Never been a writer before, but you know what? Before this season I'd never really been a point guard, either. So let's do this.
我之前从来没有写过东西，不过没关系，这个赛季之前我还从来没打过控球后卫呢。
The other day Trevor showed me the article that he wrote and it really got me thinking about this team and our season and everything my teammates have done for me.有一天，阿里扎给我看了他写的一篇文章，这让我开始思考我们这支球队，整个赛季，以及所有队友为我做的一切。Not only my teammates. Coach, too. In a way, this whole ride started back last summer with Coach D'Antoni's crazy idea.不仅是我的队友，还有教练——丹东尼。从某种角度上来说，这一切都开始于丹东尼去年夏天那个疯狂的想法。After Coach took the job, we immediately got on the phone — talking about what went wrong last season, talking about our roster, talking about changes we could make.他接下了教练工作之后，我们很快通了电话，我们聊了上个赛季存在的问题，我们的阵容，以及我们可以做出的改变。Normal intro-type stuff. It was clear he was smart as hell about basketball, but laid back, too. He was asking questions and listening, instead of acting like he already knew everything.I liked his vibe right away.都是些场面上的东西。很明显，丹东尼是个在篮球方面十分聪明的家伙，而且十分随和。他一面提问一面倾听，他并没有装作一切了如指掌的样子。我立马就喜欢上了这种感觉。And then before we hung up, he stopped and just said straight up: "Honestly, we need you to be the point guard."在我们挂断电话前，他停顿了以下，然后直截了当地说：“说实话，我们需要你成为一名控球后卫。”I heard him … I mean, I heard the words he was saying. But it's like they didn't register right away. After the call, the thing that stuck in my head was the way he'd said it, not even what he'd said. "We need you to be point guard." Need. Not want. Not would like. Need.我听到了……我的意思是，我明白他说的话，但又似乎没放在心上。这通电话之后，我脑海中挥之不去的是他说出那话的方式，而不是内容。“我们需要你成为一名控球后卫。”需要。不是要，也不是想要。而是，需要。It wasn't a random choice of words, either. I knew I had to at least hear him out. But there was one thing that bugged me about it, though I didn't tell him right away what it was.这个词不是随随便便说出来的。我知道我至少有必要让他把话说完。但还有一事一直困扰着我，尽管我当时没有告诉他。We met up a number of times over the summer. Coach is big on film, and we watched a lot of it. Sometimes it was a Rockets game but mostly it was older stuff — from those run-and-gun Suns teams he coached.那个夏天我们见过很多次面。丹东尼教练是个录像迷，所以我们一块看了不少。有时是一场火箭比赛，但大多数是更久远的比赛录像——那些他曾执教过的炮轰球队的比赛。Basically, we watched a lot of Steve Nash running the point. Coach said he wanted me to study one of the great scoring point guards in the history of the game.基本上，我们看了很多史蒂夫·纳什的比赛录像。教练说他希望我研究一下这个有史以来最伟大的进攻型控卫。It was some of the most fun I've had in a film room. I can still see Coach pointing at the TV, getting excited about something Nash had done in a game.我在录像室里获得了不少乐趣。我现在还能看到丹东尼指着电视机，看到纳什在比赛中的表现而兴奋异常。He'd pause the film, and we'd talk about Nash's ability to change pace, or how he was reading the defense, or how he always seemed to get guys the ball who hadn't touched it in a few possessions.他会暂停录像，我们会讨论纳什在改变节奏方面的能力，或者他是如何阅读防守，或者他如何总是能让那些几回合碰不到球的队友得到机会。Coach talked about how Nash was a vocal leader — something I've tried to improve on more and more each year. And he kept telling me how much Nash evolved as a player each season.丹东尼讲述了纳什是如何做一个“乐团的领唱”（领袖），这也是我每一年都在努力提升的地方。他不断告诉我纳什是如何每年保持进步的。Again and again the idea of me moving to the point would come up. And I think he was basically trying to say: If you're willing to score a little bit less, and have the ball in your hands more, you could be running the offense like this.一次又一次地，丹东尼提出让我打控球后卫这件事。我想他是想说：“如果你愿意少得一点分，多一点持球，那么你就可以像纳什一样掌控进攻。”Then he'd point back to Nash on the screen. One day I had to tell him what was on my mind. "Uh, Coach? I have to say … I'm not the biggest fan of Seven Seconds or Less." That's what I told him. Looking back, I'm surprised I said that.然后，他便再次指向银幕上的纳什。有一天，我不得不告诉他我内心的想法。“呃，教练？我得说……我不是十分喜欢所谓的七秒进攻。”我就是这么说的。回想起来，我很惊讶我说出这话。Seven Seconds or Less is the thing that made him famous in Phoenix. But I wasn't trying to knock that system. I was just trying to be honest: Just because it had worked for them didn't mean it would work for us.七秒进攻正是让教练扬名凤凰城的绝技，但我并不是要打破这个体系。我只是想说出实话：七秒进攻虽对太阳奏效，但并不意味着也适用于火箭。I knew our team was going to be able to fill it up, but a run-and-gun team? It didn't seem like our style. We were going to have to work the shot clock a little longer to get better shots.我知道我们的球队有能力学学这一体系，但真的要成为一支炮轰球队吗？看起来这并不是我们的风格。我们得让计时器走得时间长一点，这样才能得到更好的得分机会。Coach's response surprised me. He didn't get defensive. He wasn't even mad. He just told me that I was missing his point.
