Sefko: Dirk good to go, but how can Mavs counter an expected 'epic push' from
OKC in Game 3?
http://tinyurl.com/jaytcvn
A collective exhale is in order.
現在鬆一口氣是合適的。
The Mavericks and their fans spent a distressing 24 hours after it was
disclosed that Dirk Nowitzki was hobbling around with a right knee bone
bruise. He said he had trouble walking and negotiating the stairs when the
team flight arrived after Monday's amazing win in Oklahoma City.
在傳出Dirk膝蓋骨挫傷後，小牛全隊上下和牛迷們度過了非常煎熬的24小時，
當班機抵達達拉斯時，Dirk說他不僅走路都有困難，就連下飛機的階梯時，都
感到非常吃力。
Then he woke up with swelling on Tuesday.
接著他隔天起床時，膝蓋是腫脹的。
The fear factor rose.
於是恐懼感升高。
On Wednesday, however, Nowitzki was walking without a noticeable limp and he
hoisted a few shots under the watchful eye of his mentor Holger Geschwindner.
Nothing too strenuous, but enough to give the knee a workout and get a little
sweat going.
禮拜三，Dirk走路就沒有明顯地一拐一拐的，而他也在Holger Geschwindner的
陪同下，做了些不是很費勁的投籃訓練，但也足以測試膝蓋，讓身體留些汗了。
Of all the injuries the Mavericks have survived to be 1-1 with the Thunder
going into Game 3 Thursday at American Airlines Center, anything keeping
Nowitzki out would have been a catastrophic development.
明天系列賽第三場將在小牛主場開始，傷兵滿營的小牛從前兩戰打成1:1平手存
活下來後，任何無法讓Dirk上場的事情，對小牛來說都會是災難性的發展。
"Coming off the plane, I could barely walk," Nowitzki said. "But it's feeling
a lot better today, moving around a little bit. So as far as I'm concerned,
we're good to go (in Game 3).
離開飛機時我幾乎無法走路。但是今天我感覺好多了，移動情形好多了，所以
對我來說，應該是會打第三戰的。
"You know me, to miss a playoff game something's really, really got to be
wrong. Good thing is I don't think anything could get worse there. It's just
a bone bruise, so it's really about dealing with some swelling, some pain,
some discomfort."
你知道我的，錯過一場季後賽對我來說會感到某些事情很不對勁，好消息是我的傷
沒有感到變更糟了，就只是骨頭腫脹，需要處理一些腫脹、痛苦和不舒服的問題。
Nowitzki was able to play more than 37 minutes on the knee after injuring it
in the first minute of the game. He attributed that to the adrenaline and the
fact that he played so many minutes that he never sat long enough for the
knee to stiffen up.
在比賽的第一分鐘時他撞傷了膝蓋後，Dirk還是打了超過37分鐘的時間，他認為是
腎上腺素飆高的原因，而事實上是他打了這麼多的時間，並沒有太長的時間坐下來
休息而導致膝蓋變硬。
With Nowitzki set to go, the Mavericks at least know they have some punch to
lean on going into Game 3.
隨著Dirk預計會上場，小牛至少知道他們還擁有一些力量可以依靠來面對第三戰。
They are expecting an epic push by the Thunder after the stunning 85-84
Mavericks' upset in Game 2. That came after getting hammered by 38 points in
the opener. And now, they face the difficult challenge of proving they aren't
just happy with shocking the world once and making this series respectable.
小牛第一戰以38分巨大落差輸球後，在第二戰小牛以85:84攪局勝出，預計雷霆在
第二戰會有如同史詩般的反擊。 而現在面臨的困難挑戰是小牛得證明他們不會因
為震撼全世界一次或在這系列賽贏得尊敬而感到沾沾自喜。
They need to show they are in it to win it.
他們必須展現出贏得系列賽的決心。
"To me they're still the heavy favorite," Nowitzki said. "It's obvious with
their talent, with probably two of the best five players we've got in the
world right now.
「對我來說，他們仍是多數人覺得會勝出系列賽的球隊，很明顯得他們擁有天賦，
他們可能擁有現在全世界最好的五位球員得其中兩位。」Dirk這樣說。
"Banged up as we are, we're here to fight. We're here to make this a series,
but they're going to come in ready to play obviously. They're going to hit us
early with some waves of energy, with scoring and defense. We got to be ready
early on to withstand that. Once we do that and hopefully our crowd will be
great and push us. Hopefully it'll be a close game and we'll be in the same
position as we were the other night."
我們是最好的，我們繼續拚戰，我們在挑戰這個系列賽，但很明顯的，他們也準
備好來到達拉斯比賽，他們會用得分和防守帶來能量而在這裡引起轟動。我們必
須盡早做出抵抗，一旦我們做到了，希望球迷們一起帶動我們的氣勢。希望這會
是場很接近的比賽，就像上一場比賽一樣。
So there you have the game plan.
所以也有了比賽計畫
Executing it is easier said than done.
然而說的比做的簡單。
What the Mavericks have to prove is that they can hang with the Thunder when
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant do more than just shoot 15-for-55 in a
game, which was their field-goal production in Game 2.
而小牛必須要證明的是當Russell Westbrook和Kevin Durant比在第二戰合計55投15
中，還要投進的更多球時，小牛還能和雷霆周旋下去。
The Mavericks were physical and smart in Game 2. Can they duplicate that
against two of the toughest matchups in the game? In short, can uglyball work
again?
小牛在第二戰打地粗野也聰明多，第三戰再次面對道他們兩人時，小牛能否再複製
這樣的結果?簡而言之，這樣難看的比賽能否再次有效?
"They're two superstar players," coach Rick Carlisle said. "They are great
athletes. They have great length and great skill. We're just trying to make
it as hard on them as possible. They missed a lot of shots they normally
make. We understand that. Part of beating a team like that is you're going to
have a little good fortune. But if you play hard enough and are in the right
position enough, you make your own luck a little bit."
「他們是兩位超級球星，他們有很棒的運動力，有很棒的高度、還有很棒的技巧，
我們盡可能讓他們打地很艱辛，他們投丟了很多平常會進的球，這我們了解到。要
擊敗像他們那樣的球隊需要一些好運，但如果你夠努力，而且能充分地讓自己處在
正確的位置，你才能創造出那些好運。」Rick Carlisle這樣說。
The Mavericks clearly have a fighting chance when they limit the possessions,
slow the tempo and put themselves in position to set up their defense.
When things get fast, they are in trouble.
當小牛控制好攻守轉換，降低球賽節奏，讓自己能在防守端就定位時，顯然是有
那個機會和雷霆一搏的，當節奏變快時，小牛就會陷入麻煩。
"Yeah, that's how we've been winning the last three weeks coming into the
playoffs," Nowitzki said. "We're not a running team. We pick and choose when
we speed the game up, but set our defense. That's when we're at our best.
Obviously teams are more athletic than us, but when we get a chance to set
our defense up, we're pretty good."
「是阿!那就是我們過去三週能不斷贏球而拚進季後賽的原因阿。我們不是支快速
攻守轉換的球隊，當我們選擇加快比賽時，無法兼顧防守， 過去三週是我們狀況
最好的階段。很多球隊都比我們還要體格健壯， 但是當我們有機會設定好防守布
陣時，我們也是相當棒的。」Dirk這樣說。