[外電] 老喬補破洞，活塞再度邁向總冠軍

[Leek ( つかさ )]

出處：http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=3080872

(譯文同時發表於個人網誌)


Dumars addresses holes, hopes to push Pistons back to NBA finals
老喬希望補上球隊漏洞，並能藉此讓活塞回到總冠軍賽

Associated Press


Updated: October 26, 2007, 2:40 PM ET

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Joe Dumars didn't like what he was seeing.
【密西根州奧本山】老喬不喜歡他看見的這些鬼東西。


"Too many jump shots. Not attacking the rim," he wrote. "New blood. Fresh
legs."
「太多跳投，而太少攻擊籃框，」他寫道，「新血！活力！」
(譯註：這是指有點像是備忘錄一樣，把要著重的部份take notes下來。)


Nearly five months have passed since the Detroit Pistons president of
basketball operations typed in those notes on a Blackberry while sitting
in the stands at Cleveland as his team collapsed in the conference finals.
在去年於分區冠軍賽裡被克里夫蘭給慘電的當時，身為底特律活塞執行總裁的老喬，
就在他的Blackberry裡面寫了這些關於球隊所亟需改善的重點。而距離現在，都已經
過了快五個月的時間了。
(譯註：Blackberry是一間加拿大手提無線通信設備品牌，這裡是指老喬用的PDA。)


Again.
那次又是一個慘痛的失敗。


Dumars set out to change what went wrong and believes he has done just that.
因此，老喬試著找出錯誤的所在，並且相信他所修正的，就是讓球隊朝向正確的方向。


He is counting on an influx of new faces to help get the Pistons back over
the hump, pushing them into the NBA finals for the first time in three
seasons.
這次他所依賴的就是許多新面孔的加入，試著讓球隊再次努力，往三年裡首次的總冠軍
賽而前進。


Dumars kept together his top five players -- choosing to ignore calls to
trade Rasheed Wallace -- because he believes their championship window hasn't
been slammed shut.
老喬也努力維持隊上的五位主力球員，而無視於交易溪蛙的那些聲音。因為老喬相信，
總冠軍的機會之窗，還沒有關上。


Antonio McDyess, who will move into Chris Webber's vacated spot in the
lineup, hopes his boss is right.
即將遞補CW84成為先發陣容的袋鼠，選擇信任老喬的決策。


"We won't have many opportunities to win it with this same team," McDyess
said. "It's been two years we've had about the same starters but haven't made
it to the finals."
「我們已經剩下沒多少機會，可以用這樣的陣容去贏球了，」袋鼠說，「我們已經有著
相同的陣容兩年，卻連總冠軍賽都沒有辦法打進去。」


The Pistons appeared to be tired toward the end of the Eastern Conference
finals against the Cavaliers last season, and Miami in 2006.
在去年東區冠軍賽對上騎士，以及前年對上熱火的時候，活塞看起來彷彿相當的疲累。


Perhaps the cumulative effect of playing more games in a five-year stretch
than all but one team over the last six decades took its toll. The Pistons
were on the court 509 times counting the regular season and playoffs,
trailing only Boston's 512 games played during its glory years in the mid-
1980s.
或許這就是贏球贏太多的後遺症吧。過去五年內，包含季賽與季後賽算起來，活塞打過
的比賽場次，在NBA史上排名第二(509)，只輸給1980年代的塞爾蒂克，那時他們正處於
最發光發熱的時候(512)。


Over the last two-plus decades, Detroit's run of five straight conference
finals is behind only the Los Angeles Lakers' run of six in a row.
過去的二十多年裡，活塞連續五次打進分區決賽，也只比湖人的六次少一次而已。


"It shows that we've been really good for a long time," shooting guard
Richard Hamilton said. "But it also shows you that we need some of our
younger guys to bring energy off the bench like we did in our championship
year."
「這些紀錄都證明了這段期間我們一直都是很傑出的，」Rip說道，「但這同時也暗示了
我們需要年輕的新人在板凳上帶給我們活力，就像奪得總冠軍的那年一樣。」


When Detroit easily eliminated Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers in 2004, reserves
Mehmet Okur, Mike James, Corliss Williamson and Lindsey Hunter provided a
spark.
在2004活塞狂電湖人拿下冠軍的時候，像是Memo，偽大帝，威廉大叔，獵人，都是屬於
板凳暴徒的成員。


The Pistons are hoping Jason Maxiell, Amir Johnson, Jarvis Hayes and rookies
Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo can do the same this year.
而現在，活塞希望J-Max，Amir，Hayes和新秀Stuckey/Afflalo可以扮演這樣的角色。


They probably won't ever live down drafting Darko Milicic second overall in
2003 -- passing on Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh -- but they
salvaged the 15th pick from Orlando for the bust and used it on Stuckey.
他們也許不像當年小米粒的來頭這麼顯赫─當然是指他的順位竟然高過甜瓜，Wade與Bosh
，不過今年利用魔術的15順位選到Stuckey也確實是神來一偷。


The 6-foot-5 guard was what Dumars was looking for, giving Detroit a young
and energetic player that can attack the rim while keeping Chauncey Billups
and Hamilton fresh for the end of games and the playoffs.
這位6-5的後衛正是老喬在尋找的人選，可以帶給底特律攻擊籃框的能力，也能讓槍蜥
和Rip在比賽末端與季後賽時可以得到更多的休息。


