NBA Finals’bench-mark display - 波士頓塞爾提克 Boston Celtics

http://myurl.com.tw/r343 By Mark Murphy

Celtics’ underappreciated subs making a difference
被低估的超賽板凳出奇制勝


There was something about the way Phil Jackson pronounced the Celtics forward
’s name that dripped with incredulity.

禪師念阿砲名字的方式，流露出他的不敢置信。

Leon Powe.

The Lakers coach didn’t even pronounce the name right. He pronounced it as
“Pow.”

這位湖人的教練把人家名字的發音發錯了，念成 “Pow” (更接近中文的”砲”)

That, in and of itself, says a lot about the regard - or especially the lack
of the same - that many had for the Celtics bench heading into the NBA Finals.

而這也顯示了大部分人對於超賽板凳球員的看法。

The Lakers reserves logged big performances against San Antonio and Utah.
Sasha Vujacic, the sub known as “The Machine,” had earned a lot of cred by
running at a physically broken down Manu Ginobili.

湖人的板凳在前兩輪對上爵士和馬刺時有很好的表現。綽號「The Machine」的Vujacic單
打馬刺Ginobili的肉搏戰，讓他一舉成名。

Two games into the Finals, it now looks like the results of that matchup
probably had a lot more to do with Ginobili’s condition than The Machine’s
power.

然而，這兩場湖賽總冠軍賽比下來，讓人不禁懷疑前面的比賽是因為Ginobili的狀況差，
而不是因為這個「The Machine」很厲害。

And the Celtics, deemed nationally to have an inferior bench, now have Powe’
s 21-point Game 2 performance to hold up against what, to this point, has
been some particularly mediocre work by the Lakers reserves.

反之全國上下都認為不怎麼樣的超賽板凳球員，突然跑出一個李阿砲在第二戰攻下21分，
光他一個人就足以對抗湖人板凳二流的表現。

“Well, they’ve heard how bad they were, and they have pride, too,” Celtics
coach Doc Rivers about his non-starters. “I just think that overall they’ve
been aggressive, and that’s what we’ve stressed. But to me they’re just
playing within themselves, and they’re keeping the game simple. I thought in
some ways our bench played better just because of that. They didn’t try to
do anything fancy. They just tried to make the extra pass and play simple
basketball.

河流談到替補球員時，他說：「他們聽到了自己有多不好，他們也是有自尊的。」

「整體來說他們很積極，這也是我們一直強調的。但對我而言，他們就是去做自己，然後
讓球賽變得簡單。也因為這樣，有時候我覺得他們反而打得更好。他們不會去打什麼花俏
的招式，而是試著多傳球，樸實地打一場球。」

“The ball found open guys, and that’s how we have to play overall. I
thought our bench set the tone in that.”

「把球傳給有空檔的人是我們打球的方式。我想我們的板凳球員這點做的很好。」

It should be pointed out that when the Celtics nearly punted away all of
their good work Sunday, allowing a 24-point lead with just less than eight
minutes remaining to drop to two, the starters were the culprits.

昨天超賽在最後不到八分鐘時，把先前領先的24分揮霍到只剩下2分，差一點讓前面的好
表現付之一炬。而先發球員是主要戰犯。

Powe, P.J. Brown, James Posey and the hot-and-cold Sam Cassell were
responsible for extending the Celts’lead.

還好有阿砲、P.J.、Posey和手感忽冷忽熱的外星人維持了超賽的領先。

Perhaps it’s because, beyond the occasional big offensive display, the
Celtics reserves have their greatest impact defensively that respect is a
tough commodity to acquire.

也許是因為超塞板凳除了偶爾爆發的進攻之外，銅牆鐵壁的防守才是他們最可怕的武器。

“I don’t think our bench wants any credit,” Kevin Garnett said. “
Obviously it would be nice, but for the most part our team is about going out
and doing what we talk about, night in and night out. We’ve just got to be
consistent with it.

KG說：「我不認為他們想邀功，當然那也不錯，但我們最在乎的是，每個晚上上場去打出
該有的表現。而我們必須堅持這一點。」

“Our bench is deep. We have a lot of experience on our bench. Obviously in
the playoffs your rotation gets shortened. But from P.J. to Pose to Leon to
Sam, even Eddie House, we have experience on our bench.

「我們的板凳深度很夠，他們有很多經驗。」
「你知道在季後賽的用人常會被限制，但我們的板凳從PJ到Posey到阿砲到外星人，甚至是
房子，經驗都非常豐富。」

“I think with the players we have on the floor - myself, Paul (Pierce), Ray
(Allen) and (Rajon) Rondo being playmakers - we can put someone out there and
make plays with those guys,” Garnett said. “Leon is a scrappy guy, P.J. is
a scrappy guy, and they can also be aggressive in the times when we need them
to. Leon was really aggressive to begin with, and like Paul said, we really
flowed off him.”

「有這些球員在場上－我、PP、雷和軟豆做主力球員－隨便誰上來都可以跟那些傢伙
對抗。阿砲好鬥，PJ也好鬥，而他們在關鍵時刻一樣可以很積極。」

「而且阿砲真的很拼，就像PP說的，我們都埋沒他了。」

And if the rest of the basketball world has been slow to appreciate this
group, then so be it.

如果其他人一直不懂得欣賞他們，那也無所謂。

Then again, the secret may finally be out.

然後，這個秘密最終會被發現。

“Our bench has been overlooked all year - nobody really talks about our
bench,” Pierce said. “Nobody has really talked about them in the playoffs.
We know what the Laker bench can bring, but we feel like we have the best
bench in this series.”

PP說：「我們的板凳一直都被忽視，沒有人真的在討論他們，沒有人在季後賽的時候討論
到他們。我們知道湖人板凳的能力，但我覺得在這系列戰中我們的板凳是最好的。」

Right now, with Game 3 tonight at Staples Center, that’s all that matters.

今晚在Staples Center的第三戰將是關鍵的一戰。

“I don’t really think about it,” Brown said when asked about getting
respect. “You heard it all across the news and the media saying they had a
better bench, but you’ve got to go out there and play the game. People are
going to make predictions and stuff like that, but I didn’t hear Leon say
much about it, and I didn’t say much about it.

當PJ被問到獲得尊敬的感覺時，他說：「我沒去想它。在所有的新聞和媒體上，大家都說
湖人的板凳球員比較好，但你還是必須上場去打球。人們喜歡做預測什麼的，但我從沒聽
到阿砲討論這個，而我自己也不會去討論它」

“We’re just going to go out there and do what we know we can do.”

「我們就是上場去，做我們知道我們能做到的。」


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