角逐MVP的黑马 - 詹姆士‧哈登
James Harden, the NBA's unlikely MVP
《运动画刊》(Sports Illustrated)封面人物专题报导
http://i.imgur.com/bn7icyc.jpg
作 者：Lee Jenkins
原文连结：http://ppt.cc/jEdk
日 期：Feb. 18, 2015 (杂志出刊日期为2月23日)
※文长慎入，此篇为节译。全文请参照连结。
[...]
That GM, Daryl Morey, had pursued Harden for three years and mined a plethora
of statistics that indicated he would be a megastar. A point guard by nature
and a shooting guard by trade, the 6'5" Harden excelled at almost every
offensive element prized in today’s NBA: orchestrating the pick-and-roll;
getting to the rim; getting to the free throw line; creating and making
three-pointers, especially the corner threes. But there is still no way to
project whether even the finest part-timer can sustain such performance for
40 minutes over 82 nights against an array of bespoke traps and double teams.
So when Morey sent Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two first-round draft picks
and a second-rounder to Oklahoma City for a package headlined by Harden,
the GM was betting that a star lurked inside. And when Harden boarded the
jet for Houston, having rejected a contract from the Thunder that fell
$6 million shy of the maximum, he was making the same bet.
火箭队的总经理莫雷，花了三年的时间追逐哈登，并且启用大量数据分析，预测
哈登很可能成为超级巨星。哈登是天生的控球后卫，打得却是得分后卫的位置。
他身高六呎五吋，拥有当今NBA最重视的进攻手段：挡拆、切入篮下、上罚球线，
能投三分也能替队友创造三分机会。但是一个最佳第六人，能否应付82场先发、
每场40分钟的严防与包夹，却是任何数据分析都无法预估的。当莫雷送出小马丁、
Jeremy Lamb，两个首轮、一个次轮，换来以哈登为首的包裹时，他赌的是哈登的
巨星潜力。而当哈登拒绝雷霆略低于顶薪的合约、搭上前往休士顿的私人飞机时，
他也在下同样的赌注。
I’m talented, but what if I’m not talented enough? Harden asked himself. I’
m smart, but what if I’m not smart enough? Then he eviscerated the Pistons,
and two nights later put 45 on the Hawks, and some of his uncertainty
evaporated. He made his first All-Star team that season, recorded his first
triple double, had career highs in almost every category. But Houston
finished eighth in the Western Conference, OKC first, and the Thunder took
their first-round matchup 4–2. “I still had Oklahoma City in my head,”
Harden says. “Did I make the right decision? Was it my fault? They were
still winning. It felt like they didn’t need me anymore.” Scoring and
playmaking came naturally to Harden, but a star’s other duties did not.
“我有天份，但如果我的天份不够呢？我很聪明，但如果我还不够聪明呢？”哈登
曾这样自问。首战击败活塞、下一场对老鹰再拿下45分后，稍稍挥去了他的不确定
感。那一季哈登第一次进入全明星赛、拿到生涯首次大三元，各方面都创下生涯新
高。火箭队最后排名西区第八，季后赛第一轮对上雷霆，以二胜四负落败。
“我依然常常想到雷霆。我的决定对吗？还是我错了？雷霆仍然在赢球，感觉他们
不再需要我了。”得分和组织对哈登而言在自然不过，球星的其他责任则不然。
Two years and four months have passed since the trade, and Harden is now a
25-year-old supernova, not only the most prolific scorer in the NBA and one
of the most productive passers, but suddenly a stopper and a leader to boot.
“Our best player since Hakeem Olajuwon,” says Rockets owner Leslie
Alexander. Houston sits tied for third in the West, Oklahoma City ninth. The
Thunder did need him after all. “I still think a lot about the ifs,” Harden
says. “But I’m good now.” A star does not reminisce about former employers
who withheld max contracts. He haunts them without remorse. Welcome to the
year of the Beard, the Mohawk and the Step Daddy, the year that slow became
fast, that Compton became Euro, and that drawing a foul became an art form.