Stuckey broke his left hand in the last exhibition game and is expected to
miss about the first five weeks of the season.
然而Stuckey在最後一場熱身賽裡弄斷了左手，而可能會缺席開季的前五周。


Afflalo lasted until the 27th pick in the draft, and the former UCLA star
seems determined to make a lot of teams regret it.
而第27順位，前UCLA的明星球員的Afflalo，看起來可能會讓很多錯過他的球隊惋惜。


Just several hours after arriving home from an exhibition game in Grand
Rapids, the shooting guard was at the Pistons' practice facility working
out on his own even though a practice wasn't scheduled.
某場於Grand Rapid舉辦的熱身賽結束，球員們返家的幾個小時支後，這位活塞的得分後
衛又出現在活塞的練習場裡面自主訓練，即使這完全沒有列入之前的菜單當中。


"He was showing up before the janitor, so we had to give him the security
code to get in the building," Dumars said, looking through the blinds in
his office at Afflalo shooting. "Any guy that works that hard gives himself
a chance to be a player in this league."
「他常常比警衛還早來，所以我們乾脆給他門禁卡了。」老喬一邊說，一邊透過辦公室
的百葉窗看著Afflalo練投，「任何一個這麼努力的人，都應該有機會成為聯盟中的一個
球員。」


Billups is reaping the benefits of hard work and talent a decade after being
drafted. He signed a $60 million, five-year contract, with $46 million and
four years guaranteed, as a free agent last summer.
在被選秀進入聯盟近十年之後，槍蜥就得到了以他的天份和努力而應得的五年六千萬的
合約，包括前四年的四千六百萬的保障合約，與最後一年的選擇權。


Detroit lost Ben Wallace a year ago and was not going to let Billups get
away. The point guard is too valuable to a franchise clinging to hopes of
staying among the NBA's elite.
一年前活塞失去了班蛙，所以說什麼也不會再放掉槍蜥。對於想要在聯盟裡維持在前段班
的競爭力，這位控球後衛實在是一個相當重要的無價資產。


"I definitely think we can contend for the championship," Billups said. "A
lot of things have to go right, like they do for everyone."
「我當然確信我們可以衝擊總冠軍，」槍蜥說，「很多事情都運作得相當的正確，就像
球隊對於每位球員的安排與處置一樣。」


A key for Detroit appears to be how well Rasheed Wallace and coach Flip
Saunders coexist after they struggled to get along at times last season.
Fans are left with the memory of Wallace having a meltdown, arguing with
officials during the final game at Cleveland.
對底特律來說，類似的關鍵可能就落在溪蛙和老桑，在去年季末的不合之後，今年
雙方的和平共存。球迷們可能還對去年最後一場對騎士的比賽裡，溪蛙的憤怒以及
和裁判的爭執相當記憶猶新。


Both Saunders and Wallace downplayed any lingering issues between them, and
Dumars is convinced they can work together and win.
老桑和溪蛙都不是那種會記仇，或是對不愉快的事情念念不忘的人，而老喬也確信他們
可以一起努力並且贏得比賽。


Dumars is giving Saunders a third season on the sideline -- something Larry
Brown and Rick Carlisle didn't get -- and is allowing Wallace a shot at
proving he's more of an asset than a liability.
比當年老布朗和卡帥更優渥的是，老喬給了老桑第三年執教的機會，這也給了溪蛙再
一次的機會來證明，他會是球隊往前進的動力，而非拖油瓶。


Saunders shrugged off any suggestion of feeling pressure this season,
especially after his near-death experience last summer. He and his daughter
were driving near the Minneapolis bridge when it collapsed.
今年有一些聲音告訴老桑，例如建議他如何處理這些球隊的壓力。對此老桑不置可否，
尤其是在去年暑假那種逆境之後。去年暑假當明尼亞波里斯大橋崩塌的時候，老桑和他
女兒正開車經過。


"That put a lot of things in perspective," he said.
「這也讓我把很多事情視為新的機會與希望。」他說。


Wallace, meanwhile, looks and sounds as focused as he has been since joining
the Pistons during the 2003-04 season and helping them win a championship.
He dropped about 20 pounds and didn't lose a touch of his swagger after the
Cavs rallied from a 2-0 deficit to eliminate Detroit.
同時，溪蛙彷彿又回到了03-04球季剛被交易來活塞的時候，被視為是奪冠最後拼圖，
並且幫助球隊搶下最後總冠軍的那一刻了。在瘦了20磅的同時，他也不會忘記在以0-2
領先騎士，最後卻反而被逆轉而輸球之後開砲。


"I look at it as another seven-game series we should have had last year,"
Wallace said. "But it will happen this year -- that's because it's personal."
「去年那場系列賽，我認為只是另一個我們應該要贏的系列賽罷了。」溪蛙說，「但今年
我們會贏的，因為這已經不是普通的系列賽了，而是我個人的原則問題。」
(譯註：personal應該是個人之間的仇恨blahblah，但我覺得這樣翻比較有趣。)


--
We may be human,
But we still animal.
                                 ＝ Steve Vai ＝

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