In fact，the thing that runs contrary to the best interests of the NBA is its own cruel， Unrelenting， BackBreaking of the Schedule.

實際上，對NBA利益造成最大損害的，是他們殘酷的，令人窒息的，使人疲勞至極的賽程。

Kristaps Porzingis looked fresh and rested as he walked into the Quicken Loans Arena for a late-December game in Cleveland. And for the first three quarters， he played that way.But even if the 20-year-old rookie phenom looked good on the outside， on the inside his body was surely a mess. For the past three months， it had been systematically trashed by the NBA’s silent killer： its grueling 82-game schedule. New York had just come off a three-games-in-four-nights stretch， which had come on the heels of a three-games-in-four-nights swing through Utah， Sacramento and Portland. Not surprisingly， Carmelo Anthony had rolled his ankle late in a game two nights earlier and was now out.

去年12月底在騎士的速貸球館，尼克斯的克里斯塔普斯·波爾津吉斯表面上看著一臉輕松。比賽的前三節(jié)，他也表現(xiàn)得相當有活力?？蛇@個20歲的年輕人就算表面上看著輕松，實際上身體已經(jīng)到了極限。過去三個月，他的身體已經(jīng)被NBA的無聲殺手——82場殘酷的賽程——造成了系統(tǒng)性的磨損。那場與騎士的賽前，尼克斯剛剛完成四晚三賽，一路從猶他、薩克拉門托和波特蘭輾轉到了克利夫蘭。安東尼在兩天前扭傷了腳踝，被迫缺席與騎士的比賽。

Sure enough， by the fourth quarter， the hormonal， mental and physical aftershock of the Knicks’ schedule emerged into full view. With a minute left， Porzingis， who had scored 23 points in the first three quarters， had yet to score in the fourth and was visibly dragging. The Knicks trailed by four and needed a stop. And with the entire arena on its feet， LeBron James -- coming off a luxurious， if rare， two days of rest -- made his move. From the left corner， LeBron darted toward Porzingis before rising up for a sky-high one-handed slam. Instead of challenging James at the rim， Porzingis ducked away， like a matador. The Cavs would win by seven， with the Knicks mustering just 12 points in the fourth， tying their then-season low.

所以當尼克斯在第四節(jié)比賽變得毫無活力也就不足為奇了。波爾津吉斯在前三節(jié)就拿下了23分，但第四節(jié)進行到還剩一分鐘時，他不僅一分未得，而且明顯表現(xiàn)出體能不足的狀態(tài)。尼克斯當時落后4分，他們急需一次成功的防守。騎士在這場比賽前“奢侈”地得到了兩天休息時間，勒布朗·詹姆斯這時發(fā)動了進攻。詹姆斯在左側底角啟動，迎著波爾津吉斯高高躍起完成了單手扣籃。波爾津吉斯這個回合不僅沒有挑戰(zhàn)詹姆斯，反而躲在了一邊。尼克斯最終輸了7分，他們在整個第四節(jié)只拿到了12分，追平賽季單節(jié)最低得分。

For the NBA， LeBron’s slam was the stuff of dreams： A superstar soaring for a game-clinching dunk is the very thing that sells tickets， spikes ratings and launches Vines. But here’s the thing： It almost never happens， and for reasons most people don’t realize.

在聯(lián)盟看來，詹姆斯扣籃無疑是最理想的結果。一個超級巨星用扣籃鎖定勝局，無疑是提高票房、收視率和討論度的最佳方法?？蓡栴}是，比賽最后時刻幾乎很少出現(xiàn)扣籃，而且原因是大多數(shù)人想不到的。

As it turns out， the fourth-quarter dunk is a rare phenomenon. From the 2005-06 season through 2014-15， there were nearly 5，000 fewer dunks in the fourth quarter compared with the first， a decline of 20 percent. In fact， dunks become rarer with each passing quarter： from an average of 1.98 in the first to 1.59 in the fourth. More fascinating： The overall frequency falls 24 percent when teams play on zero days’ rest versus one day off， dropping from 5.5 dunks per game to 4.2. The upshot： It took a dog-tired Knicks team on the road against a fresh Cavs squad to produce that James highlight.

