Duncan and Popovich: A love story
邓肯和波波维奇的爱情故事
It hasn't always been easy, but for 16 NBA seasons they've made it work
这十六年一路走来从不曾容易，但他们仍旧一同经历了这些风雨。
Updated: June 17, 2013, 2:23 PM ET
By Elizabeth Merrill | ESPN.com
A young man with a future as wide as the state of Texas once wandered off on
a trip to Florida. He was wined and dined and saw his face on billboards.
Tiger Woods was there to greet him. "Welcome to Orlando," he said to Tim
Duncan. Woods teed off and launched a shot that disappeared into the sky,
then dropped a few feet from the cup. "It was almost like God dropped the
ball down," a person who was standing next to Duncan said. Duncan is not an
excitable man, but even he thought that was cool. It made the trip even more
surreal.
一位前途无量的年轻人曾在佛罗里达漫步著，他品尝了红酒，享用了晚餐，抬头看见
广告牌上自己的脸庞。 Tiger Woods走过来打招呼。“欢迎来到奥兰多，”他对Tim
Duncan说道。 Woods扬手一挥杆，球瞬间消失在了空中，最终落在了洞口附近。“这
简直就是上帝扔下来的球，”站在Duncan边上的人评价道。Duncan可不是容易兴奋的
人，不过连他都觉得很酷。这样的击球让这段旅程更为梦幻多端。
It was the summer of 2000, and Duncan, future Hall of Famer for the San
Antonio Spurs, was making a free-agent trip to another city. By all accounts,
Duncan was seriously contemplating the Orlando Magic. He was 24 years old,
his eyes were even bigger than they get when he is called for a questionable
foul, and Orlando was wooing him and Grant Hill to change the face of a
franchise.
那是2000年的夏天，马刺未来的名人堂球员——自由球员Duncan正去考察另一座城市
。据普遍说法，Duncan很认真地考虑了奥兰多魔术。他年仅24岁，在被判一个可质疑
的犯规时，他的眼睛还会睁得大大的，而此刻奥兰多正在极力追求他和Grant Hill来
改变球队的面貌。
Back in Texas, a man with a gruff exterior and a social-studies-teacher
wardrobe was helpless. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich probably wouldn't have
admitted then that he had really grown attached to that kid. It wasn't just
that Duncan was 7 feet tall and did things so effortlessly. Duncan and
Popovich had become soul mates. They were complete opposites. Popovich was a
connoisseur of fine wine; Duncan drank soda. Duncan played video games;
Popovich barely knew how to turn on a computer.
回到Texas，一位面色粗狂，打扮得如社会学家的人却无比无助。马刺教练格雷-波波
维奇也许不会承认，那时他已经深深和这个孩子紧连在一起了。这不仅仅是因为七尺
的Duncan能轻而易举地完成各种任务，更是因为Duncan和波波维奇已经是灵魂伴侣了
。他们又是极端的相反，波波维奇是一位红酒鉴赏家；而 Duncan 喜欢喝碳酸饮料。
Duncan喜欢打电动游戏；波波维奇却几乎不会开电脑。
Duncan did not plan a TV show to announce his intentions. He went home to San
Antonio, and the same questions kept floating through his head. What are you
doing? Why would you mess with something so great?
Duncan没打算上电视来宣告自己的意向。他回到了圣安东尼奥的家，同样的问题在他
心中浮浮沉沉，难以定夺。你在干什么呢？你怎么能搞砸这么重要的东西？
Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich have won four NBA titles together in 16 years.
邓肯和波波维奇十六年来赢得了四座总冠军。
Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich have been together for 16 years, and it's the
greatest love story in sports. They collaborate and lean on each other, win
championships together, then comfortably fade into the anonymity of the NBA's
third-smallest TV market.
邓肯和波波维奇已经在一起十六年了，这可是体育界最完满的爱情故事。他们互相合
作互相依靠，一起拿冠军，然后安逸地躲进NBA第三小市场不被打扰。
It's not a love full of hyperbole or flowery prose. Duncan and Popovich have
this game-day ritual. Popovich takes a seat on the bench alone at halftime,
while the rest of the arena is scrambling or shooting or going for a beer,
and then Duncan plops down near him. They stare at the ground. Usually, they
say nothing. They've been doing this for years, and everyone has different
theories as to why.
这份爱并没有跌宕起伏和缤纷肆意。不过邓肯和波波维奇有着这样的比赛日传统，波
波维奇常中场时独自一人坐在板凳上，其余全队都在嬉闹，投射或喝水，然后邓肯会
扑通坐在他身边。他们一同注视着地板。通常，他们保持缄默，一言不发。他们这么
做很多年了，每个人都用自己的理论在解释为什么。
"They both are probably thinking the same thing," said New Orleans Pelicans
coach Monty Williams, who played with Duncan his rookie year. "Whatever that
is, I don't know."
