[外電] Miracle Men

[kerrys (台北不是我的家)]

    原文出處：
              http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/langlois_blog_070327.html

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Sure, it was a lucky shot. A one-in-a-million shot, as Flip Saunders said. The
kind of shot fathers and mothers will tell sons and daughters about when they
take them to their first Pistons game 30 years from now. The kind of shot the
coach on the wrong side takes to his grave.
    當然，那是幸運的一球。就像老桑所說的，百不得其一的一球。那種球是30年後當父
母親們帶著他們的小孩第一次到場觀看活塞球賽時還會津津樂道的，也是敵隊教練一直到
過世為止都還無法忘懷的。

But if you write off the missile Rasheed Wallace launched from the other side
of half-court – it only seemed like the other side of the world – to send
Monday night’s ridiculously entertaining game with Denver into overtime
completely to luck, you’re not seeing the larger picture.
    不過如果你把星期一晚上活塞能將與丹佛金塊的比賽逼進延長賽都功勞都算在溪蛙由
另一端半場所投進那顆 - 就像是從地球另一頭發射的 - 底特律洲際飛彈，那你可能沒看
清楚整件事情的絕大部分。

Which is this: They had to believe in the possibility of an impossible
situation in order to enable it.
    那就是：為了達成目標，他們必須去相信在不可能的情況下的任何一絲絲可能性。

It would have been easy for the Pistons to make a half-hearted effort to
contest Denver’s inbounds pass and let the game play out the way the thousands
who’d already vacated their seats at The Palace expected it to play out. It
would have been understandable if the Pistons had decided to figuratively beat
the traffic, too, down two starters due to illness and with a stand-in playing
heavy minutes after submerging himself in freezing water to knock a few points
off his 103-degree fever.
    對活塞來說，不全力以赴去干擾金塊的場邊發球，讓球賽結果演變成宮殿裡已經離開
座位的那數千名球迷所想像的那樣是容易許多。如果活塞在兩名先發球員因傷缺陣，還有
一位替補球員為了讓103度(攝氏39.4度)的體溫降下來而將自己泡在水裡後還上場45分鐘的
情況下決定只是虛張聲勢一下，而不盡力去封阻也是可以理解的。

But Flip Saunders looked at his team – and, more and more, you sense that
Saunders feels it’s his team now, unlike a year ago, when he struggled with
how much of himself to impose on a tight-knit bunch that had known success
doing it another way – and gave them the “strange things happen … you never
know” speech. And they bought it.
    但老桑看著他的球隊 - 而且，越來越讓你感覺老桑認為這的確是他的球隊，而不像一
年前他掙扎著要讓自己融入一支已經組織嚴密且以另一種模式成功廣為人知的那樣 - 並告
訴他們"不可思議的事情就是會發生...你永遠不會知道"的言論。而他們聽進去了。

So Tayshaun Prince, on whom the brunt of the increased workload for those still
upright has increased to cover for those injured or ill or suspended, willed
himself to one more quick burst of energy despite having already played 40
exhausting minutes. He got his hand on the careless pass Marcus Camby attempted
to Carmelo Anthony.
    所以小王子在因為隊友生病或遭禁賽而必須擔負更多責任的情況下，儘管已經拼盡全
力打了40分鐘還是願意再迸發出僅存的一點力氣，把他的手放在馬馬虎虎準備將球發給甜
瓜的M.Camby面前揮舞。

Not that it should have mattered. The ball could have just as easily wound up
in friendly Denver hands and that would have been that. And even if it managed
to find its way to a Piston, what were the odds of anything productive
happening? The ball was inbounded with 1.5 seconds to play – 75 feet from the
basket that mattered. The clock starts ticking as soon as it’s touched. It had
to get from Prince’s deflection to a teammate and back out of his hands in
less time than it takes to read this sentence.
    並不是說這一定會有用。球可以輕易地被傳到金塊的球員手上而比賽也將大勢底定。
而且就算球真的落到活塞球員手中，出現任何有價值的事情的機率又有多少？球傳進場內
時比賽時間只剩下1.5秒 - 距離那個能起到作用的籃框有75呎遠。只要有人碰到球比賽時
間就會馬上繼續算下去。球被小王子撥掉，而溪蛙立即將球撿起再投出去的時間比你讀完
這個句子所需的時間還短。