交易过后的两年四个月，哈登已是25岁的超级新星，他不但是NBA的得分王、助攻
名列前茅、同时也承担起防守和领袖的责任。火箭的老板亚历山大说：“哈登是
继欧拉朱万之后，最优秀的火箭球员。”火箭队在西区排名第三，雷霆则位居第九
（注：目前已升至第八）。“我还会常常想到那些‘如果’，但我现在觉得好多了。”
一个明星不会怀念吝于给顶薪的前东家，而是让他们追悔莫及。欢迎来到属于
胡子、莫西干头、与后撤步的年代，在这里慢即是快、欧洲步是美国土法炼钢、
买饭成了一种艺术。
Houston has unleashed what Morey calls “the modern player,” an exemplar of
efficiency who actually scored 45 points in a game this season on 18 shots, a
line that sounds mathematically impossible. Harden averages 27.4 points, but
more impressive, accounts for a league-high 44.2 when including his assists.
If Morey built a player’s operating system, it would perform a lot like
Harden, who turns up his nose at midrange jumpers while generating foul shots
and corner threes at remarkable rates. “If I knew then what I know now,”
Morey says, “I’d have given up five more first-round picks.” Never mind
that Harden’s supposed sidekick, center Dwight Howard, has already missed 21
games and is out another four to six weeks with a right-knee injury. The
Rockets survive with a starting front line of Joey Dorsey and Donatas
Motiejunas. “James makes it easy,” Motiejunas says, “because he gets us so
open.”
休士顿火箭队莫雷所定义的“现代篮球员”，讲求的是效率。可以缴出18次出手
得45分这样不科学的数据。哈登本季场均27.4分，但加上他的助攻得分后，是
全联盟第一的44.2分。如果莫雷要环绕一个球员打造一套作业系统，那个核心
想必会是哈登的翻版：少投中距离、制造大量罚球与底角三分机会。
莫雷说：“如果我当年能够预见今日，我愿意再追加五个首轮给雷霆。”
尽管哈登的搭档，中锋DH本季已经缺赛21场，接下来由于右膝伤势还要缺阵4~6周，
但在多西和D-Mo先发的情况下，火箭仍然维持住战绩。“James让一切变得容易，
他总是能给我们海一样大的空档。”D-Mo如是说。
http://i.imgur.com/YKWWDXV.jpg
※图二：打蛋器转动手势
When Harden is rolling, he twirls his left index finger, like an egg beater
on the fastest setting. “That means something’s cooking,” says his
housemate and former high school teammate Greg Howell. It could be a number
of specialties: one of his four variations on the Eurostep or his lurching
straight-line drive or his super-slo-mo “step-back of death,” so named by
teammate Jason Terry because the move leaves defenders staggering as if they’
ve been shot. It could also be another leisurely stroll to the stripe. Harden
invites abuse, stretching his body and extending the ball when he approaches
the rim, baiting opponents to reach and slap. He proudly displays the scabs
along his forearms. He jokes about affixing name tags of his assailants, who
have helped shove him into the stratosphere previously occupied by Durant and
LeBron James. “I see an opportunity to become one of the best players in the
world,” Harden says. “I could be the best player in the world.”