“ 他们也许都在想一件事，”曾在菜鸟赛季和邓肯打球，鹈鹕队教练Williams 说道
，“不管它是什么，我反正不知道。”
"Pop is old and so is Tim, and they both need to get their rest," former
Spurs guard Brent Barry joked, then offered a more serious explanation.
“波波老了，Tim也老了，他们都得好好休息。”前马刺后卫Barry开玩笑道，接着又
给出了认真的解释。
"You have two sets of eyes on you as you're finishing off the task at hand.
You have the coach, but then you have the coach's first son. Your older
brother. Kind of the man of the house with Dad's car. And Tim is watching
over and kind of quietly assessing what you're doing, and nothing really
needs to be said."
“你在完成手中的任务时，有两双眼睛盯着你。首先是教练，接着就是教练的大儿子
，也是你大哥。就像那种家里拿着老爹车钥匙的人。 Tim观察著一切，安静地评估你
所做的东西，所以实在是没什么可说的。”
Duncan and Popovich have won four titles together in 16 years and are in a
tug-of-war with the Miami Heat for No. 5. They are so bonded that Popovich
said earlier this spring that he'll retire when Duncan does.
邓肯和波波维奇在这十六年赢下了四个总冠军，并有机会赢下第五个。他们是如此地
亲近以至于波波维奇在今年的春天刚到时说要和邓肯一同退役。
No player and coach in the history of the NBA, or even the NFL, have been
together longer. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who has teamed
up with Bill Belichick for one of the biggest dynasties in football, was just
a sophomore backup at the University of Michigan when Duncan and Popovich got
together. Phil Jackson was winding down an eight-year run with Michael
Jordan. "I think it speaks to the character of both of them," Jackson said of
Duncan and Popovich's longevity.
在NBA的历史上，甚至是NFL，没有哪位球员和教练能如此长久地在一起。新英格兰
爱国者四分卫Tom Brady，曾和 Bill Belichick一起缔造了美式足球最伟大的王朝
之一，而在邓肯和波波维奇在一起时，他才是密西根大学的大二替补。禅师曾和乔
丹相处了八年之久。“我觉得这取决于他们俩的性格，”禅师谈到邓肯和波波维奇
的持久。
Their relationship has been called everything from friendship to father-son
to a marriage. Neither is interested in analyzing it, especially now, in the
final push for another ring.
他们俩的关系被描述为任何东西，包括友谊，父子情和婚姻关系。不过他俩都没兴
趣讨论这个话题，尤其是在现在的冲刺阶段。
But they're intensely private men anyway, which makes it tough to fill news
cycles in San Antonio. One local TV station was so desperate it recently ran
a slideshow on its website of pets wearing Spurs gear. (The lapdogs and
kittens were more revealing than Popovich.) Just before the NBA Finals
started, the coach was asked to give his first impressions of when he met
Duncan. "He was tall," Popovich said, then walked away.
但他们都是很注重隐私的人，这也让在圣安东尼奥挖掘新闻尤为困难。当地电台最
近实在是手足无措，以至于只要在网站上放穿着马刺队服的宠物的照片（就是小猫
小狗也比波波维奇热衷于表达啊。）就在总决赛开打前，教练被问及见到邓肯时的
第一印象。“他好高，”波波维奇回答道，然后就走掉了。
Perhaps if they opened up more, they would reveal secrets they don't want
anyone to know. Such as that their chemistry makes everything seem easy.
也许如果他们更开放一些，他们会掀开那些不愿被人知道的秘密。比如，让全队如
此轻松的化学反应是什么。
Gregg Popovich is known as a coach who inspires selfless team play.
雷格-波波维奇以激发无私的团队打法名扬四海。
It has been said that Tim Duncan was so agreeable, so good, that he could've
been coached by anybody. He had long arms, a beautiful bank shot and a
toughness that belied his sinewy frame. There was a purity and genuineness
about him, almost as though he'd been untouched by the entitlements that come
to someone who knows at a young age that he's better than everyone else.
这里已经讲过邓肯是如此地迁就他人，如此地善良，以至于任何人都能做他的教练
。他拥有修长的双臂，漂亮的打板和蕴藏在强健身躯下坚韧不拔的精神。在他身上
散发的都是纯洁和真实，于是乎尽管他了解自己比他人都出色，他也不被自己的超
强能力所蛊惑。
Duncan was. He grew up in the U.S. Virgin Islands. His coach, apparently, was
a chemistry teacher. He might never have gotten noticed had an ex-Wake Forest
player not played against him during an NBA rookie tour of the Caribbean and
had that player's coach not been a constant recruiter, always asking, "Did
you see anybody good?"
这就是邓肯。他在美国的Virgin岛长大；他的教练却是一名化学老师。他也许从未
注意到，在他 NBA新秀之旅中没和前维克弗里斯特大学的球员打过球，也没有教练
一直在追问著，“你看到什么好球员了吗？”
Duncan had four schools after him