Oh. And then it had to find a target hard to hit from one-third the distance
and damn near impossible to find from half as far.
    喔，而且從球場三分之一的距離遠要找到目標已經很難了，更何況是要從半場遠的距
離投進，這幾乎是不可能的事。

Slim and none, as Chuck Daly used to say, and slim just left town.
    就像C.Daly過去常說的，機會微乎其微，而且根本就是不可能。

Except Rasheed Wallace, who puts a charge into pretty much every Pistons
practice by attempting outrageous shots from distance and challenging teammates
to match him, believed in the possibility of an impossible situation made only
slightly less unthinkable by Tayshaun Prince’s hustle. So he snatched up the
loose ball, turned and gave it his best college try.
    但除了溪蛙，這個每次活塞練習時都試圖從遠距離投進令人吃驚的球並要隊友和他比
賽的傢伙，相信小王子的拼勁讓不可能的情況出現了一絲可能性，所以他抓起了被小王子
撥掉的球，轉身並用盡了最大的努力投出那一球。

It looked dead on as it traced that perfect arc, a comet’s tail ablaze in the
charred night sky, but those last-ditch heaves often look dead on only to wind
up 3 feet long or 5 feet short. Or maybe they rattle inside the rim but
inevitably pop out from the violence of a collision that began 60-some feet
away.
    當球像一顆彗星的尾巴劃過漆黑夜空，留下完美的軌跡後，看起來比賽就要結束了，
因為那些最後的孤注一擲通常不是短了5呎就是遠了3呎。或可能他們會碰到籃框但卻無可
避免地又彈了出來，因為球是從60幾呎遠的地方非常用力投出的。

Except this one didn’t.
    不過這顆球不是這樣。

“Strange things happen,” Saunders told his team in their timeout huddle with
1.5 seconds to go, and “something strange really happened,” he told reporters
afterward. One in a million, he said.
    不可思議的事情發生了，"當比賽時間剩下1.5秒他們喊出暫停時，老桑告訴他的球隊
，而"不可思議的事情真的發生了，"賽後他告訴記者們。百不得其一的一球，他說。

One in a million, indeed.
    百不得其一的一球，真的。

Baseball managers are fond of saying that momentum is only as good as
tomorrow’s starting pitcher, and basketball coaches are no less cynical or
hopelessly pessimistic when it comes to such things. But Saunders accepted that
this win – given the circumstances of fatigue and the ravages of illness –
might just have some legs. Maybe not in their next game, or maybe not next week
. But maybe the next time they face an impossible situation. Maybe the next
time they’re down eight with three minutes left in a road playoff game,
they’ll look at each other and remember what they pulled from a hopeless
situation on a night they went to work with a skeleton crew.
    當比賽演變成這樣，棒球經理喜歡說氣勢端看明天的先發投手，而籃球教練也沒好到
哪去，一樣地悲觀或絕望。但老桑接受了這場勝利 - 儘管大家已經累得人仰馬翻而且飽受
傷兵問題困擾 - 在可用之兵不多的情況下。或許不是在他們的下一場比賽，或許也不是在
下個禮拜。但或許是在下一次他們面對不可能的情況下。或許下一次當他們在季後賽的客
場比賽剩下三分鐘仍以八分落後時，他們會看著彼此，記起他們在一個人手不足的夜晚如
何力挽狂瀾並贏得最終的勝利。

“Especially this late in the season,” Saunders said of the night’s lasting
effect. “We’ve had situations where we’ve never given up. A couple of games
ago we had a chance to win at the buzzer when we were down five with 35 seconds
to go. That’s the sign of a veteran team – keep on playing, knowing good
things can happen.”
    "尤其是在球季的末段，"老桑說到這晚會遺留下來的影響。"我們已經有過許多絕不放
棄的經驗。以前有幾場比賽當比賽時間剩下35秒時我們還以五分落後，但卻擁有最後一擊
取勝的機會。那是經驗豐富的球隊的表徵 - 繼續努力，知道好事有可能會發生。"

Rasheed Wallace’s reminder, made possible because the Pistons refused to
believe in impossibility, was for everybody else. The Pistons already
acknowledged the reality of miracles for those with the mettle to pursue them.
    溪蛙讓不可能變成可能的神來一投是要獻給其他的每一個人，因為活塞相信沒有不可
能，他們已經知道奇蹟是為了那些有勇氣去追尋且相信奇蹟的人而存在。

--
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