洛杉矶湖人队本赛季可能会为季后赛席位而战 [美国媒体]

When the Los Angeles Lakers first convened for trainingcamp in late September, center Timofey Mozgov came with a clear goal (andquestion) for the team.

——九月末，当洛杉矶湖人队第一次召开训练营时，中锋季莫费-莫兹戈夫带着一个清晰的目标（和问题）而来。



"I think we have to go into the playoffs, or why arewe playing?" asked the veteran center.

——“我认为我们必须进入季后赛，要不然为什么我们要打球呢？”这名老将中锋问道。

The answer to "why are we playing?" seemedobvious. After winning just 17 games last year, the Lakers' primary goalshould've been developing its squad of young, promising players like BrandonIngram, D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle. The team had no real shot tocompete in the Western Conference.

——“我们为什么打球？”的答案似乎是显而易见的。经历过仅仅赢了17场比赛的上赛季后，湖人的主要目标应该放在培养她的一群年轻的、有前途的球员身上，比如布兰登-英格拉姆、安吉洛-拉塞尔和朱丽叶斯-兰德尔。在西部联盟，湖人没有进入季后赛的机会。

During its preseason forecast, ESPN.com predicted theLakers would win just 25 games and finish dead last in the West.

——在赛季开始前的预测中，ESPN预计湖人仅仅能赢25场比赛，然后在西部完成比赛。

Fast-forward to Wednesday night in Chicago: The Lakers,playing on the second night of a back-to-back, without their starting guardtandem of Nick Young and Russell, overcame a 14-point deficit to beat theBulls, 96-90.

——快进到周三的芝加哥之夜：在背靠背比赛的第二个夜晚，并且在他们的首发的串联后卫尼克-杨和拉塞尔缺席的情况下，湖人队完成了14分的逆转，以96-90战胜了公牛队。

With the win, the Lakers improved to 10-10—good for ninthplace in the conference through almost a quarter of the season.

——随着这场胜利，湖人的战绩提升到10胜10负——在经历了几乎四分之一个赛季之后，排在西部联盟的第九位。

"The fact that we are [at .500] speaks a lot to theeffort that our guys are playing with [and] the trust they have with eachother," coach Luke Walton said. "If we can keep playing hard andcompeting, I am confident we will get the more complicated stuff down as welland then we can make real growth happen."

——“我们现在胜率达到了五成，这一事实很能说明我们的球员打得有多么努力以及他们多么地信任彼此。”主教练卢克-沃顿说道，“如果我们继续努力打球、保持竞争，我确信我们还能完成更多复杂的任务，然后我们将会取得真正的进步。”



Walton contends the Lakers are winning because ofintensity more so than an understanding of what the coaches want on offense anddefense.

——沃顿争辩道，湖人赢得比赛，是因为球员们对进攻和防守强度的理解超过了教练们所要求的。

"The effort and the competitiveness have been offthe charts almost every night for our guys, but we need to get the execution upto par with that," Walton said.

——“几乎每个夜晚，我们队员所做的努力和他们的竞争力都棒极了，但我们还需要提高执行力以达到那样的标准。”沃顿说。

When it comes to Los Angeles' playoff hopes, the teamwon't catch the elite in the West like the Golden State Warriors (16-2), SanAntonio Spurs (15-4) and Los Angeles Clippers (14-5). The Houston Rockets(11-7)are a top offensive group, the Oklahoma City Thunder (12-8) have All-StarRussell Westbrook averaging a triple-double and the Utah Jazz (11-8) are one ofthe NBA's best defensive squads.

——当谈到洛杉矶湖人的季后赛期望时，这支队伍赶不上西部联盟的精英，比如金州勇士（1-2）、圣安东尼奥马刺（15-4）以及洛杉矶快船（14-5）。休斯顿火箭（11-7）是一只进攻顶尖的队伍，俄克拉荷马雷霆（12-8）拥有场均三双的全明星球员拉塞尔-维斯布鲁克，而犹他爵士（11-8）是NBA中最好的防守队伍之一。

But the Memphis Grizzlies (11-8) are vulnerable. They'renow without guard Mike Conley (back injury) for an intense six weeks duringwhich they'll face some of the NBA's best, including the Cleveland Cavaliers,Warriors and Clippers multiple times.

——但孟菲斯灰熊队（11-8）是脆弱的。在接下来紧张的六周内，他们的后卫迈克-康利（背伤）将缺席比赛，在此期间，他们会多次遇到一些NBA中最好的球队，包括克里夫兰骑士队，勇士队以及快船队。

The eighth-place Portland Trail Blazers (10-10) arestruggling to find the same chemistry that made them a playoff darling lastseason.