數(shù)據(jù)表明，球員在第四節(jié)的扣籃數(shù)量確實大幅減少。從2005-06賽季開始到2014-15賽季，第四節(jié)的總扣籃數(shù)比第一節(jié)少了近5000次，這是近20%的降幅。事實上，隨著比賽進行，每一節(jié)的扣籃數(shù)都在減少，從第一節(jié)平均1.98次下降到第四節(jié)的1.59次。更有意思的是，當球隊打背靠背第二場時，他們的場均扣籃次數(shù)從5.5下降到了4.2，跌幅為24%。所以說，在累得要死的尼克斯的襯托下，詹姆斯的扣籃變得更好看了。

It’s merely one of a hundred signals that NBA players are exhausted and sleep-deprived. In this case it was to the benefit of the highlight makers. But the evidence suggests that， over the course of a season， all players -- and fans --end up losing.

扣籃減少不過是球員疲勞的眾多信號之一。盡管詹姆斯上演了扣籃，可實際上，最終受到損失的，不僅是聯(lián)賽和球員，也包括球迷。

\"It makes no sense to me，\" says Dr. Charles Czeisler， director of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School. \"These guys are so extraordinarily talented， and it’s a shame that they’re being impaired. It’d be like the NBA saying， ’OK， let’s see how they do if we starve the players. OK， let’s see how they do if we make them all drunk before they play， so everybody has to do six shots before they do the game.’ Would anyone in their right minds consider that？\"

“我覺得這完全沒有道理?！惫疳t(yī)學院睡眠醫(yī)學主任查爾斯·澤斯勒說，“這些人太有天賦，他們的身體受到損害真的是一件很遺憾的事情。NBA好像在說：‘好吧，不讓球員吃飯會發(fā)生什么情況；讓我們看看他們在比賽前喝醉會有什么反應，讓每個人賽前都喝上六杯酒?！季S正常的人會這么做嗎？”

STEVE MAGNESS IS one of the world’s top running coaches -- his middle- distance and marathon runners are prepping for the Olympics now --and a leading authority on athlete exhaustion. There are disagreements among experts in his world about how hard to push athletes， but nobody recommends anything like what the NBA prescribes： four contests in five nights， say -- or 82 in 169 days.

史蒂夫·馬格尼斯是世界頂尖的跑步教練，他訓練的中長距離和馬拉松選手正在備戰(zhàn)里約奧運會。馬格尼斯還是運動疲勞領域的權威，盡管在他的專業(yè)范圍內對于督促運動員的強度有著不同認知，但沒人推薦NBA的做法：五天四場比賽，或者說169天82場比賽。

\"It’s almost ludicrous how often they play，\" says Magness， who has a master’s in exercise science and wrote the book The Science of Running. With so few days off， the restorative faculties of the human body start to shut down. And it’s a problem the NBA knows it has. Commissioner Adam Silver recently told reporters in London that \"we’re becoming more sophisticated about the impact of fatigue on our players and the direct correlation between fatigue and injuries.\"

“他們的比賽頻率高到幾乎可笑的程度?！瘪R格尼斯擁有運動科學碩士學位，還寫過《跑步科學》。因為休息時間太少，人體的恢復功能也會停工。問題在于，NBA對這種情況心知肚明。總裁亞當·蕭華最近在倫敦對記者表示“我們越來越了解疲勞對球員的影響，知道疲勞與傷病的直接關系”。

But even with a new push by the league to reduce back-to-backs and four-in-fives to all-time lows， there are still 533 back-to-backs in the NBA schedule， far too many in the eyes of Magness， who advises his top Olympic athletes to race no more than once a week.

盡管聯(lián)盟開始努力減少背靠背和五天四戰(zhàn)這類比賽的數(shù)量，但本賽季聯(lián)盟仍會有533次背靠背，在馬格尼斯看來，這個數(shù)量還是太高了。馬格尼斯給頂級奧運選手的建議是，一周比賽不要超過一次。

The problem is mounting. Research from ESPN’s Kevin Pelton indicates that stars are more injury-prone than ever. Incumbent All-Stars from 2013-14 missed 19 games on average last season， or about a quarter of the season. Compare that with 2009-10， when incumbent All-Stars missed just 10.8 percent of their games -- or one of every 10 games. The plague of the injured star was evident in the 2015 Finals， when James shot 38 percent sans Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. And Jimmy Butler， the NBA leader in minutes per game， just suffered a knee injury on the second night of a back-to-back that will keep him out for three to four weeks.

