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. 金塊隊能在上季奪冠有很多原因。 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、以及完整先發五人。 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. 金塊隊在關鍵時刻，最後五分鐘拉鋸戰表現是全聯盟最佳。不停歇效率 以及機會把握。對手比賽間短暫鬆懈，他們可能就掌握了贏球契機。 Just ask the Lakers, who led for much of their first-round series against Denver, yet were ousted in five games. 問問湖人隊，他們在首輪多數時間領先，但還是五戰被淘汰。 “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.” 「他們是一台機器，不會犯錯，不會自亂陣腳。」Conley 說道。「我們 必須讓球隊紀律發揮作用。」 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. 對一年前的灰狼來說，這會是很嚇人的提議。22-23球季的灰狼雖然很有 天賦，但因為一系列自己造成的心理錯誤，時常把自己絆倒。他們的紀律 性和成熟度都不夠，且常發生在不恰當的時間點。 “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，我認為有時我們情緒控制很令人失望。」Tim Connelly 在去年 球季最終記者會上表示。 Connelly went into last offseason noting a large focus would be placed on guys being more mature when things didn’t go their way. 進入去年休賽季，Connelly 要球員聚焦在使自己更成熟，尤其在事情發 展不如所願時候。 “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.” 「我認為優秀團隊往往在無可避免的起伏中，有辦法保持情緒穩定。」 他繼續說道。「因此，這肯定是我們內部專注的目標。」 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，球隊在這些環節顯然有很大成長。如果缺乏穩定性和紀律性， 例行賽很難贏得56勝。 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. 確實還有 Anthony Edwards 累積不少技術犯規，但整體來說，球員在情 緒激昂時，能保持腦袋清晰，專注手邊的任務。從首輪對戰太陽隊系列 賽勝利就能觀察出來。 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. 但金塊隊會是這些環節上的更高試煉，因為他們會跑動，製造失誤，造成 對手心理上疲乏，且伴隨而來的沮喪。 “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. 「他們會讓你疲憊不堪。」Conley 表示。「特別在精神層面。也許在比賽 末段領先個五至十分，然後一眨眼，他們追了回來並控制戰局。他們總有 辦法執行，且很及時。」 “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.” 「所以對我們來說，避免被那些情緒影響。不會有20分甚至更大分差的輕 鬆勝利，戰況會變得膠著，更加艱難且激烈對抗。你必須能扛得住他們排 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. 助理教練 Micah Nori 表示，在週四的球賽影片回顧，球員們看到金塊隊 如何在你抱怨吹判，或是失神狀態下，掌握機會輕鬆取分。 “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.” 「所以事實上，沒有太多放鬆閒置時間。」Nori 說道。「對於細節掌握， 我們在首輪系列賽做得很好，但第二輪的對手會更善用這環節，場上一些 小事情，你必須保持高度警覺，不讓他們佔優勢。」 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.” 在這個預料實力接近的系列賽，每一件事情都很重要。Karl-Anthony Towns 表示丹佛的執行力和紀律是「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.” 「全場48分鐘專注是必須的。遭遇太陽隊系列賽，我們會有表現下滑的時 刻，也許只有44、45分鐘的專注。」Towns 說道。「但對上金塊隊，不太 容許有三分鐘，甚至兩分鐘缺乏紀律的表現，因為他們擅長抓住那一段小 空檔，不只是弱點，也有攻守狀態的短暫下滑。」 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 表示球隊必須控制犯錯次數，並把活動力和技巧等優勢展現出來。 “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.” 「我們有一群能在攻守兩端發揮的球員，所以心理層面是決勝關鍵。」 Conley 說道。「我們必須百分百準備好這些小細節，確實地琢磨好。」 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? 如果他們能做到，那灰狼隊有能力壓過衛冕軍，並且在過程中證明有奪冠 實力。有擊敗金塊隊的天份，在精神層面是否也有同樣的毅力？ It’s time to see just how far the Wolves have come over the past year. 灰狼隊過去一年成長了多少，到了檢視的時刻。 “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.” 「擋在我們面前是上季冠軍，聯盟最佳球隊，這對我們將是很好試煉，觀 察我們如何維持首輪做好的情緒控管，以及執行賽前計畫紀律性。」 Connelly 在週四時表示。「並不需要打出完美籃球，而是有些環節可以 更好，我們可以有更好執行力。這些都是可掌握的環節，要達到我們的目 標，必須提升到更傑出層級。」 --- 兩隊實力相近，且又互相了解， 臨場表現還有心理層面對抗就很關鍵， 預料戰況膠著，也很考驗關鍵時刻的發揮。 在高強度競爭，也許球隊又再度進化，再讓球迷驚奇。 --

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