当哈登状态火热时，他会以左手食指比出打蛋器快速转动的手势。“这表示大厨要
上菜了”他的高中队友及室友Greg Howell这么解释。那可能是他的某项拿手绝活：
也许是欧洲步、也许是大摇大摆的直线切入、或是有如慢动作重播的“死亡后撤步”。
这是队友Jason Terry起的名号，因为这会让防守者看起来像中枪般地脚步踉跄。
当然也可能是轻松地站上罚球线。哈登不回避肢体碰撞，切入篮下时，他会伸展身体、
把球高举，引诱对手来抢球和拍击。他骄傲地展示手臂上的伤痂，开玩笑说要在疤痕
上一一标注攻击者的名字。是这些人把他推上了和KD及LBJ同样的高度。“我看到了
成为顶尖球员的机会。”
Fans look at the overgrown beard and expect a similarly outsized personality,
but Harden must be comfortable to reveal it. He often speaks in a convoluted
lexicon that no one outside his inner circle can decipher. A standard
salutation is “Woowoo.” Goodbye is “Curtains.” Harden is protective of
the beard—not even his barber trims the stray whiskers—but he is also weary
of the attention it commands. He can’t exactly slip on a baseball cap and
disappear. “Sometimes I want to rip it off and be a kid again and hang
around quietly,” Harden says. Brand managers everywhere would go ballistic.
“To be honest,” he adds, “I’m scared of what I’d look like without it.”
Then again, he notices the suspicious glances he receives, and experiences a
different kind of fear. “People think I’m mean,” he says. “But if you
spend some time around me, get to know me, you fall in love.”
球迷看到哈登茂密的胡子，往往会认为他的个性也同样嚣张。哈登对此泰然处之。
他常会自创一些密语，只有和他亲近的人才懂。例如打招呼的时候说“呜唔”，
再见则是“帘子拉上”。哈登很宝贝自己的胡子，甚至不让发型师帮忙修剪。
但他偶而也会嫌大胡子过于招摇，让他没办法戴个棒球帽就能隐身于人群。
“有时候我会想把胡子剃掉，像小时候那样四处游走没人注意。”但接着又补了
一句：“老实说，没了胡子的模样会让我很没安全感。”然而，留胡子也会带来
另一种不安，哈登注意到旁人常对他投以怀疑的神色：“人家觉得我看起来像
坏蛋，但如果你和我相处过、了解我后，就会喜欢上我。”
Monja Willis raised three kids as a single mother in South Los Angeles, but
James is the youngest by eight years, so he was easily mistaken for an only
child. Willis lost two brothers in 1993, murdered in unrelated events, and
after that she saw danger around every corner. When James grew old enough to
explore his neighborhood, Willis rented out their house and bought a mobile
home in a gated park in Rancho Dominguez, on the Compton border; most
residents were senior citizens who complained about the noise when James
rolled his portable hoop into the street.
哈登的母亲Monja Willis独自抚养三个孩子，老么哈登因为和兄姐年龄差距大，
常被误以为是独子。哈登的两个舅舅在1993年两桩不同案件中遭到谋杀，这让他
母亲觉得周遭危机四伏。当哈登大到可以四处活蹦乱跳时，Willis将房子出租，
在Compton附近买下一个有门禁社区的活动房屋。这一带的居民多是退休老人，
不时会抱怨哈登将活动篮框搬到街上所发出的噪音。
Harden arrived at powerful Artesia High a set shooter and little else. “I
just stood in the corner,” he says. “I didn’t dribble. I didn’t move. I
didn’t do anything. I was lazy, really lazy.” He came with a recommendation
from Derrick Cooper, president of the L.A. City Wildcats, who met Harden when
he was a kindergartner trying out for an AAU team of 12- and 13-year-olds. “
He was small, obviously, and not that fast,” Cooper remembers. “But when
the big kids tried to double him and steal the ball, he understood how to
kick it out and set up an open shot. He knew the game.”
哈登刚加入篮球名校Artesia中学时，只是个定点射手，其他什么也不会。“我只会
站在底角。我不运球、也不跑动。我什么也不做，那时我很胖、非常胖。”[注1]
推荐哈登来这所中学打球的是Derrick Cooper，洛杉矶市野猫少年篮球联盟的主席。
Cooper第一次遇到哈登时他还在读幼稚园，却去参加AAU 12~13岁级试训。“不用说
他个子超矮，也跑不快。”Cooper回忆道：“但是当那些大孩子包夹他，或想抄他
的球，他知道怎么把球传出去，也知道怎么制造空档投篮机会。他懂得怎么打球。”
注1、根据2009年的一篇SI报导，哈登不喜欢他的中学队友说他胖(fat)，所以他们
协议用懒(lazy)这个词来取代。
Scott Pera, then the Artesia coach, recognized in Harden the same instincts
that Cooper did. “Great athletes learn to play in the air,” Pera says. “
James learned to play on the ground. He knew how to jump stop, how to pump
fake, how to see time and space.”