但NBA積壓的問題越來越多。據(jù)ESPN的凱文·佩爾頓統(tǒng)計，現(xiàn)在的明星球員比過去更容易受傷。2013-14賽季入選全明星的球員在上個賽季平均缺戰(zhàn)19場比賽，或者說是四分之一個賽季。對比2009-10賽季，那時的全明星球員只缺席10.8%的比賽，即每10場休戰(zhàn)1場。2015年總決賽最集中地表現(xiàn)出了傷病對球星的影響，由于歐文和樂福缺陣，詹姆斯的命中率掉到了38%。本賽季在上場時間方面領銜全聯(lián)盟的吉米·巴特勒，也因為在背靠背第二場比賽中傷到了膝蓋而休息了近一個月時間。

If you survey doctors and sports scientists around the world， the NBA’s problem stems in large part from chronic lack of sleep， the body’s natural performance-enhancing drug. How important is it？ A recent Stanford University study found that shooting accuracy improved by 9 percent and 3-point percentage by 9.2 percent after basketball players spent at least 10 hours in bed for nocturnal sleep during a five-to-seven-week period. \"We get this nice big surge of testosterone and human growth hormone when we get into deep sleep，\" Magness says. \"The longer the deep sleep phase gets， the more HGH and testosterone you produce.\"

閱讀相關醫(yī)學報告你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，NBA球員身體的問題，很大程度上源自持續(xù)缺乏睡眠，而睡眠又是最天然的恢復劑。睡眠到底有多重要？斯坦福大學最近一項研究表明，在五到七周時間里，如果球員晚上睡眠時間至少超過10小時，他們的投籃命中率會提高9%，三分命中率能提高9.2%?！吧疃人邥r，我們的睪酮與人體生長激素都會迅速增加?！瘪R格尼斯說，“深度睡眠的時間越長，身體就能生成更多的生長激素和睪酮。”

In early January， the NBA’s ironman， Clippers center DeAndre Jordan， missed his first game since 2011. The DNP was due to a bout with， of all things， pneumonia， to which Magness quips， \"Yeah， exactly.\"

1月初，聯(lián)盟新“鐵人”代表德安德烈·喬丹缺席了比賽，這是他201 1年以來第一次缺席比賽。缺席比賽的原因是他患上了肺炎，馬格尼斯聽到這個說法后一笑，說“就是這么回事”。

There’s a reason， after all， teams play three points per 100 possessions worse on the second day of back-to-backs. And even worse when they play four games in five days. \"Basically， it makes the body a mess，\" Magness says.\"What happens when you play 82 games in a 160-day stretch is you don’t give your body time to repair itself and get ready for the next go-round. It just kicks into this stage where it can’t keep up with the demands.\"

正是因為上述原因，在背靠背第二場比賽里，球隊每百回合的平均得分會減少3分。五天四戰(zhàn)時情況只會更糟糕。“基本上那就是折騰自己的身體?！瘪R格尼斯說，“160多天里打82場比賽，事實上你沒有給自己身體自我修復的機會，無法讓身體為下一輪競技做好準備。實際上你的身體進入了無法滿足現(xiàn)實需求的狀態(tài)?！?/p>

Thirty-three years ago， Joyner was in medical school at Arizona -- where he’d run track as an undergrad -- when a sweet-shooting guard named Steve Kerr stepped onto the Tucson campus. It was there -- watching coach Lute Olson turn around the program with Kerr -- that he became obsessed not only with hoops but also with the madness of the NBA schedule. \"There’s a reason why airline pilots have sleep rules，\" Joyner says.

30年前，喬爾納是亞利桑那大學醫(yī)學院的學生，本科時他還是田徑運動員。和他同時期在亞利桑那大學的，有一個名叫史蒂夫·科爾的得分后衛(wèi)。親眼見證魯特·奧爾森教練和科爾帶領亞利桑那大學走向輝煌后，喬爾納不僅迷上了籃球，他也對NBA賽程產(chǎn)生了濃厚興趣。“航空公司的飛行員有睡眠規(guī)定，這是有道理的。”喬爾納說。

No sport spends more time at 30，000 feet than the NBA. Consider that the Warriors will travel an NBA-high 54，000 miles this season， per an NBAsavant. com analysis， twice as many as the NFL’s top travel team （the 49ers， who jetted 28，000 miles in 2015， according to Pro Football Reference）. Baseball obviously has it worse with its 162-game schedule， right？ Wrong： The average NBA team logged 44，214 miles last season； in MLB it was 29，374， according to BaseballSavant.com. Even NHL teams travel less than NBA teams do， averaging about 40，000 miles of flight per season.

