原文出处： http://myurl.com.tw/7gc5 -- CHICAGO -- Ben Wallace stood at the loneliest place in his world, the free-throw line. He dribbled. He shot. Swish. He dribbled. He shot. Swish again. The place exploded. Ben nodded. The fans had their cheer. The Bulls had their win, 102-87. 大班站在他在场上最不熟悉的位置，罚球线。他运球，他投篮….ㄔㄨㄚˋ。他运球，他投 篮，又一次….ㄔㄨㄚˋ。全场沸腾，大班满意的点点头。观众尽情欢呼。公牛以102-87获 胜。 And the Pistons had another game to play. 然後…..活塞现在要再打另一场比赛了。 They are on borrowed time now, these Pistons; they are borrowing it from themselves. Every quarter they extend this series is a quarter they should be saving for the next one. Every minute they play these Bulls is a minute they should be resting up for someone else. 他们现在负了时间债了，活塞们。他们在向自己借时间。在这个系列赛里，每多打的一节 都应该是活塞保留下来应付下一个系列赛的。每多打的一分钟，本来都应该让活塞队员好 好休息以对付其他对手的。 Let's be blunt. This series should have ended Sunday in a tepid United Center that was almost half-empty at tip-off. There was as much enthusiasm for this game as a teenager has for raking leaves. Tickets were being dumped. The pumped -up volume during introductions was as forced as a carnival barker yelling to see the fat lady. What do you expect when the home team has been whacked in the first three games, shooting poorly, looking lost? 请原谅我就是这麽直。这个系列早该在星期天就结束了，完结在一个死气沉沉、半满的联 合中心球场里。大家对这一场球本来是没啥兴趣的。没有人要买票进场。介绍球员时高亢 的声音，简直就好像野台戏售票员看到富婆时逼出来的嘶吼。当你的球队在前三场被打的 七零八落，眼看就要被扫地出门时，你还能对球队报什麽期望? So once the early adrenaline wore off for the Bulls -- midway through the second quarter -- the Pistons took a lead, the Bulls slumped, and the game hung red and ripe from the vine, plum for the picking. But the Pistons left it there. Then they gave it back. They gave it back with loose passes, weak rebounding, foul trouble, average defense, bad shot selection, several missing-in-action players, and a light-on-the-gas-pedal effort that is uncharacteristic of how they've played all postseason. 所以在公牛小将们刚开始表现出的活力消失後 ---大概是在第二节中---活塞取得领先，而 公牛崩溃，这场比赛的结果就好像成熟的果实一般，已经可以摘取了。但是活塞就在此止 步不前，接着就把领先让了出去。活塞没办法传好球、没有好好抓篮板，同时又陷入犯规 麻烦，防守不利，出手时机不佳，放过许多公牛球员的问题。同时他们那漫不经心的态度 也与他们季後赛其他比赛的表现大不相同。 "This is the first time in these playoffs that we've let our guard down, at least for that long a stretch," Chauncey Billups said after the Pistons' first loss of the postseason. "The positive thing is that when we started to play, we did what we do." “这是我们第一次放松了我们的防守，至少是在这一次的季後赛连胜里。"枪蜥在比赛过後 表示。"往好的方面想，当我们认真起来的时候，我们还是有以往的水准” The negative thing is, they didn't do it until the fourth quarter. 问题是....，活塞到第四节才发威。 'We took this game for granted' 我们把胜利想的太理所当然了 "I don't care who it is," Wallace said from the Chicago side. "We are better than being swept in four games." “我不管对手是谁，"大班表示。”我们现在比被横扫好多了。” Maybe. But the Bulls looked ready in the second quarter. The Pistons came back from eight points down and eventually took a three-point lead with 4:00 left in the half. 或许吧。但是在第二节，公牛们几乎已经是盘中餐了。活塞由落後八分反击，在第二节剩 四分钟时反超前三分。 The place was dead. Fans checked their watches. This was the moment to bring the blade down. Instead, on a single possession, the Bulls missed four shots but got four offensive rebounds and finally saw their 20-year-old rookie, Tyrus Thomas, dunk the ball. 全场沉寂。球迷们开始看时间。这正是下刀的好时机啊。但是在一次持球进攻中，公牛投 失四球却也抓下四个进攻篮板，最後由20岁的新秀Thomas灌进两分。 And the patient coughed back to life. 然後...，奄奄一息的公牛起死回生。 The Bulls regained the lead and kept piling on points, banging the boards. By the time the Pistons' caffeine kicked in, they were trying to erase a 21-point fourth quarter deficit. Even Evel Knievel couldn't make that leap. 公牛重回领先，并不断追加分数，轰炸篮框。当活塞回神的时候，已经落後21分了。即使 是Evel Knievel(1940年代着名摩托车特技表演者)也没办法跨过这个差距。 