Scott Pera，当时担任Artesia中学的篮球教练，同样注意到了哈登与生俱来的篮球
本能。“优异的运动员学的是如何飞天遁地。James则学着脚踏实地，他知道怎么
接球垫步、怎么作假动作、更懂得掌握时间与空间。”
To turn Harden from a sniper into a driver, Pera put him through daily X-out
drills, in which Harden had to convert eight straight layups while Pera
punished him with an arm pad. They made a standing bet: If Harden shot more
than six free throws in a game, Pera owed him a hamburger; if Harden shot
fewer than six, he owed Pera sprints. Harden discovered ways to contort his
limbs through and around defenders, collecting whistles and patties. “He
played like he was 30,” says Frank Burlison, who covered Artesia for the
Long Beach Press-Telegram and now runs the scouting service Burlison on
Basketball.
为了将哈登由定点射手改造为切入型球员，Pera规定哈登每天必须练习左右上篮，
并且在教练手持软垫模拟防守的干扰下，连续投进八球。另外，他们之间还有个
赌注：如果哈登一场比赛拿到六个以上的罚球，教练就欠他一个汉堡；如果罚球
数少于六个，那哈登就必须给教练一片青箭口香糖。于是哈登学会了如何利用
肢体在防守者阵中穿梭，不仅赚到了哨音，也赚到了许多汉堡包。“他打球有30
岁的老成。”当时负责报导Artesia中学赛事的记者兼球探Frank Burlison如是说。
Harden’s mother was his motivation. Willis worked 28 years as a maintenance
administrator for AT&T, commuting up the congested 110 North to Pasadena,
then returning to help care for her own mom, who was dying of cancer. Willis
earned enough to afford the mortgage and utilities, spending anything left
over on cold cuts, ramen and milk. A luxury was a membership at L.A. Fitness,
the health club where she exercised while her son joined pickup games with
middle-aged men.
母亲是哈登奋斗的动力。Willis在担任AT&T维修员的全职工作之余，还要照顾
罹癌的母亲。她努力养家餬口，给孩子们温饱。在哈登和公园阿伯打斗牛赛时，
她会去健身中心运动，这也是她生活中的唯一的奢侈。
He developed a playing style that matched his disposition. “I like to be in
my own world, at my own pace,” Harden explains. “Once I’m comfortable,
once I know what’s happening around me, then I can attack.” When he
dribbles atop the key, he looks as if he might nod off, and when he drives
through the lane, he slams the brakes more than a cabbie at rush hour. He
gets where he needs to be. He just takes a while, and occasionally, he
requires a little push.
哈登的打球风格与他的性格如出一辙。“我喜欢在自己的世界里，掌握自己的节奏。
一旦我觉得自在、对周遭的环境熟悉了，就是我准备出击的时候。”当他在弧顶
运球时，看起来就像快打瞌睡了；当他切入时，就好比尖峰时段的出租车司机，
狂踩煞车。他总是能抵达目的地。只是他需要多花点时间，有时候，也需要有人
推他一把。
Midway through his junior season at Artesia, Harden was taking as few as
eight shots per game, and Pera begged him to let fly. From then on he was the
best high school prospect in Southern California, more acclaimed than
contemporaries such as Westbrook and Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard and Paul
George. As a freshman at Arizona State, Harden was again reluctant to fire,
until coaches gave him their approval. A year later he was an All-America,
picked third in the 2009 draft by Oklahoma City. Keeping with his pattern,
Harden failed to crack double figures as an NBA rookie, deferring to Durant
and Westbrook. But he adjusted again, mastering Manu Ginóbili’s Eurostep in
one summer and mimicking Paul Pierce’s step-back in another. Harden expanded
on the originals—“Step Daddy,” he calls a new version of Pierce’s move—
while discovering another maneuver all his own.
