If ever there was such a thing as a “Six-Game Sweep”, then we witnessed it in last season’s NBA Finals. A Celtics squad that had struggled mightily in their journey to the Finals humbled a Lakers team with an impressive 12-3 record through the first three rounds.

如果有一比赛叫做“第六场横扫”的话，那么我们在上个赛季的NBA总决赛中见证过了。一路磕磕绊绊挺进总决赛的凯尔特人却给前三轮只输3场比赛的湖人好好的上了一课。

Call it overconfidence, cockiness, or arrogance. It didn’t take but two games for the Lake Show to realize that they had allowed themselves to believe all the hype surrounding them heading into their matchup with their storied rivals. The team that appeared to look like a cohesive and feisty unit running on all cylinders was quickly exposed as a green group of inexperienced novices.

你可以把它叫做过度自信，目中无人或者狂妄自大。相对于湖人的竞争对手，湖人被媒体过分的吹捧以至于他们自己都觉得前途一片光明。湖人这只看似精神饱满，气焰高涨却像一只气球一样被一群没有过总决赛经验的绿军轻轻一扎爆炸了，崩溃了。

So how do you bounce back when the whole world thinks that you’re fooling yourself by thinking the outcome would be any different if you earned yourself a rematch?

那么当全世界都认为你愚弄了你自己的时候，你怎么样再去夺回属于自己的荣耀，如果上天再给你一次重赛的机会，你会做出怎样的改变呢？

You can start by being the only people who never quite saw it that way.

你只有把一切包袱放下，就像你没有经历过那一切耻辱一样。

Ask any of the Lakers to reflect on their series with the Celtics last summer and they won’t mention anything about a six-game sweep.

问及任何湖人球员关于上个赛季与凯尔特人的系列赛，他们不会提及任何关于第六场溃败的事。

They will tell you that that they were only two wins shy of winning an NBA title—not exactly a lie. They’ll remind you that they did all that despite playing without homecourt advantage, without their emerging young center, and with their best perimeter defender not fully healed from a fractured foot that had sidelined him for the last three months of the regular season. No half-truths there either.

他们会告诉你，他们离冠军只差2场比赛——这的确不是谎言。他们会告诉你他们做了该做的一切除了没有他们充满能量的年轻中锋，他们最好的锋线防守者没有从困扰他赛季后三个月的脚伤中恢复过来，这一切都是事实。

Some may call that denial, but around Staples Center they call it optimism. Talk about seeing the Gatorade bottle half full.

有人会把这叫做否认自己的不足，但是洛杉矶人把这叫做乐观。他们也的确在做出改变。

As a result, the Lakers have stormed out of the gate by winning 15 of their first 17 games—a stark contrast from the 9-8 record they had through their first 17 games last season.

改变的结果是，新赛季开赛17场过后，他们摧枯拉朽般的豪取15胜，而作为对比去年他们前17场比赛的战绩是9胜8负。

Thanks to the Celtics, this year’s Lakers squad went into training camp with a newfound education in what it takes to win a championship.

感谢凯尔特人，今年湖人自训练营起就开始了新的理念，一个能帮助他们去赢得总冠军的理念

Lesson One: Defense, Defense, Defense

第一课：防守，防守，防守

So what exactly did the Lakers learn from the Celtics? For starters, they learned that offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.

那么湖人到底从凯尔特人身上学到了什么呢？第一点就是，他们认识到进攻给你带来门票，但是防守带你赢得冠军。

If there was a watershed moment in last year’s Finals it would have to be Ray Allen flying by Sasha Vujacic for the uncontested layup that sealed the Game 4 comeback.

如果说上赛季总决赛有个分水岭的话，那肯定是雷阿伦过掉沙沙上篮成功从湖人手中偷走了第四场的胜利。

That one play summed up the entire series. It proved that the Celtics had the type of defense that could overcome a 24-point deficit on the road and the Lakers didn’t. Even after the Lakers won the next game it was difficult to entertain the thought of them actually winning one of the remaining two games in Boston, let alone both.

