wZr2AheI

“I think when Rudy hit the turnaround, I was like, ‘Yeah, we probably got ’
em,’” Edwards said. “I know that’ll kill you. I know that’ll kill
everything.”
「當Rudy命中後仰跳投時，我心想『是的，我們大概搞定他們了』」Edwards說。「我知道這會讓他們崩潰。我知道這會摧毀一切。」

Yet at the game’s most critical juncture, late in the fourth, it was the
Wolves’ third big who upped the ante: first with a post score, then a drawn
foul on the offensive glass, followed by a stunning putback dunk. Reid and
Gobert led the Wolves in fourth-quarter scoring, with eight points apiece.
Minnesota mashed Denver on the glass in the second half to work its way back
into the game, which added to the war of attrition and made it all too fitting for Towns to end the game with a spectacular second chance:
然而在比賽最關鍵的時刻，第四節後段，第三位大個子將灰狼隊提升到另一個高度：先是一個低位得分，然後在進攻籃板上製造犯規，隨後是一個驚人的補扣。Reid和Gobert在第四節的得分並列領先，各得八分。明尼蘇達在下半場的籃板上壓制了丹佛，重新回到比賽中，並讓Towns在比賽最後以一個精彩的二次進攻結束比賽：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru1IP0xz90M

This is what it takes to win a heavyweight series: supreme effort, steely
resolve, calculated execution, and a few breaks that—like the soft arc of a
Gobert fadeaway—seem to defy explanation. Denver was up 20 at home and lost.
Minnesota shot 39 percent from the field and won, with its best player scoring just 16 points. That’s the magic of a Game 7. It doesn’t matter who does
what, as long as it gets done. “Everybody has the trust of the next person,”
Reid said in the visitor’s locker room after the win. “The support system
between each guy is crazy—I’ve never seen it on a team like that before.”
這就是贏得重量級系列賽所需的：極大的努力、堅定的決心、精確的執行和一些似乎無法解釋的運氣，就像狗威司機命中的那記後仰跳投。丹佛在主場領先20分，最終卻輸掉了比賽。明尼蘇達投籃命中率僅為39%，但卻在最佳球員只得16分的情況下贏得了比賽。這就是第七場比賽的魔力。不管是誰做了什麼，只要做到了就行。「每個人都信任身邊的隊友，」Reid在賽後的客隊更衣室說。「每個人對彼此的支持和鼓勵都太瘋狂了 -- 我從未在其他球隊見過這樣的情況。」

This is a year of firsts for the Timberwolves, a long-suffering franchise that now has so much to celebrate. An unprecedented regular season. Their first-
ever sweep in a seven-game series. A statement series against the defending
champs. And now, in two days’ time: a chance at another breakthrough, and to
see what all these historic firsts are worth.
這一年對灰狼來說有非常多的第一次，這支長期受苦的球隊現在有很多值得慶祝的事情；一個前所未有的例行賽、首次在七戰系列賽中橫掃對手、對衛冕冠軍說服力十足的系列賽。現在，在兩天後：有了一次新的突破機會，看看這些歷史性首次的價值會持續到甚麼時候。

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Towns在這輪系列賽確實打破了以往外界貼給他的軟蛋標籤，上半場站出來扛起球隊的氣和一線生機，並且和Gobert和Reid一起撐住，等到其他人跳出來；這輪系列賽真的非常精彩好看。期待後面的西區冠軍賽

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