如果沒有罰球

Back in March， during the height of the 2013 playoff chase， the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies were jockeying for the No. 3 seed in the West. The two teams already loathed one another， their feelings dating to their seven-game series in spring 2012. Things often can get stale in an NBA arena by mid-March， but when the Clippers and Grizzlies hooked up at Staples Center， the buzz was electric.

讓我們回到三月，那時已經到了爭奪季后賽席位的關鍵時刻，洛杉磯快艇和孟菲斯灰熊為了西部第三的位置爭得你死我活。這兩支球隊早就相互看不順眼了，這種相互厭惡的感覺，還要追溯到2012年春天的季后賽七場大戰。三月中旬時，NBA的比賽經常會變得索然無味，但當快艇和灰熊這兩支球隊在斯臺普斯球館針尖對麥芒時，場面自然火爆好看。

For the first quarter that night， the NBA was the product at its fullest. The appeal of the game was noted by the Clippers’ broadcast team， along press row and across Twitter. High-grade professional basketball.

那天晚上比賽的第一節，簡直就是NBA最高水平的展現。比賽的精彩顯然感染到了快艇的解說直播團隊，媒體和推特上也都在討論這場比賽。這就是最高水準的職業籃球。

The Clippers and Grizzlies are two of the league’s better teams， but neither play in a well-choreographed system that lends itself to hoops ballet. Yet in the first quarter that night， every player on the floor moved with purpose， and crisp decisions were made instantaneously. The ball popped around the floor and the game flowed freely. Oddly， there were no lead changes and the teams combined for only two fast-break possessions. Each team shot greater than 60 percent from the field， but that’s not altogether unusual for a single quarter. It was something else：

快艇和灰熊在聯盟屬于強隊，但兩支球隊的進攻體系也不算特別流暢，因此這兩支球隊也不太容易打出非常漂亮的比賽。但在那場比賽的第一節里，球場上的每名球員都在用頭腦打球，他們會在轉瞬即逝間做出干脆的選擇。籃球在地板上彈來彈去，比賽也進行得非常流暢。奇怪的是，雙方沒有交換過領先，兩支球隊加起來也只打出了兩次快攻。兩支球隊的投籃命中率都超過了60%，對于一節比賽來說，這些都不算太奇怪。奇怪的是其他一些情況：

Zero free throws attempted.

雙方沒有罰球。

Time of quarter： 20 minutes.

單節比賽用時：20分鐘。

There were no long red lights where the game came to a stop so we could watch nine guys stand around as one player goes through a rote skills challenge of hitting a standing set shot from a predetermined spot on the floor.

比賽里沒亮出紅燈，也沒有出現停滯。我們沒有看到九名球員站在一邊，一名球員重復著那套單調的動作——站在事先確定好的地方出手投籃，還不能跳。

The mandatory timeout following the first stoppage after the 6-minute mark came inside of five minutes. The Clippers took an additional timeout a few minutes later to shuffle the deck after a string of sloppy possessions， but apart from that， the quarter zipped along. Blake Griffin was the best version of Blake Griffin， the big man who can beat you with both refined skills and brute force. Tayshaun Prince hopped into a time machine and beat the Clippers with his handle and down in the post. And after an exhilarating 20 minutes， the game was tied 24-24.

第一節進行了6分鐘后，比賽出現了第一次強制暫停，暫停時間為五分鐘。幾分鐘后，快艇又叫了一次暫停，好糾正自己連續幾個回合的懶散打法。……