翻译：为什么掘金最大的优势会在季后赛消失

With three minutes to play and up by six points Monday night, the Toronto Raptors were in great position to get a terrific victory.

But they had a problem, they were playing the Denver Nuggets at the end of a close game -- in Denver. That situation has been a torture chamber for Nuggets' opponents this season. And so it was again.

There is no team that can touch the devastating effectiveness of the Nuggets in the clutch this season and the Raptors couldn't either. Denver won the final minutes by a 15-4 margin -- though the end was marred by a controversial ejection for Raptors' forward Scottie Barnes -- and racked up another victim.

周一晚上比赛还剩 3 分钟，多伦多猛龙队领先 6 分，他们处于取得一场大胜的有利位置。

但他们有一个问题，他们在一场势均力敌的比赛结束后要对阵丹佛掘金队——在丹佛是每一个客队的折磨场。又是这样。

本赛季没有一支球队可以在关键时刻给予掘金队毁灭性打击，而猛龙队也不能。丹佛队以 15-4 的小高潮赢得了最后几分钟——尽管猛龙队前锋斯科蒂巴恩斯有争议的被罚出场让比赛结束——并且又增加了一个受害者。

With big-market, star-laden teams behind them in the standings and losses before the conference finals in the last two seasons even as Nikola Jokic was winning Most Valuable Player Awards, the Nuggets are sometimes disrespected.

Even now, despite sitting in first place in the Western Conference for nearly the entire season and opening a seven-game lead on the Memphis Grizzlies to practically lock down the No. 1 seed, the Phoenix Suns have zoomed past Denver as favorites to win the West after trading for Kevin Durant, according to Caesars Sportsbook.

尽管尼古拉·约基奇赢得了MVP，但在过去两个赛季的分区决赛前，由于大市场、明星云集的球队在球队榜上落后于他们，掘金队有时会受到不尊重。

即使是现在，尽管几乎整个赛季都在西部排名第一，并且领先孟菲斯灰熊队 7 场，几乎锁定了头号种子，但菲尼克斯太阳队已经超越丹佛成为夺冠热门。据 Caesars Sportsbook 报道，在交易凯文杜兰特后太阳就升至第一。

But the truth is the Nuggets are a victory machine, and especially so in clutch time. Defined as when the score is within five points in the last five minutes or in overtime, it's when the Nuggets dominate their opposition.

For every 100 possessions Denver has played in the clutch this season, it has outscored opponents by a ridiculous 24.5 points. If a team is in a close game with the Nuggets in Denver, it's just merciless, as they have smothered the other team by a preposterous 34.7 points per 100 possessions.

但事实是掘金队是一台胜利机器，尤其是在关键时刻。定义为在最后五分钟或加时赛的五分钟以内，这是掘金队统治对手的时候。

丹佛本赛季在关键时刻每百回合，得分就高出对手24.5 分。如果一支球队在丹佛与掘金队的比赛势均力敌，那将是无情的，因为他们会每 100 回合以荒谬的 34.7 分击败另一支球队。

To put it in perspective, the Philadelphia 76ers are the second-best team in the clutch with Joel Embiid and James Harden developing a terrific chemistry, including an impressive clutch-time road win to end the Milwaukee Bucks' 16-game win streak on Saturday.

Philadelphia has been excellent, yet have outscored teams by "only" 15.2 points per 100 clutch possessions.

One of the knocks on the Nuggets' title chances is that their defense isn't elite -- to be fair, outside of the Grizzlies, none of the league's top defenses resides in the West -- and Denver does rank a pedestrian 12th in defensive rating.

从正确的角度来看，费城 76 人队是关键时刻第二好的球队，乔尔·恩比德和詹姆斯·哈登形成了极好的化学反应，包括令人印象深刻的关键的客场胜利，结束了周六密尔沃基雄鹿队的 16 连胜.

费城一直表现出色，但每 100 次关键回合得分“仅”超过对手 15.2 分。

掘金队夺冠的一个障碍是他们的防守不是精英——公平地说，在灰熊队之外，联盟顶级防守球员没有一个在西部——而丹佛在防守方面确实排在第 12 位。

But when they have to get stops in the clutch, when games slow down and half-court execution becomes paramount, the Nuggets zoom to No. 1, allowing 92.7 points per 100 possessions.

Two offseason acquisitions -- versatile defenders Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown -- seem to have made a huge difference for the Nuggets on this front when combined with Aaron Gordon, who has great size and the ability to switch on defense during those sometimes-chaotic end-of-game moments.

但是当他们不得不在关键时刻停下来时，当比赛放缓并且半场进攻变得至关重要时，掘金队会升至第一，每 100 回合失分 92.7 分。

两个休赛期收购——多才多艺的防守者威尔 - 波普和布鲁斯布朗- 当与阿隆戈登结合时，这似乎对掘金队在这方面产生了巨大的影响，阿隆戈登拥有巨大的身材并且能够终结那些有时混乱的比赛。

Led by an ever cool-tempered playmaker in Jokic, the Nuggets have the league's No. 2 offensive rating. This isn't a surprise at all. The Nuggets have the second-most prolific offense in the NBA and lead the league in 3-point percentage (39.0).

"They have a couple new players and have a couple players who have missed some time with injury, but overall they have a lot of continuity compared to a lot of the rest of us," a Western Conference coach told ESPN. "Jokic and [coach Michael] Malone have been together a long time, and when you play them you can feel their experience in those moments. I'm envious of it."