——排名第八的波特兰开拓者队（10-10）则正努力寻找与上赛季相同的化学反应，这一化学反应使得他们在上赛季进入珍贵的季后赛。

The Lakers will draw the Grizzlies twice without Conleyand the Blazers four times before the season comes to a close. Those six gamescould help propel the Lakers to the playoffs, considering how close these teamsare in terms of records, provided L.A. survives injuries and a heavy scheduleahead.

——湖人将会遇到缺少康利的灰熊两次，而在赛季结束前将会四次面对开拓者队。考虑到这些球队在战绩上如此接近，这六场比赛可能会有助于湖人向季后赛挺进——假如湖人能避免伤病并且克服接下来繁重的赛程的话。



Of the Lakers' next 13 contests, 10 are on the road.Seven of the 13 are against teams currently slotted in the top eight of theirrespective conferences. To make matters more difficult, Russell is expected tomiss at least the next three games while recovering from a sore left knee. AndYoung will be sidelined for two to four weeks with a right calf strain—roughlyeight to 15 games.

——在湖人接下来的13场比赛中，有10场是在客场。而13场中的7场是对阵当前排在他们各自分区前八的球队。让事情更加困难的是，由于左膝酸痛，拉塞尔预计将会至少缺席接下来的3场比赛。并且杨因为右小腿拉伤，也会缺席2到4周——大约8到15场比赛。

But if the Lakers can get five of the 13, they'll bethree games below .500 (15-18) heading into their Christmas Day matchup atStaples Center against the Clippers. Then it will be even more apparent that weneed to take this team's playoff hopes seriously.

——但是如果湖人能够赢得13场比赛中的5场，则在进入他们的圣诞节大战、于斯台普斯中心对阵快船前，他们离五成胜率就只差3场（15-18）。那么很显然，我们必须认真地考虑这只队伍进入季后赛的前景。

Including the holiday, the Lakers will next have 49 gamesleft to build playoff momentum (with 21 on the road).

——包括假期，湖人接下来将有49场比赛来建立季后赛势头（21场客场）。

"I think effort will carry you a long way,"Larry Nance Jr. said. "The more and more we play together, the more gamesand months go by—hopefully years go by—and we're all together, that's when youstart to see the efficiency that a Golden State has. That's what we're lookingforward to."

——“我认为努力会助你走很长的路。”小拉里-南斯说，“我们一起打球越来越多，更多的比赛、再多几个月过去了——希望能是很多年——我们还在一起打球，然后你就会看到金州勇士所具有的的效率了。那就是我们所期待的东西。”

Meanwhile, the Lakers will need to hold off other challengersbehind them in the standings, like the Denver Nuggets (7-11), Sacramento Kings(7-11) and New Orleans Pelicans (7-12). The Pelicans have recently surged withthe return of Jrue Holiday and should get Tyreke Evans back soon from a kneeinjury. The Minnesota Timberwolves (5-13) also seem like they should be a lotbetter than their record.

——与此同时，湖人也需要抵御那些排在他们之后的挑战者，像是丹佛掘金（7-11）、萨克拉门托国王（7-11）以及新奥尔良鹈鹕（7-12）。随着朱-霍乐迪的回归，鹈鹕进来战绩飙升，并且应该尽快让泰瑞克-埃文斯从膝伤中恢复过来。

The Lakers are clearly a work in progress, but it's notunreasonable to think they can leapfrog the Grizzlies and hold onto at leastthe eighth spot in the West. To do so, they'll need to get through the next fewweeks while playing short-handed and then continue to improve over the rest ofthe calendar.

——虽然湖人明显还是个半成品，但是他们能超过灰熊并且至少在西部排在第八位的设想并非不合理。

Despite the Bleacher Report league-wide prediction thatthe Lakers would finish with the worst record in the NBA, the team's actualrange may be seventh through 12th in the West.

——尽管看台报道针对全联盟的预测认为湖人将会以NBA最差的战绩结束赛程，但这支球队实际上的排名可能会是西部第七到十二之间。

Mozgov seemed overly optimistic on media day, yet theveteran Russian center clearly saw a competitive fire in this Lakers squad thatmany overlooked.

——媒体日上，莫兹戈夫似乎过于乐观，然而这名俄罗斯老将中锋清晰地看到了这只湖人身上旺盛的竞争力，而这被许多人所忽略。