[荐]组织后卫之死

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这是我还在搞NBA版面的时候，翻译的一篇文章，原文实在非常非常的棒，让我爱不释手，但是最终这篇文章无法出现在报纸上……我觉得这是今年的一大遗憾……现在只好放在这里，希望大家喜欢。

文/皮洛斯（insidehoops.com）
译/板凳

组织后卫，现年54岁，在NBA已经死去，死于他的堂弟得分后卫之手。

他出生在1950年秋天，传奇后卫鲍勃.库西成为波士顿凯尔特人球员的那天。组织后卫成为团队灵魂的代名词，充当球队的领袖、组织者和场上教练。

“传球第一，投篮第二”只是他风格的表象，虽然在现代职业体育中这样的无私风度已不多见。他的领导才华和篮球思想，让球队打上他的烙印，融洽得像一个人，团结成一股方向明确的力量。

组织后卫的场上动力来源于对胜利的渴望和追求完美的信念。这推动着他在50年内不断完善着自己的技巧，成为推动NBA进步的催化剂，他的灵感催动着无数后人的追随崇拜：鲍勃.库西、K.C.琼斯、阿奇巴德、加尔文.墨菲、“魔术师”约翰逊，伊赛亚.托马斯、约翰.斯托克顿、马克.杰克逊、贾森.基德，他的灵魂宛如火炬接力般一代代在后人手中传递。

库西如是说：“如果说篮球是一种艺术，那么这门艺术的创造力、表现力和生命力的源泉，将源于斯托克顿或贾森.基德这样的正牌组织后卫。”

他的职业生涯几十年来一帆风顺，被上升到艺术家的高度加以评价。但他更像一名建筑师而不是油画画家，他以数学家的精确将球传向正确的位置，时空拿捏之准确仿佛使用了六分仪和计算尺。“魔术师”约翰逊和马克.杰克逊也许在他们的表演中增加了几分花俏，但那也是基于最基本的原则。

但在90年代以来，NBA球迷却被迫痛苦地接受，这门艺术已经被污染得面目全非。也许是太多得分手搅翻了联盟的平静，也许是人人都想成为飞人乔丹，再也不考虑场上的分工。组织后卫的生命已经被扭曲，我们曾经爱入骨髓的那些美妙篮球风格一去不复返了。

在最近十年伤害组织后卫最深的，是所谓“双能卫”的家伙——他们当传统的得分后卫不够高，又没有足够的传球天分——简直就像当年的乔.杜马斯用克隆技术复制出无数个自己。这些后卫也许能凑合传出几次好球，也有跟传统组织后卫类似的速度和敏捷，但他们已经是一类完全不同的球员，只在乎自己的得分和成就。所谓“一人球队”越来越多，NBA也向艾弗森、巴伦.戴维斯、范埃克赛尔、马布里、弗朗西斯这样的后卫敞开大门。

控球后卫在板凳席上朽烂，当这些新新人类已经能够一手搞定全队进攻时，谁又会需要控球后卫的组织功能呢？他的魂魄已老去，他的心已破碎，在场上变得可有可无。

球迷常常疑惑，为什么NBA比赛越来越没有味道，越来越粗糙？还记得吗？斯基尔斯在1990年单场送出30次助攻，魔术师在84年全明星赛助攻22次，还有职业生涯送出1万5806次助攻的斯托克顿那不可磨灭的优雅。走位空切、团队合作和领导才华，那些在NBA光辉岁月中熠熠生辉的绝技今天何在？哪里还找得到五人一体的球队？或者说，传球的艺术去了哪里？

美好的回忆已经远去，如今人们喜欢的是双能卫们，他们不停地投篮得分，偶尔传一次球，然后继续投篮得分。比卢普斯就是这么个最近被捧上天的家伙，他在今年总决赛平均每场有5.2个助攻，而托马斯在1990年总决赛平均每场有7个。更难以企及的是魔术师约翰逊，他在84年总决赛第二场送出20个助攻，而第三场这个数字是21。

这就是美国和世界各地真正的球迷赶到悲哀的事实，传球艺术和控球后卫已经在NBA渐渐消亡。

感谢你，控球后卫，曾给了我们那么多美好的享受，如今，我们只好开始习惯没有你的日子。

（以下为原文）
Goodbye, Point Guard, you will be missed

By Jean-Paul Pelosi / Sept 1, 2004

The NBA Point Guard died today due to complications surrounding a neglected existence. He was 54. He is survived by his more popular cousin, Shooting Guard.

