翻译：骑士找回“下狗”防守，再次获得连胜

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers are starting to rediscover their defensive identity.

During their five-game losing streak, the Cavs didn’t look like the same version of themselves. They weren’t the dominant defensive team known for its grit, toughness and determination. That junkyard dog mentality that inspired the creation of the Junkyard Dog Chain last season wasn’t on full display.

克利夫兰-克利夫兰骑士队重新找回他们的防守。

在他们的五连败中，骑士队看起来不像是同一个版本的他们。他们并不是以坚韧和果断著称的防守强队。上赛季的下狗心态并未得到充分展示。

So the Cavs have spent time talking about the need to return to their defensive mindset. Over the past week, their main points of emphasis have been on paying attention to the details, talking more on defense and holding each other accountable on defensive assignments.

“I think we’re starting to get there; I don’t think we’re fully there yet,” Darius Garland said. “But we’re making strides to where we were at early on in the season. Just trying to play more physical — try to limit some of their guys’ touches as much as we can — just to keep them away from the ball and make other people beat us, really.”

因此，骑士队花了很多时间讨论恢复防守心态的必要性。在过去的一周里，他们的重点一直是注重细节，多谈防守，在防守上互相沟通。

“我认为我们最初到达了那里；我认为我们还没有完全兑现，” 多兰说。“但我们正在朝着本赛季初的状态迈进。只是试着更多的对抗——尽可能地限制他们球员的一些接球——只是为了让他们远离球，让其他人打败我们，真的。”

On the second night of the back-to-back against the Atlanta Hawks, the Cavs once again showcased their strong defensive presence. They held the Hawks offense down in a 114-102 victory Monday and found a way to limit Dejounte Murray and Trae Young to an extent. Just 24 hours earlier, they held the depleted Miami Heat to 87 points.

The Cavs’ defensive rating sits at 107.9, third best in the league. In the past two games, the Cavs have looked more like a top-rated defensive team. They also looked more like the defensive team they were during their eight-game winning streak at the beginning of the season.

在背靠背对阵亚特兰大老鹰队的第二个晚上，骑士队再次展示了他们强大的防守实力。他们在周一以 114-102 的比分压低了老鹰队的进攻，并找到了一种在一定程度上限制德章泰穆雷和特雷杨的方法。就在 24 小时前，他们将迈阿密热火队控制在 87 分。

骑士队的防守效率为 107.9，联盟第三。在过去的两场比赛中，骑士队看起来更像是一支防守一流的球队。他们也更像是赛季初八连胜时的防守型球队。

“We’ve shown what we’re capable of defensively,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the win Monday. “We know when we’re at our best, we can create stops. We can force turnovers. We can create easy opportunities for ourselves because of that. I think that fourth quarter, holding them to 17 points until that last 3, like that’s how you win basketball games against good teams is you lock down defensively. And that helped our offense when you’re getting stops. You’re playing in the flow and not against the set defense as much, and I thought we were able to score as well.”

Even in the Cavs’ double-OT win over the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 18, although they blew a 10-point lead in the final 52 seconds of regulation, they demonstrated a willingness to fight back during the overtime periods. The Cavs outscored the Hornets 12-2 in the second overtime.

“我们已经展示了我们的防守能力，”教练比克斯塔夫在周一获胜后说道。“我们知道当我们处于最佳状态时，我们可以制造对手失误。因此，我们可以为自己创造轻松得分的机会。我认为第四节，将他们控制在 17 分，就像你在防守强队时赢得比赛一样。当对手被拦下时，这有助于我们的进攻。我们用防守带动进攻，我认为我们也能得分。”

即使在 11 月 18 日骑士队双加时击败夏洛特黄蜂队的比赛中，尽管他们在常规时间的最后 52 秒内失去了 10 分的领先优势，但他们在加时赛中表现出了反击的意愿。骑士队在第二个加时赛中以 12-2 击败黄蜂队。

“I think the past three nights we’ve shown grit and we’ve shown determination in getting back to ourselves,” Donovan Mitchell said. “The biggest thing for us is just find a way to continuously keep that for a full 48, and I think this was our first time playing a full 48 of solid defense. … For us, it’s continuing to bring it on the defensive end and communicate, be there for each other, even through mistakes, and I think that’s something you’re starting to see, and we’re continuing to get back to it. But we can’t lose it, and that’s the biggest thing.”

The Cavs have also demonstrated regaining an understanding of closing games, which was a struggle during their five-game losing stretch. Bickerstaff has seen a resiliency and a will to figure it out over the past couple of games.

“我认为过去三个晚上我们表现出了勇气，我们表现出了回归自我的决心，”多诺万米切尔说。“对我们来说最重要的事情就是找到一种方法来持续整场的 48 分钟，我认为这是我们第一次打满 48 分钟的稳固防守。......对我们来说，会继续把它带到防守端并进行沟通，互相帮助，即使是通过错误，我认为这是你赛季初看到的东西，我们将延续赛季初的状态。这是最重要的事情。”

骑士队也表现出重新获得了对比赛的理解，这在他们五场失利的比赛中是一场斗争。比克斯塔夫在过去的几场比赛中看到了一种韧性和解决问题的意愿。

Their main focus Monday was getting stops and taking care of the ball. They forced Atlanta to take a couple of tough shots, then they managed offensively to take care of the ball. Bickerstaff noted that important step forward in the final five minutes, which he hopes breeds a sense of confidence and understanding.