Here's a set of numbers: 51-33. That's the rebounding margin in favor of the Bulls. Here's another: 6-for-25. That's the Pistons three-point completions. Here's another: 0-0-0. That's Chris Webber's baskets, free throws and points in 17 ineffective minutes. Here's one more: 6-6-6. That's the fouls on Billups, Rip Hamilton and Antonio McDyess. Hey, I know the Pistons are good. But at some point you have to have players on the floor. 下面是一些数据： 51-33，公牛在篮板数上领先十八个。 6-25，这是活塞的三分命中及出手数。 0-0-0，这是CW上场17分钟的投进数、罚球数和最後得分。 6-6-6，这是枪蜥、RIP和袋鼠的犯规数。 哈罗，有人吗?我知道活塞很厉害，但是有的时候也要派人上场打球啊。 "Tonight we took this game for granted," McDyess said. "...We should have jumped on them early because we had a great chance to close them out and didn't." “今晚我们把胜利看的太简单了，”袋鼠说。”我们应该一开始就突袭他们，毕竟我们的 确有机会在这一场解决他们。但我们没有把握机会。” By the way, of those 25 three-point attempts, 12 were taken by Rasheed Wallace, who also had four turnovers, four fouls and a technical, and grabbed 10 fewer rebounds than his former teammate, Ben. In the locker room afterward, Rasheed kept coming back to an iPod speaker and blasting the volume, making it impossible to hear or talk. When a staff member turned it down, he re-appeared and turned it up again, picking songs that suited him. If he'd shown that much attention to detail on the court, the Pistons might be sleeping in this morning. 顺带一提，活塞这场的25个三分，有十二个是蜥蛙投的。这位老兄这场还有四个失误、 四次犯规、一个技术犯规，而且比他的前队友，大班，少抓十个篮板。 比赛後在休息室哩，蜥蛙不断调高他的I-POD喇叭的音量直到声音大的让人什麽都听不到、 什麽都说不出来。当助理把音量转小，他又会出现把音量转大并且选适合他心情的歌。要 是他在这场比赛里也有这种注意力，活塞第二天可能可以睡到中午了吧。 Giving up a chance to rest 错失休息的机会 But OK. You can't be very angry at a team that won seven straight before this. You knew Detroit was going to lose a game in this postseason. It just shouldn't have been this game. 好吧，你总不能对一支之前在季後赛七连胜的队伍生气吧。大家都知道活塞迟早会输，但 不应该是这一场啊。 There are few situations that set up better than a team trailing 3-0 in a playoff series and looking at a road trip to extend the inevitable. Usually what happens is the trailing team begins with a lot of energy, acts determined to stave off execution, and then, like a lobster in boiling water, slowly oozes its life away and surrenders. 没几种情况会比公牛的处境好 -- 季後赛3-0落後，即使扳成3-1，再下一场又必需客场作 战来苟延残喘。通常这种落後的球队会在比赛开始展现活力，表现的好像很有决心一样， 避免死刑的到来。然後，就好像在沸水里的龙虾一样，他们慢慢呼出最後一口气，然後投 降。 The Bulls had a white flag. But the Pistons had one, too. 但是不是只有公牛有白旗啊。活塞也有啊。 "I'm disappointed in the loss, I'm disappointed that we got beat, and I'm disappointed that we played at times out of character," coach Flip Saunders said. "...When we take 25 threes it shows that we settled too much and tried to take the easy way...We didn't get into the grind it out game." “我对这场败仗感到失望，我很失望我们被打倒了，我也很失望我们没有打出自己的风格 ，”老桑说。”…当我们投了25个三分球时，那表示我们太放松了，我们想要用比较省力 的方法赢球。…我们没有对这一场比赛用心” They may have to on Tuesday. Yes, I know, we're all counting on a victory, and it's likely to happen, because these Bulls are too young to beat this much experience. But remember, coach Scott Skiles' crew has nothing to lose now. The embarrassment of a sweep is gone. The invincibility of the opponent is gone. And they have to go back to Chicago anyhow -- so they might as well do it with a victory. 他们下一场比赛可能要用心了。当然，我知道就差一场胜利了，而且我们很可拿下下一场 ，毕竟公牛的季後赛经验实在是太少了。但是记住，Skile和他的公牛已经没啥好输的了。 他们已经拿下一场，破了活塞的金钟罩，避免了被横扫的窘境。他们无论如何都要回到芝 加哥 – 他们一定会全力求胜来达成这个目标。 Every game against the Bulls is now a game the Pistons didn't need to play. Every minute is a minute extended. Every muscle strain or injury is one that didn't have to happen. 现在和公牛的每一场比赛都是多余的。在场上的每一分钟都是种浪费。而肌肉扭伤和受伤 都是不必要的。 No one expected perfection. Everyone expects a Game 5 win. But where there's life there's hope and where there's hope, there's freaky potential, like Ben Wallace hitting two free throws in the fourth quarter to seal a win. 没有人期望活塞完美无缺。每个人都希望活塞第五战能赢。但是只要公牛尚有一息，他们 就还有希望，有希望就有那种可能。就好像大班竟然在第四节罚进两球确保公牛的胜利一 样。 Said Saunders: "It's a series now." Saunders说”这比较像个系列赛了” It shouldn't be. 但这本来该是个屠杀的。 -- 呼.... 有错就请大家指正了 -- --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.119.143.230