丹东尼的反应令我吃惊。他对此并不觉得反感，他甚至没有发疯。他只是说我误解了他的观点。Forget the position, he said. Watching film wasn't about trying to copy the Suns offense or even about point guard. It wasn't about a position on the court at all. Coach was talking about sacrificing for something bigger than myself.他说，忘记所谓的位置。观看录像并不意味着要复制太阳队的进攻方式或成为纳什那样的控球后卫。要点全然不在于球场上的位置。教练的意思是，为了大我，要牺牲小我。I was a young'un when I got to Houston five years ago. Back then, I honestly don't know how I would've responded to Coach's request.五年前，当我初到休斯敦时，我还是个愣头青。回想那时，老实说，我并不知道如何回应教练的要求。But this year feels different. I'm older, I'm closer with this group than any other team I've been on. It's in how we play. We really do believe we're better together than we are as individuals.但今年有所不同了。随着年龄的增长，我与火箭这支球队的关系比任何我曾经待过的球队都要来得紧密。我们深信团结一致胜过孤军奋战。We really do get along on and off the court. Everyone has a role. Everyone does their part. We sacrifice for each other.不论场上场下，我们都相处愉快，所有人各司其职，所有人为彼此牺牲。You can see it in a guy like Pat. Pat's got that dog in him. We all have that one person in our lives who just has your back unconditionally. The basketball team version of that person for us is Pat. He goes to war for us every single night, and he won't back down to anybody.一个典型的例子就是贝弗利。贝弗利仿佛是一条恶狗。我们生命中总会有一个人无条件地挺你，而在篮球这件事上，无条件支持我们的就是贝弗利。每个夜晚他都为我们而战，他不会向任何人低头。In Game 1, when he ran into that Steven Adams screen, everyone saw him hit the deck. But you probably didn't really notice what happened after — how Pat stood up, shook it off and pointed to the sky.在季后赛的第一场比赛中，当他撞上亚当斯的掩护时，所有人都看到他重重地摔倒在地。但你可能没有真正注意到之后发生的事情——他站了起来，毫不在乎，指了指天空。How our bench reacted. And then how he sparked a run for us. How we never looked back. How we won the game and then the series.这时你再看我们板凳席上的反应。他点燃了我们进攻的火把，他从不回头。这便是我们赢得比赛，也是赢得整个系列赛的方式。Plays like that have been setting the tone for us all year. That was some Rockets basketball right there.这样的回合为我们整个一年的比赛奠定了基调。这便是此刻的火箭式篮球。It's not just Pat. Eric came here wanting to be a starter but accepted a bench role — because we told him that's what the team needed in order to be at our best. He didn't even question it. The majority of guys in this league wouldn't do that, believe me.不仅是贝弗利一人。戈登起初来到这里是想要打首发的，但他接受了自己板凳球员的角色——因为我们告诉他球队需要他做出牺牲，这样才能让我们做到最好。他对此毫无置疑。相信我，联盟中绝大多数球员做不到这样。It's everybody, from the top of the roster all the way down. Nenê's our wise man, always telling me when I do something wrong.从第一人到第十五人，我们每个人都是如此。内内是我们的智囊，他总是在我做错时提醒我。Clint's the young buck that I've tried to kind of take under my wing. He's one of the most willing-to-learn young guys I've ever played with.卡佩拉是个精力充沛的年轻小伙，我要尽量罩着他。他是我所有队友中最乐于学习的人之一。That's going to take him far, and it's crucial for our team in the playoffs. To make a run this playoffs, we're going to need to lean on everyone at some point.这会让他不断进步，而这对我们在季后赛中至关重要。为了赢得季后赛，我们要彼此依靠。I really could go on forever about my teammates, and about this city. Houston has showed me love from Day One. It's meant everything to me. I grew up as a player here.关于我队友和这座城市的赞美之词，我可以说个不停。从我来到这的第一天，休斯敦便向我展示了她对我的爱。这对我来说意味着一切。作为一名篮球运动员，我在这里不断成长。When I first arrived, I had a list in my head of all the things I wanted to achieve on a personal level. You know, things that any young player thinks about. I wanted to prove what I could do. Nothing wrong with that stuff. But now it's just different.初来乍到，我在脑海中列了一个清单，上面写着我希望达到的个人成就。你懂得，就是那些所有球员都会想的事情。我想要证明我的能力，这没什么错，不过现在不同了。Now it's: What does this team need to do to win? That's my obsession now. To be the kind of leader who does what's necessary to win. The rest? It's extra. So I'm gonna stop now and let our play do the talking.现在时：这支球队需要做什么才能赢球？这便是我现在的“执念”。我要成为球队的领袖，为了赢球而付出一切。其他的？那都是分外之事了。所以我就写到这里好了，剩下了就让我们的比赛来证明一切。更多精彩内容请关注微信公众号、新浪微博：篮球英文堂