[外電] Pistons blow chance to sweep aside Bulls

[spur (上上下下左左右右baba)]

                           原文出處：
                                   http://myurl.com.tw/7gc5

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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.

大班站在他在場上最不熟悉的位置，罰球線。他運球，他投籃….ㄔㄨㄚˋ。他運球，他投
籃，又一次….ㄔㄨㄚˋ。全場沸騰，大班滿意的點點頭。觀眾盡情歡呼。公牛以102-87獲
勝。

And the Pistons had another game to play.

然後…..活塞現在要再打另一場比賽了。

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.

他們現在負了時間債了，活塞們。他們在向自己借時間。在這個系列賽裡，每多打的一節
都應該是活塞保留下來應付下一個系列賽的。每多打的一分鐘，本來都應該讓活塞隊員好
好休息以對付其他對手的。

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?

請原諒我就是這麼直。這個系列早該在星期天就結束了，完結在一個死氣沉沉、半滿的聯
合中心球場裡。大家對這一場球本來是沒啥興趣的。沒有人要買票進場。介紹球員時高亢
的聲音，簡直就好像野台戲售票員看到富婆時逼出來的嘶吼。當你的球隊在前三場被打的
七零八落，眼看就要被掃地出門時，你還能對球隊報什麼期望?

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.

所以在公牛小將們剛開始表現出的活力消失後 ---大概是在第二節中---活塞取得領先，而
公牛崩潰，這場比賽的結果就好像成熟的果實一般，已經可以摘取了。但是活塞就在此止
步不前，接著就把領先讓了出去。活塞沒辦法傳好球、沒有好好抓籃板，同時又陷入犯規
麻煩，防守不利，出手時機不佳，放過許多公牛球員的問題。同時他們那漫不經心的態度
也與他們季後賽其他比賽的表現大不相同。

"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."

“這是我們第一次放鬆了我們的防守，至少是在這一次的季後賽連勝裡。"槍蜥在比賽過後
表示。"往好的方面想，當我們認真起來的時候，我們還是有以往的水準”

The negative thing is, they didn't do it until the fourth quarter.

問題是....，活塞到第四節才發威。

'We took this game for granted'

我們把勝利想的太理所當然了

"I don't care who it is," Wallace said from the Chicago side. "We are better
than being swept in four games."

“我不管對手是誰，"大班表示。”我們現在比被橫掃好多了。”

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.

或許吧。但是在第二節，公牛們幾乎已經是盤中餐了。活塞由落後八分反擊，在第二節剩
四分鐘時反超前三分。

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.

全場沉寂。球迷們開始看時間。這正是下刀的好時機啊。但是在一次持球進攻中，公牛投
失四球卻也抓下四個進攻籃板，最後由20歲的新秀Thomas灌進兩分。

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.

公牛重回領先，並不斷追加分數，轟炸籃框。當活塞回神的時候，已經落後21分了。即使
是Evel Knievel(1940年代著名摩托車特技表演者)也沒辦法跨過這個差距。

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.

下面是一些數據：
51-33，公牛在籃板數上領先十八個。
6-25，這是活塞的三分命中及出手數。
0-0-0，這是CW上場17分鐘的投進數、罰球數和最後得分。
6-6-6，這是槍蜥、RIP和袋鼠的犯規數。
哈囉，有人嗎?我知道活塞很厲害，但是有的時候也要派人上場打球啊。

"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."

“今晚我們把勝利看的太簡單了，”袋鼠說。”我們應該一開始就突襲他們，畢竟我們的
確有機會在這一場解決他們。但我們沒有把握機會。”

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.

順帶一提，活塞這場的25個三分，有十二個是蜥蛙投的。這位老兄這場還有四個失誤、
四次犯規、一個技術犯規，而且比他的前隊友，大班，少抓十個籃板。

比賽後在休息室哩，蜥蛙不斷調高他的I-POD喇叭的音量直到聲音大的讓人什麼都聽不到、
什麼都說不出來。當助理把音量轉小，他又會出現把音量轉大並且選適合他心情的歌。要
是他在這場比賽裡也有這種注意力，活塞第二天可能可以睡到中午了吧。

Giving up a chance to rest

錯失休息的機會

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，你總不能對一支之前在季後賽七連勝的隊伍生氣吧。大家都知道活塞遲早會輸，但
不應該是這一場啊。

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.

沒幾種情況會比公牛的處境好 -- 季後賽3-0落後，即使扳成3-1，再下一場又必需客場作
戰來苟延殘喘。通常這種落後的球隊會在比賽開始展現活力，表現的好像很有決心一樣，
避免死刑的到來。然後，就好像在沸水裡的龍蝦一樣，他們慢慢呼出最後一口氣，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."

“我對這場敗仗感到失望，我很失望我們被打倒了，我也很失望我們沒有打出自己的風格
，”老桑說。”…當我們投了25個三分球時，那表示我們太放鬆了，我們想要用比較省力
的方法贏球。…我們沒有對這一場比賽用心”

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.

他們下一場比賽可能要用心了。當然，我知道就差一場勝利了，而且我們很可拿下下一場
，畢竟公牛的季後賽經驗實在是太少了。但是記住，Skile和他的公牛已經沒啥好輸的了。
他們已經拿下一場，破了活塞的金鐘罩，避免了被橫掃的窘境。他們無論如何都要回到芝
加哥 – 他們一定會全力求勝來達成這個目標。

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.

現在和公牛的每一場比賽都是多餘的。在場上的每一分鐘都是種浪費。而肌肉扭傷和受傷
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.

沒有人期望活塞完美無缺。每個人都希望活塞第五戰能贏。但是只要公牛尚有一息，他們
就還有希望，有希望就有那種可能。就好像大班竟然在第四節罰進兩球確保公牛的勝利一
樣。

Said Saunders: "It's a series now."

Saunders說”這比較像個系列賽了”

It shouldn't be.

但這本來該是個屠殺的。
--
呼....
有錯就請大家指正了

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