那一球给整个系列赛定下了基调。这就证明了防守能让凯尔特人填补24分的大坑，而湖人则不能。即使当湖人赢了接下来的一场，也很难在波士顿的接下来的2个主场拿下任何一场。

Throughout the regular season and the early rounds of the playoffs the Lakers had played good defense in spurts but they were nowhere near the Celtics. For the most part, Kobe and company had won games by outscoring their opponents rather than holding them to fewer points. The Celtics could beat you either way, but they did it mostly with defense—the kind that will kill your spirit.

湖人在常规赛以及季后赛的前几轮防守做的很好但是在碰见凯尔特人后却漏洞百出。其中最主要的原因是科比以及他的队友用比对手更多的得分来赢得比赛，而凯尔特人却用另一种方式击败你，他们用防守，用让你窒息的防守压得你喘不过气。

After averaging 110.7 points per game during the regular season, the Lakers were held to under 100 points in every game of the series except Game 2, a game which had not only been decided in the third quarter but required a 41-point fourth quarter for the Lakers to reach the century mark.

本赛季湖人场均得分110.7分，除了第二场比赛之外其他场次他们的得分都超过了100分，第二场比赛的第三节结束时湖人离100分大关还差41分呢。

Over the summer and without much attention, Phil Jackson appointed Kurt Rambis to be the Lakers own version of Tom Thibodeau, the Celtics assistant coach responsible for the league’s most impressive defensive unit.
在夏天没有受到太多关注的情况下，禅师钦点湖人助教兰比斯为湖人队版的Thibodeau，Thibodeau就是让凯尔特人防守名满天下的幕后功臣。

If the Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett trades were the first major personnel moves that led to the Celtics turnaround, then the third would have to be the hiring of Tom Thibodeau. If Doc Rivers was Mike Ditka, then Thibodeau was his Buddy Ryan.

如果说雷阿伦和凯文加内特的到来是凯尔特人崛起的主要因素的话，那么第三要素就是Tom Thibodeau。

For the first time in his career, Jackson assigned defensive responsibility to one of his assistants. After weeks of scribbling ideas on bar napkins, Rambis convinced Jackson it was time to mix in some zone schemes with man-to-man—something Jackson had been resisting for years.

禅师执教生涯第一次把防守的任务交给了他的助教。兰比斯苦思冥想了好几周，最终说服杰克逊把人盯人防守带进禅师的区域联防战术体系中，而禅师这么多年来一直是抵制人盯人防守的。

Their strategy this season has been to use pressure to force the opponent to one side of the court and then overload that side by putting an extra defender in the post. Even though this strategy leaves the weak side virtually unguarded, the length of the Lakers has enabled them to close off passing lanes and force turnovers.

湖人这个赛季的战略就是利用紧逼压迫对手使其运球到球场的一侧，然后增派一名防守队员去协防。即使这样的会造成弱侧的漏人，但是湖人的防线会切断对手的传球路线以及造成对手的失误。

The results of this new defensive strategy have been noticeable. The Lakers are giving up five fewer points per game compared to last season and have decreased their opponent’s field-goal percentage by two. They also lead the league in steals with 10.2 per game.

这种防守策略显然是起作用的。和上个赛季相比湖人让对手的的场均得分减少了5分多，降低对手命中率达2个百分点。他们场均10.2次的抢断同样排在联盟首位。

Lesson Two: You are Only as Good as Your Bench

第二课：替补好才是真的好

One of the main reasons why so may pundits and prognosticators predicted the Lakers to win the series with Boston was because of their bench, and, yet, the Celtics bench outplayed them considerably.

许多专家和学者预测湖人会赢得和凯尔特人的系列赛的一个主要原因就是湖人的板凳深度要更雄厚，但是凯尔特人的替补的表现超出人们的预期水准。

Whether it was Leon Powe’s 21 points in Game 2 or James Posey’s 18 points in Game 4, the Celtics bench may have been the reason they won the series as handily as they did.

不管是Leon Powe在第二场得到21分，还是James Posey在第四场拿下18分，凯尔特人的板凳是他们系列赛获胜的关键。

While many expected the Lakers to react by going out into the free agent market and signing a veteran to help solidify their bench and add experience, the team took a different approach by opting to start Vladimir Radmanovic at small forward over the more talented Lamar Odom or Trevor Ariza.
Odom and Ariza have combined to handle the role that Posey had by using the first few minutes to get a feel for the game from the bench and then playing whatever role is needed.