哈登在中学三年级时，场均出手次数只有八次，教练Pera只得拜托他多出手。从那
之后，他成为南加州最佳高中新秀，比前后期的西河、K汤、可爱、PG更受推崇。
在亚历桑纳州立大学的第一年，他同样吝于出手，直到教练给他开火权。一年后，
他成为全美最佳大学篮球员，2009年被雷霆以探花签选中。他的职业生涯也延续
之前的模式，菜鸟年场均得分不到两位数，总是把出手机会让给KD和西河。但他
再次做出调整，利用一个夏天，把Manu的欧洲步练得滚瓜烂熟；隔年夏天，又
仿效Paul Pierce的后撤步（他把Pierce的这招取名为“靠北后撤步”），加以
发扬光大，发展出自己的独门绝活。
http://i.imgur.com/I3GXYey.gif
※图三、哈登的招牌后撤步动画
“Oklahoma City taught us to chin the ball, so when you lay it up, no one can
strip it,” Harden recalls. “I did that for a while, but it didn’t work for
me, so I started putting the ball out instead. People kept reaching for it
and hitting my arm. It was like finding treasure, finding gold. Everyone
thinks I’m looking for contact, but I’m not. It’s bait on a hook. You have
the option to reach for the ball. But if you get my arm, it’s a foul.” This
may not sound like a revelatory technique, but Harden has 127 more free
throws and 125 more attempts than anybody in the NBA this season.
“雷霆队教我们将球收在下颚，上篮时才不会被拍掉。我试着照做了一段时间，
但这招对我不管用。于是我开始把球往外伸。对手想捞球，结果打到的是我的手臂。
这感觉就像是如获至宝。大家都觉得我在寻求身体接触，其实不是这么回事。
那比较像是姜太公钓鱼。你有机会抢到球，但如果你碰到我的手，那就是犯规。”
这听起来没什么了不起，但哈登这季的罚球次数领先联盟第二名有百次之多。
His entire offensive approach is counterintuitive. When he wants to shake his
man, he slows down. When he wants to protect the ball, he sticks it out.
“He’s a boxer,” Terry says, “getting you off balance, luring you into
a mistake and then going right at it.” In 2012, Terry played for the
Mavericks, who were defending their title in a first-round series against
OKC. “It wasn’t about stopping KD,” he remembers. “It wasn’t about
keeping Russ out of the lane. It was, ‘What do we do with James Harden?’"
哈登所有的进攻手段都违反本能。当他要摆脱防守者，他会放慢速度。当他要
护球，他会把球伸出去。Terry说：“他就像个拳击手，让你失去平衡，引诱
你犯错，然后击垮你。”2012年Terry还在小牛阵中，季后赛第一轮对上雷霆，
他回忆道：“我们担心不是怎么阻止KD，也不是怎么阻止西河上罚球线，我们
最担心的是‘怎么防住哈登？’”
Three years after Morey started his pursuit for Harden—Houston feverishly
tried to acquire the No. 4 pick from the Kings in 2009—he called Oklahoma
City. Morey was searching for a cornerstone, and the only ones available
either weren’t cornerstones anymore or weren’t cornerstones yet. The
Thunder seemed to have two ways they could go with Harden: They could give
him the maximum deal he sought, exceed the salary cap and pay the luxury tax
for a clean look at multiple championships. Or they could do nothing, let him
become a restricted free agent the following summer and decide then whether
to match what would likely be a max offer sheet. They chose a third option,
proposing a contract below the max in hope that Harden would accept it. But
by the fall of ’12 he had found his elusive comfort zone and felt ready to
attack. He just needed that little push.
