If Chris Paul isn't a playoff enigma, such a thing doesn't exist. The man is so good -- not just in the regular season, but in the postseason, too. He has everything everyone says you need to win in the playoffs. He's efficient. He's a rabid dog defensively. He's an unafraid leader who makes huge plays at huge times.
还有人比克里斯-保罗更担得起“季后赛未解之谜”这一称号吗？他非常优秀——这点并不局限于常规赛，他在季后赛中也同样优秀。他拥有人们认为的在季后赛中赢球所需要的一切：他效率很高，在防守端拼尽全力，还是个无所畏惧的领袖，每每在关键时刻站出来拯救球队。
And yet, somehow, he almost always loses.
然而见鬼了，目前为止，他几乎一直都在输球。
It happened again on Saturday in the Clippers' Game 1 loss to the fifth-seeded Utah Jazz. Paul was, as has so often been the case throughout his career, the best player on the floor. He had 25 points. Eleven assists. Seven rebounds. Three steals. Just one turnover. When the Clippers absolutely had to have a stop down the stretch, it was Paul who hounded Joe Johnson into a turnover. When the Clippers were down two with less than 15 seconds to play, it was Paul who tied the game with a banked floater.
今天他又输了，快船队在季后赛揭幕战中不敌五号种子犹他爵士队。保罗是全场发挥最好的那个球员，这在他的整个生涯中早已是司空见惯的事情了。他砍下了25分，还有7个篮板并送出了11次助攻，仅仅出现了一次失误。当快船在最后关头急需冷却爵士的进攻势头时，是他站了出来逼迫乔-约翰逊发生失误。当快船在比赛仅剩不到15秒钟还落后两分的时候，又是他挺身而出，命中了一记打板抛投扳平了比分。
Joe Johnson's buzzer-beater had nothing, and everything, to do with Chris Paul. Pretty simply, Johnson made a play. He made a bunch of plays, actually, carrying the Jazz for stretches in a turn-back-the-clock, 21-point performance on 9-of-14 shooting. Still, this annoying narrative that Chris Paul can't win in the playoffs is indeed intact. If that's the card you want to play, it's there for you.
约翰逊的压哨绝杀跟保罗一毛钱关系都没有，但从另一个角度讲，又与保罗有着千丝万缕的关系。很简单，约翰逊进了球。事实上他进了很多球，数度帮助爵士强行续命，全场比赛14中9砍下了21分，老夫聊发少年狂。看起来，“克里斯-保罗无法在季后赛中赢球”的恼人故事再一次被印证了。如果你想打这副牌，它就在那里等着你。
In reality, the reason the Clippers are down 0-1 in this series and in danger of losing in the first round to a lower-seeded team for the second consecutive year, is, first and foremost, the Utah Jazz, who are really good. Keep in mind that Utah did this to the Clippers on the road without the services of Rudy Gobert, its potential first-team All-NBA center who went out with a hyperextended knee 17 seconds into the game. Again, Johnson was terrific. So was Gordon Hayward, though his isolation possessions down the stretch left a little something to be desired.
实际上，快船如今在系列赛中0-1落后，甚至面临连续两年在首轮被下克上的危险显然是另有原因的：首先，也是最重要的一点，他们对面的那支犹他爵士队非常出色。别忘了，今天爵士客场战胜快船可是在缺少了一阵中锋热门人选鲁迪-戈贝尔的不利情况下做到的，他在开场仅仅17秒后就不幸因过度拉伸膝盖而退出比赛。约翰逊的表现无可挑剔，戈登-海沃德亦然，尽管他在今天比赛最后关头的单打选择值得商榷。
The Jazz are a good team.
爵士是一支很棒的球队。
This was mostly about them.
但这只与他们自己有关。
But if you do want to point a finger in the Clippers' direction, don't point it at Paul. Point it at their bench, or lack thereof. Point it at Blake Griffin, whose troubling trend of fourth-quarter disappearances continued (he scored just two of his 26 points in the final frame, both on free throws). The guy is a bull in a china shop sometimes -- head down, spinning, twisting all over the place en route to six turnovers. These are things the Clippers need to clean up if they want to salvage a split at home.
如果一定要把锅甩给某个快船内部人员，显然这个人不应该是保罗。可以甩给替补席，换言之，甩给替补席缺人这一现状。或者甩给布雷克-格里芬，他最令人担忧的第四节隐身问题依然没有得到改善（全场得到26分，但在第四节仅仅靠罚球蹭了两分）。有时候他就像闯进瓷器店的公牛——低着头，满场XJB转身，出现了多达6次失误。如果快船想要挽救再次在主场翻船的危机，这一点将是他们需要重点整顿的。
But how do you clean up Paul's performance?
但你还能要求保罗做些什么呢？
You can't. He played, as usual, about as good as one can play.
不能了，他打得一如往常那样，无可挑剔。
Look, nobody is expecting much of anything from the Clippers anymore. Whatever championship hopes they might have had at one time went out the window the moment the Warriors became the Warriors. Still, there is that small part of us that still wants to classify them among the NBA's elite. Their talent is tantalizing enough to think that a few breaks here or there might give them a fighting chance against, say, the Warriors, who they could potentially meet up with in the second round.
听着，没人再对快船这球队有啥不切实际的期望了，他们曾经的冠军梦，可能都随着勇士蜕变的那一刻灰飞烟灭了，只有我们这一小部分人依然痴人说梦般把他们归为NBA精英集团的一员。毕竟他们的天赋足够令人想入非非，因此我们也有理由幻想他们或许有点机会在与勇士——他们潜在的次轮对手，如果能过首轮的话——的对抗中保有一战之力。
But Chris Paul's teams never seem to catch those breaks. The last two years, in fact, the Clips were staring down a playoff showdown with the Warriors only to get bounced one round prior -- first when they blew hat 3-1 lead to the Rockets two years ago, and then again last year when injuries decimated them and the Blazers took advantage.
理想很丰满，现实很骨感，保罗所在的球队似乎从未曾抓住那些机会。事实上，过去两年中快船都在虎视眈眈地想要与勇士一决胜负，然而却总是尴尬地倒在上一轮——前年他们在3-1领先火箭队的大好局面下被大逆转；去年又不幸被伤病摧毁而被开拓者钻了空子。
Poor Clippers? No. Absolutely not. They have to own their perpetual position right square behind the eight ball.
可怜的快船？一点也不。他们在困境中的表现注定了如今的挣扎。
Poor Chris Paul? Yes. Absolutely. The guy deserves better than this.
可怜的保罗？没错，他绝对值得更多荣誉。
