Pierce, Kobe no longer frustrated with franchises - 波士頓塞爾提克 Boston Celtics

Pierce, Kobe no longer frustrated with franchises

PP、KOBE不再爲交易所苦

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=419063

(第一次翻譯外電，若有不周與錯誤，還請大家多多指教。
本篇主要在講PP和KOBE的惺惺相惜。)


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Posted: June 2, 2008

WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) -- Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant were playing pickup
basketball in a UCLA gym last summer, a couple of frustrated NBA stars trying
to sweat away the memory of a disappointing season. Talk soon turned to trades.

去年夏天PP和KOBE在UCLA 的體育館鬥牛，同病相憐的兩人談論著上個令人失望的球季，話
題很快轉成球員交易。

Bryant had lashed out at Lakers management for assembling a team that hadn't
won a playoff series in three years. Boston had gone four years, and Pierce
worried that he might become the trade bait that kick-starts the rebuilding
process.

湖人這三年未能在季後賽奏捷，KOBE為此重砲抨擊球隊高層。至於波士頓已經連續四年摃龜
，PP擔心球隊爲了重建與再創造性而將他作為交易籌碼。

"I remember being in the gym with Kobe, and me and him were arguing over who
was going to get traded first," Pierce said Monday after the Celtics held their
first practice in preparation for the NBA finals.

回憶起往事，PP在禮拜一訓練節結束時說道：「我還記得我和KOBE在體育館裡爭論著誰會先
被交易。」

"He went public about getting traded, ... and I was like, 'Shoot, I'm going to
getting traded before you,' and betting that it would happen. That's what so
crazy, now we're both here sitting in the finals, where a year ago we were both
in the gym."

「他(指KOBE)公開要求交易……而我的情況也好不到哪裡去，我想：我會比你早轉隊也說不
定，我們打賭誰會是最先轉隊的那一個。那真是太不可思議了！一年前我們兩個還窩在體育
館，此刻卻同時身在總決賽！」

No one wound up paying off the undisclosed stakes. Instead, both players stuck
with the only NBA teams they've ever known and earned the chance to play for a
championship.

然而──沒有人離開球隊，相反地他們在總冠軍賽上狹路相逢。

Game 1 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Boston.

系列戰的第一場將於星期四的夜晚在波士頓展開。

Bryant has already won three NBA titles, teaming up with Shaquille O'Neal to
win in consecutive years from 2000-02. They made one more run at it in 2004,
losing to Detroit in the finals before O'Neal was traded away; it was Bryant's
team, for better or worse.

KOBE曾經和大歐攜手合作拿下2000-02年共三座冠軍，2004年湖人兵敗底特律，接著大歐離
開了。之後湖人成為KOBE的球隊，無論結果是更好或更壞。

The Lakers missed the playoffs the next year for just the second time in almost
30 years, followed by two straight first-round losses that left Bryant
wondering.

湖人在2005年被擋在季後賽大門口外，這是湖人隊史近30年來第二次發生這種事情；接著
2006、2007連續兩年都在KOBE的失望中於季後賽第一輪慘遭出局。

Then, he snapped.

Bryant called the team's front office a mess and said he wanted to be traded.
Then he said he didn't. Then he said he did.

KOBE振振有詞地要求球隊補強，然後要求轉隊。

In the middle of the hubbub, he found himself sharing a post-pickup swig of
water with Pierce

(時間回到一年前……)坐在板凳的中間，KOBE和PP正大口喝著水。

"Both of us kind of being in the same boat -- the irony that we're both in the
finals is cool," Bryant said after the Lakers practiced at their workout
facility in El Segundo, Calif., on Monday. "It's good for both of us to be
here. He's a great guy."

「當時我們兩個好像就在同一條船上，諷刺的是我們居然在一年後在冠軍戰碰面。」KOBE在
週一湖人在加州El Segundo訓練後對媒體這樣說，KOBE表示：「我們都很不錯，而他(指PP)
是一個很了不得的傢伙！」

Pierce had his own problems.