As the Cavs tried to find their way through the five-game losing stretch, they had a number of conversations and a team meeting. They noted that they had stopped playing defense up to their standard. They focused on the details. They returned to the fundamentals, like keeping their man in front of them and making an extra effort.

他们周一的主要关注点是防守和处理球。他们迫使亚特兰大进行了几次艰难的投篮，然后他们在进攻端设法控制了球。比克斯塔夫指出，比赛最后五分钟球队向前迈出了重要一步，他希望这能培养球员的信心和理解感。

当骑士队试图在五场失利的比赛中找到出路时，他们进行了多次对话并召开了一次团队会议。他们注意到他们已经停止按照他们的标准进行防守。他们专注于细节。他们回到了当初的防守标准，比如让他们的对手在他们面前进球要付出额外的努力。

Bickerstaff also believes that the Cavs defense helps the offense and vice versa. Some of the offensive struggles affected the Cavs defensively, too. It was a factor in the losing streak.

“In that stretch, I know people want to talk about our defense, but our offense wasn’t helping us,” Bickerstaff said. “We were playing at a tempo that just isn’t good for us. So we need to be able to slow the game down, control the game, put people in the proper spots, have great floor balance, and make teams go against our half-court defense. If you have to go against our half-court defense, you’re gonna be in for a tough time. So our offense is as just a bigger problem in that stretch as our defense was.”

比克斯塔夫还认为，骑士队的防守有助于进攻，反之亦然。一些进攻上的挣扎也影响了骑士队的防守。这是连败的一个因素。

“在那段时间里，我知道人们想谈论我们的防守，但我们的进攻对我们没有帮助，”比克斯塔夫说。“我们的比赛节奏对我们不利。所以我们需要能够放慢比赛速度，控制比赛，把人放在合适的位置，有很好的空间平衡，让对手去对抗我们的半场防守。如果你不得不对抗我们的半场防守，你会遇到困难。所以我们的进攻和我们的防守一样，在那段时间里是一个更大的问题。”

Lamar Stevens — who won the Junkyard Dog Chain on Monday night and donned it during his locker room interview — has continued to play an important defensive role. He was inserted into the starting lineup against Charlotte and has stayed there for three consecutive games at small forward. The expectation was that he would help the defensive effort in that first group. Stevens said he tries to over-help with communication and hold his teammates accountable while being a solid defender.

He added that the Cavs have focused on the importance of communication. To be a successful defensive team, they have to talk. Stevens said they have some quieter guys on the roster, so they dialed in on the importance of over-communicating. In practice, Stevens said, they have locked in on Bickerstaff’s drills. And in film sessions, Garland said, they’ve been paying extra attention to make sure they know where they need to be and understand the different coverages.

周一晚上赢得比赛并在更衣室接受采访的拉马尔史蒂文斯继续扮演着重要的防守角色。他在对阵夏洛特的比赛中被安排在首发阵容中，并连续三场小前锋出场。人们期望他能帮助第一组的防守。史蒂文斯说，他试图在沟通方面提供帮助，并在成为一名可靠的防守者的同时让他的队友承担责任。

他补充说，骑士队一直关注沟通的重要性。要成为一支成功的防守球队，他们必须进行交谈。史蒂文斯说他们的名单上有一些比较安静的人，所以他们强调了过度沟通的重要性。史蒂文斯说，实际上，他们已经习惯了比克斯塔夫的风格。加兰说，在录像会议上，他们一直特别注意确保他们知道他们需要去哪里并了解不同的关于对手报道。

Before Sunday’s matchup against the Heat, Stevens said that Bickerstaff wanted to remind them of who they are and how they play. Bickerstaff put together a video to watch before the game to emphasize the point.

“I think we really learned from that five-game losing streak,” Stevens said. “We were able to bounce back, go back to the drawing board and really just home in on our habits. We’ve been doing a good job of holding everybody accountable to living up to their standards on the defensive side.”

Accountability has been a recurring theme as the Cavs worked through their defensive struggles and tried to break out of the losing streak.

在周日与热火队的比赛之前，史蒂文斯说比克斯塔夫想提醒他们他们是谁以及他们如何打球。比克斯塔夫在赛前制作了一段视频来强调这一点。

“我认为我们真的从五连败中吸取了教训，”史蒂文斯说。“我们能够反弹，回到战术板上，真正回到我们的习惯。我们一直做得很好，让每个人都有责任在防守端达到他们的标准。”

当骑士队通过他们的防守斗争并试图打破连败时，反思是一个反复出现的主题。

In the three consecutive wins, they have been returning to that junkyard dog mentality.

“It’s just a matter of everybody executing their role to the best of their ability,” Bickerstaff said. “When you’re talking about building and progressing, we have been talking about the strength of our team is always our team. Holding everybody to that role and policing each other to make sure that we are doing those things because that’s the way we are built. If we’re helping one another and everybody is playing to their strength, and to the best of their ability, we can be good.”

在三连胜中，他们又回到了那种下狗的心态。

“这只是每个人都尽其所能履行职责的问题，”比克斯塔夫说。“当你谈论建设和进步时，我们一直在谈论我们团队的力量始终是我们的团队。让每个人都扮演各自的角色并相互监督以确保我们正在做这些事情，因为这就是我们的构建方式。如果我们互相帮助，每个人都发挥自己的力量，尽其所能，我们就能做得很好。”