当众人预测湖人将会到自由市场寻找一名老兵来增加他们的板凳深度以及经验时，他们却用拉的马洛维奇取代更有天赋和才能的喇嘛和阿里扎作为首发小前锋。喇嘛和阿里扎的作用就像凯尔特人的波西一样，作为第六人为球队带来冲劲，然后就摇身一变成为万金油。

Nobody will ever confuse Odom’s defense with that of Posey’s, but it has definitely improved. Odom has increased his averages in both steals and blocks despite playing 12 fewer minutes per game.

没有人会认为喇嘛的防守可以和波西相媲美，但是他的确提高了不少。喇嘛场均抢断和盖帽都比上赛季提高了，尽管他的出场时间压缩了12分钟。

Through his first fours seasons Ariza has been known primarily for his athleticism (remember this dunklast Christmas?), but he's slowly being recognized as one of the league's most underrated defenders. He's the only player in the top-15 in the league in steals that isn't a starter.

尽管阿里扎的前四个赛季以他出色的运动能力而著称（记得上赛季圣诞大战的暴扣吗），但是他正在慢慢的成长为联盟最被低估的防守者。他是联盟抢断榜上前15名中唯一不是先发的。

Odom’s height provides the Lakers with someone who can guard all three frontcourt positions while Ariza’s quickness and length enable him to defend point guards or power forwards.

喇嘛的身高可以胜任湖人前场的3个位置而阿里扎的速度和身体使他能从防守PG到PF。

Lesson Three: Win Early, Win Often

第三课：赢球要趁早，要一鼓作气

Only twice since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 Finals format in 1985 has the team without home-court advantage won all of the middle three games.  

自从1985年NBA总决赛实行2-3-2模式以来只出现过2次当球队没有主场优势的情况下能连赢中间三场比赛的。

That didn’t bode well for the Lakers chances. After going down 0-2 to the Celtics, the Lakers had not only lost whatever momentum they had built up in the first three rounds but were faced with the arduous task of trying to win four out of five games against a team that had only lost 16 of 82 games during the regular season.

这对湖人来说并不是好兆头。客场2连败过后，湖人不仅丧失了在前三轮中建立的信心而且得面对一个事实那就是他们必须赢下接下来5场比赛中的4场，要知道凯尔特人整个赛季82场比赛只输了16场。

The Lakers are hoping that with the Celtics battling a much-improved Eastern Conference and with a full season of Pau Gasol, they can have home-court advantage the next time around.

湖人寄希望于在东部球队普遍提高，以及加索尔出勤整个赛季的情况下，他们今年会获得主场优势。

There is no doubt that the Celtics and Lakers are keeping an eye on each other in the standings—making the battle for home-court advantage one of the season’s more interesting subplots.

毫无疑问，凯尔特人和湖人都在密切关注着对方，这2只球队谁能在常规赛中取得更好的战绩恐怕也是这个赛季的一大看点。

Despite their obvious progress in certain areas, the Lakers are still very much a work in progress. The big question is whether they can play consistent defense all season long. After not allowing a hundred points to any of their first seven opponents, they’ve reverted back to last year’s defense at times and given up at least 100 points in six of their last 10 games.

抛去湖人进步明显的方面，他们还有许多需要提高的地方。最大的问题就是他们能否把防守持续一个赛季。开赛前7个对手湖人都没有让他们得分过百，但是随后湖人的防守就开始时而退步到去年的水准，在接下来的10场比赛他们的对手6场比赛过百。

The Christmas Day rematch should provide the first true glimpse into just how much progress the Lakers have made since last June.

即将到来圣诞大战将会是这2只球队本赛季第一次重逢，到时会向大家展示湖人自今天6月的失利以来到底有多少进步。

Should the Lakers manage to make it to the mountaintop at the end of the season, they can look back and point to the drubbing they took in last year’s Finals as the moment where they found their blueprint for success—or should I say green-print.