Born in the fall of 1950, when the legendary Bob Cousy began his professional career in Boston, PG carved out a role as a team staple - a selfless playmaker and organizer, a leader, an on-floor coach.

His "pass first, shoot second" mentality was one of a kind, spawned by an unselfish nature rarely seen in professional sports. He was a "people" person, a unifier of mind and purpose with the sole intention of instilling team harmony.

PG"s motivation arose from a desire to win and achieve the best result. Developing his skills over five decades, he rapidly became the catalyst of the NBA offense and inspired numerous others to follow his lead; Bob Cousy, K.C. Jones, Nate Archibald, Calvin Murphy, Earvin Johnson, Isiah Thomas, John Stockton, Dennis Johnson, Mark Jackson, Scott Skiles and Jason Kidd, to name a few.

Cousy once said, "If basketball is an art form it primarily resides in the artistry, creativity, imagination and development of the nuances of the position by a genuine point guard such as John Stockton or Jason Kidd."

"Genuine" was one of PG"s nicknames.

His career flourished through the decades and over that time elevated to an art form. More like architecture than oil painting though, he distributed the ball with the same mathematical accuracy required to use a set square. Magic Johnson and Mark Jackson may have added flair but only on top of a fundamental base.

So it was with extreme anguish that NBA fans were forced to swallow a contaminated blend of this skill during the turn of the 1990s. Perhaps the arrival of too many scorers spoiled the league"s delicious broth. Or maybe everybody, regardless of position, just wanted to be like Mike. Whatever the cause, PG"s life was forever changed by a modern recipe that no longer resembled the sweetness of basketball that we had come to love.

The last decade especially harmed PG"s presence on the floor. Hybrid guards - too small to be traditional scorers and too tall to be restricted as passers - marched into the NBA as if Joe Dumars had gone mad and cloned himself over and over again. These guards nullified the need for a pure "two-guard", providing teams with the same scoring capacity in a much more dynamic package. Conversely they could fulfill a mild passing role, offering point guard-like speed and dexterity to dish to open players.

The end result was a new guard-type that excelled in self-sufficiency and became engrossed in personal achievement. A one-man-band if ever there was one, the NBA"s doors opened and remained latched back for the Iversons, the Davis", the Van Exels, the Marburys, the Billups", the Fishers, the Flip Murrays, the Francis" and the Cassells to enter.

PG was benched. What use was there for a Point Guard after all when the new guys could take care of most offensive requirements?

His heart defeated and his soul bruised, PG eventually floated from the game altogether. And while he became expendable and hardly recognized, many fans wondered why the standard of the NBA had depreciated. Where was the movement, teamwork and leadership that had embodied the league"s golden years? Where was the ball distribution, the even flow of the five-man unit? And more importantly, where was the artistry of the pass?

Remember when Skiles broke the single game assist record in 1990 with 30? Or how about when Magic served 22 set-ups in the "84 All Star game? And we will never forget the grace with which Stockton accumulated a best ever 15, 806 career assists.

Such magnificence seems from a retro era - achievements to reminisce and not expect to again. It may as well be the "starting four" from this point on.

These days we revere the "avant" guard. He shoots, he scores, he throws the occasional pass, and shoots again. Chauncey Billups was the most recently praised of the hybrid battalion. The 2004 Finals MVP averaged a paltry 5.2 assists per game in the championship series. Compare this to Isiah Thomas" 7 apg in 1990, against the Lakers incidentally. Billups probably couldn"t even imagine passing the ball as regularly as Isiah or Magic did when they played in the Finals. Magic tallied 20 assists in Game 2 of the Finals against Detroit in "87 and 21 in Game 3 against Boston in "84, just for example. In the 1985 finals he averaged 14 assists per game!

That is why true basketball fans across America and around the world now mourn. The passing of the NBA Point Guard is a sad moment in the history of the sport.

Thanks for the memories, PG. We"d be better off adopting a "no-look" without you in the ball game.