今天，约翰-沃尔投出了季后赛至今的最佳进球，可细想之下，这球还真不怎么合理。诚然，防守方不会想让沃尔去投关键球，但今天这球其实可以忍：超远干拔，离三分线一大步，艾弗里-布拉德利贴身防守，干扰得很到位。把关键球的出手机会限制成这样，教练也挑不出毛病来，也不至于赛后气得睡不着觉。波士顿给布拉德利-比尔设置一道道关卡，差点让华盛顿的完美一攻以五秒违例收场。情况紧急，沃尔不得不踮着脚尖，沿着边线，跑到三分线外几步远接球，他往外一跑，波士顿的防守正好趁机摆阵型，等他上钩。
The shot of the playoffs was a losing proposition. No defense should want John Wall taking any shot with the game on the line, but many might live with this one: a deep, pull-up three taken well beyond the arc in a one-point game, with Avery Bradley close enough to offer an honest contest. It’s the kind of look that would allow opposing coaches to sleep at night. Boston had denied and denied and denied Bradley Beal to the point that this unbelievable possession was almost upended by a five-second violation. The circumstances required Wall to tiptoe the sideline out well past the hash mark before he received the ball, and that he was moving away from the basket allowed the entire defense to set.
绿军没有一人被甩开，没有一人跟丢对手。常规赛中，沃尔干拔三分命中率为29.9%，季后赛里更低——可他还是起身就投，因为他眼中有空间，心中有决意，一球把奇才从虎口边拽了出来。
No defender got beat. No one lost track of their man. Wall—a 29.9% shooter on pull-up threes in the regular season and even worse in these playoffs—just rose up because he had the room and he had the nerve. His team is still alive because of it
92-91，奇才胜利，避免了被淘汰的厄运，本场比赛无疑是今年季后赛最精彩的一场，是属于华盛顿的精彩。即便没有今天的准绝杀，沃尔的巨星地位也不可撼动，但若能锦上添花，何乐不为？那一球出手之时，全场观众起立屏息，皮球顺着指尖滑出，沃尔还保持着投篮动作；唰，球刷网而过，球馆爆炸，沃尔享受着属于他的巅峰时刻，却一脸冷血——球馆如火山喷发般炽热咆哮，沃尔站在爆发中心，冷酷、沉着。
Washington’s 92-91 win to stave off elimination was unquestionably the game of these playoffs, and this was their moment. Wall didn’t need a shot like this one to cement his stardom, but the iconography doesn’t hurt. His home crowd stood in wonder as the shot left his fingertips. Wall held his follow-through. Then he basked in the moment, stone-faced—the coolest individual at the heart of an eruption.
奇才又打出了一次完美防守，正式带走了胜利。沃尔跳上技术台，宣告着自己对这座球馆的统治，他一个人点燃了整个主场。
Once Washington sealed up the win with one more stop, Wall mounted the scorer’s table to lay claim to what was his. He let it all fly.
这记跳投之前，艾尔-霍福德一个关键打板，比尔一个大心脏三分，以赛亚-托马斯也有多个神仙球，这些进球都是对球员心理的巨大考验，今年季后赛实不多见。截至目前，最激烈的比赛恨不能都有20分的分差，我们看到勇士和骑士在场上像是训练一样，轻松压制对手；马刺第六场也展示出体系篮球的高深莫测。这场生死战之所以扣人心弦，就在一个“乱”字——空篮上不进，投篮三不沾，两队都显得找不着北，好一会儿才进入状态。托马斯还是挡不住，他往常都会打出精彩表现，本场也不例外，比赛还剩1分34秒，他帮球队取得5分优势，后来又打乱对手防守阵型，给霍福德创造机会，在最后10秒命中投篮。
Wall’s jumper, not unlike the Al Horford banker or the Bradley Beal three-pointer or the Isaiah Thomas miracle that preceded it, was the kind of gut-check moment rare in these playoffs. Even the best games thus far have been waged in 20-point runs. We’ve seen the Warriors and Cavaliers exercise their dominance. Thursday showcased the Spurs system at the height of its powers. This elimination game was riveting precisely because it was messy—all bungled layups and airballed jumpers until both teams finally found their bearings. There is an inevitability to Thomas. He would have his moment in this game and did, first by stretching Boston’s lead to five with 1:34 remaining and then by scrambling to set up Horford for a go-ahead bucket in the final 10 seconds.
可这些回合的精彩，都会被时间冲刷掉；反之，沃尔的准绝杀则不会褪色。以后奇才暂停时，大屏幕都会放沃尔的关键表现，这球便会出现，让难忘的时刻被彻底铭记。沃尔在球迷心中，不会只是个上天遁地的跳跳男，也不会只是会传几个球，也不只是有勇无谋争强好胜；他在悬崖边上，完成了对自己这个赛季的救赎，这才是他永远被传递的形象。那一球，很容易就铁了，你说他怎么就进了呢？而敢于出手的勇气，才让这个进球，让投进它的沃尔，如此震撼人心。沃尔能享受到这种时刻，因为他就是这样大无畏的球员。
Those are the plays that get scrubbed from highlights. Years from now, Wall’s shot will live on. The broadcast of every hard-fought game he’s involved in will roll back the footage as the Wizards come out of a timeout, reminding of the unforgettable. Wall won’t just be the fly-by athlete or the incisive passer or the bold competitor. He will forever be the man who, in what could have been the final moments of his season, made that shot. He could have missed. Hell, he should have missed. The daring is what makes it—and Wall—so indelible. Wall got that kind of moment because he is precisely that kind of player.
这场胜利不算好看，也想不到比这更华丽的结局了。想想看：沃尔本场其实发挥并不好。多少开场的突破中，他都滑倒失误，或是顶人上篮不中；就算他终于甩开防守一路畅通，还是以相同的方式搞砸了几次得分机会。上半场，他9次出手8次打铁，4次是篮下出手。最后一次出手时，沃尔可能还记着这一次次铁，而能投出那种绝杀球的，要么之前状态火热，要么之前手感冰凉。沃尔则是冰火两重天，沃尔下半场带领奇才强势反击，却在上半场"带领"凯尔特人强势压制主队。他最后的救赎，就是那个远投，那个他并不擅长且不常出手的高难远投。一定程度上，这也是他这个非典型巨星的生涯缩影。
There could be no more marvelous end to an ugly win. And to think: This wasn’t Wall’s night. Too many of his early drives had ended with Wall on his back, having shorted a layup in traffic. When he did manage to clear the defense into an open lane, Wall smoked some of his finishes all the same. In the first half, he missed eight of his nine shots, four of which came right at the rim. Maybe the thought of them sat in the back of Wall’s mind on his final possession. The shot he took is the kind a player takes when either everything is working or nothing is. Wall’s performance spanned both ends of that spectrum; Washington would not have made its second-half runs without Wall, and yet its first-half woes very much featured him. His resolution was a long shot that utilized little of what Wall does so well. Somehow, it still captured the essence of his defiant stardom.
下一场之前，我们不会知道，奇才的这个赛季是真起死回生，还是苟延残喘。悬而未决的命运，其实也算是幸运。沃尔、托马斯、两支互相厌恶的球队，马上要在抢七大战里最终对决。“这是伟大球员打出名堂的时刻，”托马斯如此评价。没毛病，但有一点要说清：沃尔的名堂，早就打出来了。
We won’t know until Monday whether the Wizards’ season was truly saved or merely sustained through the weekend. That the ball is still in the air, however, is a gift. Wall, Thomas, and two teams that loathe one another will play in a must-watch Game 7. “That’s where all the great players make their name,” Thomas said. True enough, with one clarification: Wall has already made his.