自从2009年火箭设法从国王交易来4号选秀签，莫雷就在打哈登的主意，过了三年
他终于打电话给雷霆。莫雷一直寻寻觅觅建队的基石，但能网罗到的对象，不是
已经过气，就是还不成气候。当时的雷霆有两条路可走：一是给哈登顶薪，超过
薪资上限付豪华税，展开连霸的宏图；二是等隔年他成为受限自由球员，再决定
是否匹配其他球队开的顶薪。但是他们选择了第三条路：给哈登一份低于顶薪的
合约，希望他会欣然接受。然而在2012年的秋天，哈登羽翼已丰、蓄势待发。
他欠缺的只是临门一脚。
On Oct. 27, Morey watched his son’s soccer game from inside his car, a
vantage point that allows him to writhe in private. “All the way to the end
I thought they’d pay James the max,” Morey says. “I did not think they’d
move him.” Oklahoma City extended a final four-year, $54 million offer and
gave Harden an hour to mull it over. “I’m not the kind of guy who makes
quick decisions,” he says. “I had to go too fast, way too fast.” The
next morning he was on the plane.
10月27日接到消息那天，莫雷独自坐在车子里看儿子的足球比赛，当时的内心澎湃
只有他自己知道。“从头到尾我都以为他们会给James顶薪，没想过他们会交易他。”
雷霆开了一份四年5千4百万的合约，给哈登一个钟头的时间考虑。“我不喜欢仓促
行事，但我不得不立刻做决定，一切都太快了。”隔天早上他就搭上了往休士顿的
飞机。
Willis has followed her son from California to Arizona, Oklahoma to Texas,
and everywhere they move she carries a note he wrote to her in the ninth
grade. In it Harden asks for a couple of dollars so he can buy a snack after
school, but that’s not why Willis framed it. At the bottom is a bold
prediction: “P.S. I’m going to be a star.”
从加州到亚历桑纳，从奥克拉荷马到德州，哈登的母亲Willis一路陪着儿子，
不管搬到哪里，她总是带着一张哈登九年级时写的小纸条，问妈妈能不能给他
一些零用钱，让他下课后去买零食。但这不是Willis把纸条护贝起来的原因，
而是因为纸条最下方一行大胆的预言：“P.S. 将来我会成为大球星喔！”
http://i.imgur.com/TAF31Ex.jpg
※图四、哈登与休士顿的天际线
In the NBA everybody wants to be the face of the franchise, but few want to
fulfill the responsibilities. Besides the points and assists, which can never
wane, there are alphas to defend and appearances to make, team meetings to
call and free agents to recruit. “I had to figure out how to be the main guy,
” Harden says.
NBA里人人都想成为当家球星，但很少人愿意承担背后的责任。除了得分和助攻，
你还要防守对方球星、要亮相公关活动、要召集队友开会，还要招募自由球员。
“我还在摸索著如何做个领袖。”哈登这么说。
During his first two years in Houston he came across as slightly aloof,
ducking out after practices and skipping treatment sessions. “I was being
lazy, being tired, wanting to just go home and relax,” Harden says. “I let
my body wear down.” He threw all his energy into offense, because that’s
what he thought the team needed, and slipped badly on the other end. “I put
defense on the back burner,” he admits.
在休士顿的前两年，他显得淡漠疏离，练完球就闪人，有时还跳过赛后的治疗。
“我有点懒、有点累，只想回家放松。我任由身体疲累不堪。”他将全副精力
放在进攻端，因为他认为那是球队需要的，防守则抛在脑后。“我那时觉得
防守是次要的。”他承认道。
Morey believed the Rockets could contend this season if Harden became a
two-way player, but no one knew how to accelerate the process, and rushing
him is risky. “To get there,” says coach Kevin McHale, “you have to go
through some stuff.” One of McHale’s former assistants, Kelvin Sampson,
worked daily with Harden over the past two years. “He’ll do it,” Sampson
said, “when he decides it’s important.”