但PP有他自己的問題。

The Celtics had been accumulating young talent like Al Jefferson, Delonte West,
Ryan Gomes, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins, but they had few wins -- 24, to
be exact -- to show for it. When the draft lottery didn't yield a potential
star like Greg Oden or Kevin Durant, the team's next title seemed far in the
future.

超賽有一群年輕極富潛力的新人，諸如：Al Jefferson, Delonte West, Ryan Gomes,
Rajon Rondo和Kendrick Perkins，然而24勝的戰績顯然還比不上選秀樂透選到Greg Oden
或是Kevin Durant的期望，超賽的未來似乎還很遙遠。

"We were at a point where we were frustrated with the moves. The most obvious
thing to do was to trade your star player for some young pieces and rebuild
from there," said Pierce, the longest-tenured Celtics player since the original
Big Three.

「球隊處在百廢待舉的當下，最明顯地是球隊要利用年輕的球員再造。」PP這位超賽的隊長
如此表示。

"I pretty much thought it was over. I can't even explain it. I thought I was
going to be a Los Angeles Clipper; I thought I was going to be anywhere but the
Celtics," he said. "All I know is if I wasn't a Celtic, right now I'd be home."

「我以為什麼都要結束了，我甚至無法解釋一切，我想我或許會去洛杉磯快艇隊也說不定，
我要去任何球隊，偏偏不是超賽。」PP說道：「如果我不在超賽，就是在家。」

(↑附註：原文裡的這句「All I know is if I wasn't a Celtic, right now I'd be home
」的真意很耐人尋味，不在超賽就是在家，不知道可不可以理解成PP其實把塞爾提克看的跟
「家」一樣重要。)

Instead, the Celtics built around Pierce, adding Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in
one of the most dramatic overhauls in league history. The team that went 24-58
with a bunch of young players won 66 games this year and put the Celtics in the
finals for the first time since 1987.

(出乎PP的意料)，相反地超賽以PP為中心進行改造，戲劇性地交易來雷槍和KG，球隊的成績
由年輕球員領軍的24勝58負瞬間一躍為66勝的佳績，並自1987年以來再次重返決賽。

"I get the pleasure of seeing him play every night, but they could have went a
different way," Garnett said. "I'm glad to see the organization stand behind a
guy who has been able to give his all for them, for them to step up and
actually give him some players and some help, so that he can reach his goals as
a basketball player.

「我很榮幸能能每晚看到他(指PP)打球，但早該就有不同的方式才對。」KG說道：「我很高
興看到球隊給他支持，慢慢地替球隊補強，使PP能夠達到作為一個籃球員的最高目標。」

"When you're a competitor, man, the one thing you want is a chance. They
obviously went out and made the right deals. So my hat goes off to them."

身為一個競爭者要懂得把握機會，(湖人在對的時間做了對的決定)，KG表示：我向他們表達
尊敬。

The Lakers made a deal of their own, acquiring Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies on
Feb. 1 to help turn around a team that had shown promise before losing five of
seven. After Gasol joined them, the Lakers won 12 of their next 13 games and
went 28-9 the rest of the way before going 12-3 against Denver, Utah and San
Antonio in the playoffs.

湖人從灰熊隊換來Pau Gasol，Pau Gasol的到來讓湖人近13場比賽取勝12場，帶出28勝9負
的氣勢進入季後賽，在季後賽更以合計12勝3負的成績淘汰了丹佛金塊、猶他爵士和聖安東
尼奧馬刺。

That led them back to Boston, archrivals from 10 previous championship series;
the Celtics have won eight. Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who watched the Bryant
drama unfold from afar, said he wouldn't want it any other way.

湖人和超賽過去近十次的總冠軍賽交手，超賽贏了其中的八次。超賽的河流教練表示：現在
KOBE充滿張力的表現根本就是無所不能。

"I was just happy he stayed out West" where he would only face Boston twice a
year, Rivers said. "But I'm glad it worked out the way it worked out. Just like
Paul Pierce is a Celtic, Kobe is a Laker."

「我樂於看到他(指KOBE)待在西區，我們一個球季只需對壘兩次。」河流說道：「但事情自
有解決之道，就像PP之於超賽，KOBE之於湖人一樣的理所當然。」


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