https://tinyurl.com/3kt6muhw Timberwolves have matured greatly over the past year. Denver series will show just how far they’ve come The Denver Nuggets are defending NBA champions — and the favorites to come out of the Western Conference again — for multiple reasons. 金块队能在上季夺冠有很多原因。 They have the best player in basketball in Nikola Jokic. Jamal Murray is an all-star caliber guard. Their starting five fits together like a glove. Nikola Jokic、Jamal Murray、以及完整先发五人。 And, just as importantly, the Nuggets win games on the margins. They’re the best clutch-time team in the NBA, dominating the final five minutes of tight contests. They’re relentlessly efficient and opportunistic. One brief lapse of play by the opponent at any point in the contest, and the Nuggets will likely emerge victorious. 金块队在关键时刻，最後五分钟拉锯战表现是全联盟最佳。不停歇效率 以及机会把握。对手比赛间短暂松懈，他们可能就掌握了赢球契机。 Just ask the Lakers, who led for much of their first-round series against Denver, yet were ousted in five games. 问问湖人队，他们在首轮多数时间领先，但还是五战被淘汰。 “They’re a machine. They don’t make mistakes. They don’t beat themselves,” Timberwolves guard Mike Conley said. “That’s where our discipline has to be able to come into play.” 「他们是一台机器，不会犯错，不会自乱阵脚。」Conley 说道。「我们 必须让球队纪律发挥作用。」 Which, a year ago, would’ve been a frightening proposition for Minnesota. The 2022-23 Wolves were talented but often tripped over their own feet thanks to a slew of self-inflicted mental errors. They were undisciplined and immature, often at the most inopportune times. 对一年前的灰狼来说，这会是很吓人的提议。22-23球季的灰狼虽然很有 天赋，但因为一系列自己造成的心理错误，时常把自己绊倒。他们的纪律 性和成熟度都不够，且常发生在不恰当的时间点。 “Yeah, I think our emotional control was really disappointing at times,” president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said at last year’s end-of-season availability. 「是的，我认为有时我们情绪控制很令人失望。」Tim Connelly 在去年 球季最终记者会上表示。 Connelly went into last offseason noting a large focus would be placed on guys being more mature when things didn’t go their way. 进入去年休赛季，Connelly 要球员聚焦在使自己更成熟，尤其在事情发 展不如所愿时候。 “I think the best teams, oftentimes, are the teams that are most able to emotionally be kind of consistent in the inevitable ups and downs,” he said. “So, that’s a focus we’re going to have internally for sure.” 「我认为优秀团队往往在无可避免的起伏中，有办法保持情绪稳定。」 他继续说道。「因此，这肯定是我们内部专注的目标。」 It’s a major credit to the Timberwolves that they’ve taken major strides in those departments this season. You don’t win 56 regular season contests without consistency and discipline. 今年球季，球队在这些环节显然有很大成长。如果缺乏稳定性和纪律性， 例行赛很难赢得56胜。 Anthony Edwards certainly piled up technical fouls but, as a whole, the Timberwolves — while emotional — generally kept their heads above water and focused on the task at hand. That was especially true in their first-round victory over Phoenix. 确实还有 Anthony Edwards 累积不少技术犯规，但整体来说，球员在情 绪激昂时，能保持脑袋清晰，专注手边的任务。从首轮对战太阳队系列 赛胜利就能观察出来。 But Denver figures to test Minnesota’s resolve at a higher level, because the Nuggets will make runs. They will force errors. They will cause mental fatigue and, with it, frustration. 但金块队会是这些环节上的更高试炼，因为他们会跑动，制造失误，造成 对手心理上疲乏，且伴随而来的沮丧。 “They’re a team that wears you down,” Conley said. “Mentally, you can have a 5- to 10-point lead late in the game, and, boom, they’re back in it and they take control of the game. They find ways to make plays, timely plays. 「他们会让你疲惫不堪。」Conley 表示。「特别在精神层面。也许在比赛 末段领先个五至十分，然後一眨眼，他们追了回来并控制战局。他们总有 办法执行，且很及时。」 “So for us, you just gotta not let that wear on you. You’re not going to have those games where you win by 20. You’re not going to have those games where it’s a big blow out. It’s gonna be tight games. It’s gonna be rough and physical. You’ve gotta be able to withstand their runs all the things that they throw at you.” 