在约基奇这位永远冷静的组织核心的带领下，掘金队拥有联盟排名第二的进攻效率。这一点也不奇怪。掘金队的进攻效率在 NBA 排名第二，三分球命中率 (39.0) 位居联盟榜首。

“他们有几个新球员，也有几个球员因伤缺席了一段时间，但总的来说，与我们其他人相比，他们有很多连续性，”一位西部教练告诉 ESPN。“约基奇和[教练迈克尔]马龙已经在一起很长时间了，当你和他们比赛时，你可以感受到他们在那些时刻的经历。我很羡慕。”

Jokic generates great shots non-stop for himself and his teammates -- and under pressure is where they've shined. Brown has shot 58.8% in the clutch this season and Gordon a whopping 63.0%. Michael Porter Jr. shoots 42.9% on clutch 3-pointers. Jokic shoots 54.3% overall in the clutch.

Jamal Murray, who puts up more average clutch numbers than his teammates, demonstrated his ability to make pressure plays the last time he was healthy for the postseason in 2020.

约基奇为他自己和他的队友不停地投出精彩的投篮——而在压力下，他们表现得淋漓尽致。布朗本赛季在关键时刻的命中率为 58.8%，而戈登的命中率高达 63.0%。小迈克尔·波特 关键三分球命中率为 42.9%。约基奇在关键时刻的投篮命中率为 54.3%。

贾马尔·穆雷 (Jamal Murray)的平均关键得分比他的队友多，他上一次身体健康时在 2020 年季后赛中展示了他制造压力的能力。

The thing is, clutch play during the regular season hasn't historically carried over to the playoffs. Last season, the 64-win Suns had one of the best clutch ratings (33.4) in the history of the league, and Chris Paul and Devin Booker obliterated teams down the stretch of games. In the playoffs, they faded and were shockingly sent out in a second round that included a Game 7 collapse to the Dallas Mavericks.

In 2020-21, the Portland Trail Blazers were the league's best clutch team, with a net rating (27.4) that resembled the Nuggets' this season. The Blazers lost in the first round. None of the other teams ranked in the top four in the clutch that season -- the Charlotte Hornets, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers -- made it any further.

问题是，从历史上看，常规赛的关键比赛并没有延续到季后赛。上个赛季，64 胜的太阳队拥有联盟历史上最好的关键得分之一（33.4），而克里斯保罗和德文布克在季后赛中，他们逐渐衰落，并在第二轮令人震惊地被淘汰出局，其中包括在第 7 场比赛中大比分输给达拉斯独行侠队。

在 2020-21 赛季，波特兰开拓者队是联盟最好的关键时刻球队，净胜分 (27.4) 与本赛季的掘金队相似。开拓者队在第一轮就输了。那个赛季在关键时刻排名前四的其他球队——夏洛特黄蜂队、纽约尼克斯队和洛杉矶湖人队——都没有更进一步。

In 2019-20's COVID-altered season, it was the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were also sent home in the first round.

In 2018-19, the scrappy LA Clippers pre-Kawhi Leonard and Paul George willed themselves to the playoffs by assembling 48 wins. Owner Steve Ballmer was a fixture bouncing in his courtside seat as Lou Williams brought home numerous games as a closer off the bench -- only to be beaten in the ... you guessed it... first round.

There are reasons behind this trend.

在 2019-20 的新冠改变的赛季中，是俄克拉荷马城雷霆队。他们也在第一轮被送回家。

在 2018-19 赛季，斗志旺盛的洛杉矶快船队在科怀伦纳德和保罗乔治之前取得了 48 场胜利，将自己带入了季后赛。老板史蒂夫鲍尔默在他的场边座位上蹦蹦跳跳，因为路易斯威廉姆斯作为替补席上的终结者带队赢得了很多场比赛 - 只是在......你猜对了......第一轮被击败。

这种趋势背后是有原因的。

Opponents are better prepared during playoff series than for one-off regular-season contests. Clutch scenarios often succumb to a level of randomness. There's also a belief that the NBA's elite teams don't worry about clutch-time performance because they end games long before then.

Then there's the playoff pressure. The 2021-22 Golden State Warriors were a middling team in the clutch during the regular season and then a monster in the playoffs, outscoring opponents by 21 points per 100 possessions. When the lights were brightest, so were the four-time champs.

与一次性常规赛相比，对手在季后赛系列赛中准备得更好。有些场景通常会屈服于一定程度的随机性。还有一种观点认为，NBA 的精英球队并不担心关键时刻的表现，因为他们早在关键时刻前就结束了比赛。

然后是季后赛的压力。2021-22 赛季的金州勇士队在常规赛中是一支处于关键时刻的中等球队，然后在季后赛中成为怪物，每 100 回合净胜对手 21 分。当灯光最亮时，四届冠军也是如此。

The Nuggets certainly have all the ingredients to keep it going beyond the regular season, starting with a potential three-time MVP, to make it happen. If they're going to make the first Finals in team history, they're surely going to need to stay clutch.

掘金队当然拥有让它超越常规赛的所有要素，从潜在的三届 MVP 开始，让它成为现实。如果他们要进入球队历史上的第一个总决赛，他们肯定需要保持优势。