美国国家公共电台 NPR--NBA stars will be back in action as the league begins its 2022-23 season

NBA stars will be back in action as the league begins its 2022-23 season

Transcript¹

Sixers vs. Celtics and Lakers vs. Warriors² — marks the opening of the NBA season Tuesday night. NPR's A Martínez talks to Dave Zirin, sports columnist³ for The Nation, about what we need to know.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

It's opening night for the National Basketball Association, as the league begins the season with a juicy doubleheader. First up, the 76ers play the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics. And then LeBron James leads the Lakers to the Bay Area to play the defending NBA champions, Golden State Warriors. Lots of storylines to ask sports columnist Dave Zirin from The Nation.

Dave, all right, let's start with the defending NBA champs, the Warriors. Two of their stars, Draymond Green and Jordan Poole, got into a highly publicized and caught-on-video argument, which led Green to punching Poole and later being fined. I mean, how do the Warriors rebound⁴ and just say, hey, we're all friends - we got to play a game now?

DAVE ZIRIN: Well, great to be here. That's a great question, too, because this is all going to come down to the captain-captain of the team, Steph Curry⁵. Steph Curry is a future NBA Hall of Famer. He's coming off winning the Finals MVP. But now he has a task even bigger than defeating the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals - he has to keep this team together somehow. And the decision by Golden State Warriors management to not suspend Draymond Green for, really, walking up to Jordan Poole and punching him in the face is raising a lot of eyebrows⁶.

Now, how that affects the team chemistry is one of the things that people are going to be keeping a close eye upon because this Golden State dynasty has always had as its hallmark this idea that they have this perfect chemistry as a team. You see the chemistry on the court in the way they pass the ball. But how the chemistry will exist off the court is anybody's guess.

MART?NEZ: Yeah, and Jordan Poole just signed a $140 million extension, and he says that Draymond Green apologized, so we'll see where that goes. Now, the NBA is still dealing⁷ with the fallout from the Phoenix⁸ Suns and their owner Robert Sarver's racist⁹ and sexist behavior. It's trying to find a new owner for the team. And it's also contending with the indefinite suspension of the Celtics head coach, Ime Udoka, for violations¹⁰ of team policies involving an inappropriate relationship with a female member of the staff. That is a lot to start off with for an NBA that has an image problem, I guess, right now.

ZIRIN: Well, certainly because this offseason has just been about scandal after scandal after scandal. And I've been looking back historically; nothing really compares to this - I mean, a franchise¹¹ owner forced out of the team; a coach who brought his team to the NBA finals forced out of his job for a scandal in that regard; a scandal that we just talked about on the Golden State Warriors, the fact that there wasn't a suspension when these two other cases, there were serious punishment. How they're going to manage all of that as a league from an image perspective - let's just say I think they're thrilled that we're going to start talking about what's happening on the court instead of off the court.

MART?NEZ: And one of those things that might happen by midseason, Lakers superstar LeBron James could be passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time points scorer in NBA history. That was a record, Dave, that a lot of people thought would be unbreakable. So how might LeBron's legacy¹² evolve or change once he passes that milestone¹³?

ZIRIN: Unbelievable. It was once thought to be an untouchable record - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the standards in all of sports numerology, if you will, him having over 38,000 career points. What it's going to do is cement LeBron James as having perhaps the best career in NBA history. I mean, to be able to break this unbreakable record will have people look at the entirety of his incredible career and proclaim him, I believe, to be the greatest player - sorry, Michael Jordan - to ever take the court.

MART?NEZ: Ooh. That's Dave Zirin who said that. Send your emails...

ZIRIN: (Laughter).

MART?NEZ: ...To Dave Zirin, national sports columnist for The Nation. Dave, thanks.

ZIRIN: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

3 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

4 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

5 curry   

n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革

参考例句：

• Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
• Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。

6 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

8 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

9 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

10 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

11 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

12 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

13 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。