「所以对我们来说，避免被那些情绪影响。不会有20分甚至更大分差的轻 松胜利，战况会变得胶着，更加艰难且激烈对抗。你必须能扛得住他们排 山倒海的出招。」 Wolves assistant coach Micah Nori said the team went over video on Thursday showing how, if you complain about a call or simply fall asleep at the wheel, Jokic and Co. will capitalize for an easy bucket. 助理教练 Micah Nori 表示，在周四的球赛影片回顾，球员们看到金块队 如何在你抱怨吹判，或是失神状态下，掌握机会轻松取分。 “So, just as a matter of fact, there can be no lag times,” Nori said. “And the attention to detail, we did a great job with it in Phoenix, I thought, but even more so this series with how they take advantage of it. And even dropping the ball and rolling it (to burn time), just little things that you have to be on high alert, pick up a little bit more full court, so they can’t take one of those precious few seconds.” 「所以事实上，没有太多放松闲置时间。」Nori 说道。「对於细节掌握， 我们在首轮系列赛做得很好，但第二轮的对手会更善用这环节，场上一些 小事情，你必须保持高度警觉，不让他们占优势。」 Everything matters in what’s expected to be a tightly-contested series. Karl-Anthony Towns said Denver’s execution and discipline is “second to none.” 在这个预料实力接近的系列赛，每一件事情都很重要。Karl-Anthony Towns 表示丹佛的执行力和纪律是「首屈一指」。 “So we’ve got to be willing to play for 48 minutes. We’ve had moments in the Suns series where we had some slippage, where it didn’t look like we were playing all 48 minutes — maybe 44, 45 minutes,” Towns said. “But with a team like this you can’t afford to have those three minutes, even two minutes, of slippage where you’re not playing disciplined basketball. Because they’re just so good of capitalizing on those moments of not just weakness, but slippage in our offense or defense.” 「全场48分钟专注是必须的。遭遇太阳队系列赛，我们会有表现下滑的时 刻，也许只有44、45分钟的专注。」Towns 说道。「但对上金块队，不太 容许有三分钟，甚至两分钟缺乏纪律的表现，因为他们擅长抓住那一段小 空档，不只是弱点，也有攻守状态的短暂下滑。」 Conley said the Wolves can’t foul or give up shortcuts. They have to minimize all mistakes in between the lines to take max advantage of their athleticism and skill, which they feel match up well with Denver. Conley 表示球队必须控制犯错次数，并把活动力和技巧等优势展现出来。 “We feel we have a lot of guys that can go out there and score and defend and play up and down, so then it becomes the mental part,” Conley said. “The little details that we have to be 100% sure on, really sharp on.” 「我们有一群能在攻守两端发挥的球员，所以心理层面是决胜关键。」 Conley 说道。「我们必须百分百准备好这些小细节，确实地琢磨好。」 If they do that, the Timberwolves could very well knock off the champs and, in the process, show themselves to be a championship-caliber club. The Wolves have the talent to defeat Denver. Do they also have the mental fortitude? 如果他们能做到，那灰狼队有能力压过卫冕军，并且在过程中证明有夺冠 实力。有击败金块队的天份，在精神层面是否也有同样的毅力？ It’s time to see just how far the Wolves have come over the past year. 灰狼队过去一年成长了多少，到了检视的时刻。 “We’re playing the best team in the league and the defending champs, so it’ll be a great test for us just to see how we can have emotional control — which I thought was excellent in the first series — and game-plan discipline,” Connelly said Thursday. “It’s not about playing perfect basketball. There’s plenty of things we can do better. We can execute better. Those things are controllable, and for us to get to where we want to go, we have to control those things at an elite level.” 「挡在我们面前是上季冠军，联盟最佳球队，这对我们将是很好试炼，观 察我们如何维持首轮做好的情绪控管，以及执行赛前计画纪律性。」 Connelly 在周四时表示。「并不需要打出完美篮球，而是有些环节可以 更好，我们可以有更好执行力。这些都是可掌握的环节，要达到我们的目 标，必须提升到更杰出层级。」 --- 两队实力相近，且又互相了解， 临场表现还有心理层面对抗就很关键， 预料战况胶着，也很考验关键时刻的发挥。 在高强度竞争，也许球队又再度进化，再让球迷惊奇。 --

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