莫雷认为如果哈登能够在攻守两端发挥，火箭本季有望加入争冠行列。但谁也
不知道要怎么加快这个成长过程，把他逼急了有可能适得其反。总教练McHale说：
“要达到那样的阶段，需要经过某些淬炼。”火箭前任助理教练Kelvin Sampson，
过去两年都担任哈登的陪练，说：“等他懂得防守的重要性之后，他会去做的。”
Pera, Harden’s former high school coach, moved to Houston last summer after
he landed an assistant’s job at Rice and stayed in Harden’s guest house for
seven weeks. One night Pera asked about the upcoming season. “LeBron, KD,
the best of the best, they play both ends,” Harden said. “I’ve got to do
it too.”
哈登的高中教练Pera，去年搬到休士顿，担任Rice大学的助教。他曾在哈登家中
作客七周。某天晚上他问起哈登下个球季的展望，哈登回答：“LeBron, KD这些
顶尖球员都能攻守兼备，我也必须这么做。”
First, he had to prepare his body. He went home to Los Angeles and hiked in
Runyon Canyon, ran the dunes in Manhattan Beach, took spin classes at Cycle
House. He joined pickup games in L.A. and also at the University of Houston,
where Sampson is now the coach. “He is treating every possession like the
playoffs,” one Cougar reported. Sampson wondered if his star pupil had made
the decision.
首先，他要锻炼好体力。回到洛杉矶后，他会去Runyon Canyon健走、去Manhattan
Beach的沙丘跑步，去Cycle House上飞轮课。他不仅在加州打斗牛赛，也会去Sampson
任教的休士顿大学打球。一名校队球员说：“他把每个回合都当成季后赛在守。”
Sampson心想，或许他的明星高徒已经下定了防守的决心。
On Aug. 7, Harden was sitting in the parking lot of a Houston bank when news
flashed on his phone: Durant was withdrawing from Team USA in advance of the
FIBA World Cup. “I’m going to be alone,” Harden told Howell. “Maybe I
should drop out too and get some rest.” He could kick back and roll a few
hundred more frames at Bowlmor, where he is so prolific they gave him his own
pin to take home. “Are you joking?” Howell asked. “This is the best thing
that could have happened. LeBron’s not there, KD’s not there. It’s your
time to lead.” Howell provided the final push. In Spain, Harden was the one
who huddled teammates when opponents were making a run, and Harden was the
one who spoke when coaches asked for players’ opinions. “The way he
practiced, the way he was in meetings, he’s grown quite a bit,” says Bulls
coach Tom Thibodeau, a Team USA assistant. “He led us.”
8月7日，哈登人在一间休士顿银行外的停车场，他的手机跳出一则新闻快讯：KD在世
界杯前夕决定退出美国队。哈登对好友Howell说：“我又是独自一人了。我是不是也
该退队、好好休息？”或许他可以继续去Bowlmor保龄球馆消磨时间，他是那里的常客，
甚至有专属的球瓶可以带回家。“你在说笑吗？这是个大好机会。LBJ不在、KD也不在。
这是你出头的机会。”Howell给了哈登所需要的临门一脚。西班牙世界杯期间，在对手
开始追分时，是哈登召集队友聚在一起打气；当教练团想听球员的意见时，也由哈登
代表发言。“他在练习和开会时的表现，都显示他成熟了很多。”美国队助教，同时
也是公牛队总教练Thibodeau说：“哈登在领导这支球队。”
Harden will never be the loudest voice in the locker room—-especially not a
locker room with Dwight Howard—but from the courtside seats at Toyota Center
his mother can hear him getting in the ears of Patrick Beverley and Josh
Smith and Trevor Ariza. She remembers how coaches used to ask her why he
wouldn’t take charge. Go to work, she’d have to tell him. “He’s like a
different person,” Willis says. Predictably, Harden tops the NBA in win
shares this season, but he also ranks eighth in defensive win shares and
second in steals. He is locking down despite the departures of Chandler
Parsons and Jeremy Lin, whose exits left Houston even more reliant on Harden.