NBA球員在飛機上的時間比任何職業(yè)球員都多。NBAsavant. com的統(tǒng)計，本賽季旅行總里程最長的是勇士，54000英里（86900公里），這幾乎是NFL旅行距離最長球隊的兩倍（2015年的49人為45060公里）。上賽季，NBA球隊的平均旅行距離為44214英里（71 155公里），而職棒大聯(lián)盟球隊的平均旅行距離僅有29374英里（47272公里）。甚至連NHL球隊的旅行距離都比NBA球隊少，盡管有不少球隊集中在加拿大，但NHL球隊的平均旅行距離也只有40000英里（64373公里）。

ALL OF THIS leaves players at risk， particularly the ones who log big minutes. Research shows that risk increases exponentially as minutes rise. NBA empirical data is notoriously scant， but a 1999 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found there were significantly more injuries in English Premier League soccer in the 15-minute periods at the end of each half， when fatigue was at its highest.

球員因此面臨著極大的風險，特別是那些上場時間很多的球員。研究顯示，隨著比賽時間增加，球員面臨的風險呈指數(shù)型增長趨勢。NBA缺乏這方面的研究，但1999年英國《體育醫(yī)學》期刊上的一篇文章表明，英超比賽上下半場最后15分鐘，隨著球員疲勞度達到頂峰，受傷的情況也出現(xiàn)明顯增加。

And a 2012 Basketball Prospectus study by Pelton found that the period of playing time when players are most likely to tear their ACLs arrives between minutes 33 and 39. Even the injuries that seem driven by bad luck -- say， turning an ankle by landing on an opponent’s foot -- might be avoidable with more rest， as spatial awareness improves with sleep and muscle strength is hardened by rest.

凱文·佩爾頓2012年發(fā)表的一份研究顯示，球員前十字韌帶撕裂風險最高的時段，集中在上場時間33到39分鐘這段時間。即便是那些可能純屬運氣不好的傷病，比如落地時踩在其他人腳上扭傷腳踝，如果休息時間充足，肌肉力量得到加強，避免受傷的可能性也會提高。

In fairness， the NBA has shuffled the schedule to reduce the number of back-to-backs. In 2014-15， the Blazers traveled an absurd 64，576 miles. The league shaved 12，000 miles off that this season， thanks to a fancy algorithm implemented by the NBA’s analytics guru， Jason Rosenfeld.

當然，NBA也在盡全力調整賽程，減少背靠背比賽的數(shù)量。2014-15賽季，開拓者的總旅行歷程達到了驚人的64576英里（103924公里）。在聯(lián)盟分析大師杰森·羅森菲爾德應用新算法后，本賽季開拓者的旅行總里程減少了12000英里（19312公里）。

ON FEB. 12， Silver will host a gathering of owners and power brokers at his All-Star Tech Summit in Toronto. At the main panel， the literature boasts， health and analytics will be the focus. Coaches are adapting too： The number of players averaging 35 or more minutes per game stands at 21 this season， down from 58 a decade ago. But DNPs and scheduling algorithms can only do so much -- at a certain point， more rest means fewer games， which means fewer events to sell tickets to and broadcast.

在2月12日多倫多全明星周末期間，蕭華召開了由球隊老板和權威經(jīng)紀人組成的討論會，其中的一個主要議題就是球員健康與分析。教練們也在逐漸改變自己的執(zhí)教態(tài)度，本賽季上場時間在35分鐘及以上的球員已經(jīng)只占球員總數(shù)的21%了，而在十年前，這個數(shù)字是58%。但是休戰(zhàn)和用新算法重新安排賽程的作用仍然存在著局限性，畢竟，更多的休息意味著更少的比賽，而更少的比賽等于球票和直播權收入的減少。