哈登永远不会是更衣室里嗓门最大的那个，尤其是有DH在的地方更不可能。但在丰田
中心球场，坐在场边的哈登母亲不时可以听到他对队友Beverley, Josh Smith和Ariza
耳提面命。她回想起当年教练们总是问她：为什么哈登不肯出头？而她不得不命令他
“去做好你份内的事”。“现在他已经脱胎换骨了。”哈登不仅在胜利贡献值领先全
联盟，他的防守贡献值也排在联盟第八，抄截则位居第二。尽管在Parsons和Lin离队
后，火箭队进攻更加仰赖哈登，但他在防守端也毫不松懈。
“You never take anything away from LeBron, but it’s similar in what we’re
asking [Harden] to carry,” says Rockets assistant J.B. Bickerstaff. Houston
is looking for another creator to help, but so far Harden is handling the
triple teams and full-court denials sent his way. “Let’s say an opponent is
showing hard on a pick-and-roll, and I beat it three or four times, they’ll
switch it up and trap me,” he explains. “So I go to my big and I tell him,
‘I’m going to hit you with the pocket pass, and you either [pass] to the
corner or attack and find another big.’”
“LBJ的全能无庸置疑，但我们要求哈登背负的重担，丝毫不亚于LBJ。”火箭队助理
教练J.B. Bickerstaff这么说。火箭队还在设法引进第二个组织者来帮忙减压，但到
目前为止，哈登仍须应付不断冲着他来的三人包夹和全场压迫。“如果对手防守挡拆
时严防切入，而我成功过了防守者三四次后，他们会开始换防和包夹。那时我就告诉
配合的大个子：‘我会从两个防守者中间传球给你，你可以转传到底角、自己出手，
或是传给另一个内线’。”
It is sheer coincidence, Harden claims, that he creates so many layups, free
throws and corner threes at a time when front offices are trumpeting the
value of those actions. “How I always liked to play,” he says. It is also
coincidence, Harden insists, that he Eurosteps across the floor at a time
when coaches are hailing the fundamentals of European imports. “Good way to
move without dribbling,” he says. And it is yet another coincidence, Harden
maintains, that he sprouted the billowing beard in college, at a time when
hipsters from Brooklyn to Berkeley were about to put away their razors. “I
didn’t want to shave,” he says. Anybody who believes all that is
underestimating his mysterious genius.
哈登最擅长创造上篮、罚球以及底角三分的机会，而这些恰恰是火箭球团最重视的
得分方式。哈登表示这只是巧合：“我一直都喜欢这种打球方式。”当教练们都在
称许欧洲篮球的基本功时，哈登把欧洲步发挥得淋漓尽致，也只是一个巧合。“我
觉得这是不用运球就能移动的好方法。”当哈登在大学时期开始留起胡子，正好美
国从布鲁克林到柏克莱、从东岸到西岸的文青们也掀起一股蓄胡的风潮。当然这又
是另一个巧合。“我只是懒得刮胡子。”如果你相信这一切纯属巧合，那么你可能
低估了哈登神祕的感知能力。
“I do feel like I can see some things before they happen,” Harden admits.
His vision, from the sky over the state line, has come into focus: A sixth
man as the new superstar, a desert island as the new destination, emerging
with a whistle and a woowoo.
“我确实会在事情发生之前就有预感。”哈登承认道。从州际线的上空向下望，
哈登的憧憬渐渐聚焦成形：从第六人到超级新星，沙漠中的孤岛成为新的归属，
伴随哨音响起的，是一声“呜唔”。
（完）