NBA rivalries are like fashion trends.What’s hot today may not be “in” tomorrow and what once “was” can easily turninto what’s “now.”
NBA的宿敌之争就像时尚潮流。今天大红大紫，明天可能就会被人遗忘；曾经风靡一时，今天又再次焕发新生。
The most recent NBA rivalry involved StephCurry and the Golden State Warriors against LeBron James and the ClevelandCavaliers. Historically, the Lakers-Celtics rivalry is known to be the “best”and we may very well get to see those two teams matchup in the bubble over inOrlando.
NBA中离我们最近的一对宿敌是由斯蒂芬-库里率领的金州勇士和勒布朗-詹姆斯的克里夫兰骑士。回溯历史，当属湖人与凯尔特人的相爱相杀最为著名。今年，我们很可能在奥兰多再次看到两位老对手在总决赛的碰撞。
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselvesthough.
不过现在谈论这些还为时尚早，还是把目光转回当下。
There is at least one rivalry that has beenunder the radar and only the most astute NBA fans are aware of all the layers.It involves the aforementioned Lakers and the Houston Rockets. The playoffmatchups between these two teams are like a vintage pair of sneakers. They onlycome out once in a blue moon, but when it happens, it’s special.
至少已经有两支球队进入到人们的视线中，只有最死忠的球迷才能悉数说出他们的历史，这两支球队就是上文所提到的洛杉矶湖人和休斯顿火箭。他们在季后赛的对决就像经典款球鞋，很少露面，但一旦出现便注定非比寻常。
once in a blue moon：千载难逢；百年不遇
The tension between these two teams can betraced back nearly 40 years ago when Magic Johnson and company were knocked outof the first round of the 1981 NBA Playoffs by Calvin Murphy and Moses Malone.Houston spoiled the Lakers’ chances of repeating but eventually lost steam asthey fell to Larry Bird and the Celtics.
两支球队的恩怨可以追溯到近40年前，当时的卡尔文-墨菲和摩西-马龙一道让魔术师约翰逊率领的湖人倒在了1981年的季后赛首轮。火箭浇灭了湖人卫冕的希望，但之后的他们面对拉里-伯德率领的凯尔特人同样回天乏术，最终倒在了绿衫军脚下。
Flash forward 5 years and the two teamswere back at it again. Houston again ended the Lakers hope of winningback-to-back titles as Ralph Sampson hit one of the most memorablebuzzer-beaters in playoff history.
五年后，两支球队再次狭路重逢。火箭球员拉尔夫-桑普森命中了季后赛历史上最令人难忘的绝杀之一，湖人连冠的希望再次破灭。
Houston went on to lose to Boston once morebut remained a thorn to the Lakers’ dynasty. For perspective, the Lakers got tothe Finals 8 out of the 10 years in the 1980s. The two years they didn’t?Houston beat them.
尽管那年的火箭又一次输给了凯尔特人，但他们早已成为湖人王朝的眼中钉，肉中刺。之所以这么说，是因为湖人在上世纪80年代的10年中有8年打进总决赛。那另外两年呢？另外两年都被火箭淘汰了。
The Lakers eventually took care of businessagainst the Rockets, and the rest of the league for that matter, as they wonconsecutive titles and advanced to three straight Finals between 1987 and 1989.The Lakers also defeated Houston in the 1991 NBA Playoffs en route to Johnson’slast Finals appearance. Houston collapsed and things got so bad that HakeemOlajuwon began to be rumored in trade talks.
湖人最终还是迈过了火箭这道坎，联盟的其他球队也无法再给湖人造成威胁。他们在1987-1989年连续三年打入总决赛并完成两连冠。1991年季后赛中湖人再次击败火箭，魔术师也就此迎来了他最后一次总决赛之旅。火箭则逐渐式微乃至分崩离析，连哈基姆-奥拉朱旺都深陷交易流言。
The teams didn’t meet in the playoffs againuntil 1996. Houston was coming off back-to-back titles of their own and handedMagic his final playoff loss and essentially ended his career as a player.
火箭直到1996年才再次杀入季后赛，拿下两连冠的同时也让魔术师吞下生涯季后赛最后一场败仗的苦果，后者随即宣布退役。
Just like an ugly sweater that comes outfor the holiday season, the two teams appeared in another memorable seriesthree years later. This time the Lakers – reloaded with Kobe and Shaq --exacted revenge against the “Superteam” in Houston that featured HakeemOlajuwon, Charles Barkley, and Scottie Pippen. The series loss caused Pippen tolash out against his teammates, namely Barkley, and contributed to him beingtraded to Portland.
好马配好鞍，好车配风帆。三年后，两支球队又合力奉献了一轮精彩绝伦的系列赛。这次的湖人由科比和奥尼尔领衔，他们势在复仇当时的超级球队——拥有哈基姆-奥拉朱旺、查尔斯-巴克利和斯科蒂-皮蓬的火箭。在火箭输掉这轮系列赛后，皮蓬对自己昔日的队友巴克利大放厥词，这也促使火箭下定决心，将皮蓬交易至波特兰。
The two teams avoided one another for awhile as the Lakers went on another title-winning spree while the Rocketsrebuilt their roster. When they did meet, Kobe was a star on the proverbialrunway, delivering one of his most posterizing dunks over Yao Ming.
之后两支球队许久未曾碰面。在湖人又一次享受着夺冠游行的香槟和欢愉之际，火箭则在忙着重建。当他们再次相遇时，科比已经成长为联盟炙手可热的超级巨星，还上演了诸如隔扣姚明这般被频繁印上海报的高光时刻。
The Rockets looked to play spoiler in 2009and came within a game of ending the Lakers’ championship season. Houston wasshort-handed as Tracy McGrady was sidelined and Yao Ming suffered an injury inGame 1 of the series. The All-Star formally named Ron Artest, who had adistinct style of his own, was instrumental and did not back down againstBryant.
火箭在2009年险些成为搅局者，只差一场比赛就能让湖人那年的冠军梦破灭。当时的火箭面临人手短缺的窘境——特雷西-麦格雷迪缺阵，姚明又在系列赛首战受伤。当时球风彪悍、尚未改名的全明星罗恩-阿泰斯特挑起大梁，面对来势汹汹的科比没有丝毫退让。
In the end, the Rockets were unable to keepup with Los Angeles and Artest left Houston to join LA where he won his onlyNBA title.
最终，火箭还是难挡湖人迈进的步伐，阿泰斯特也在那之后转会湖人，并随队赢得了生涯唯一一枚总冠军戒指。
A few years later, Houston proceeded tolure Lakers big man Dwight Howard and Kobe made sure to treat his formerteammate like an old t-shirt that should have been thrown out years ago.
几年后，火箭从湖人得到德怀特-霍华德，当时的科比对待这位前队友态度就如同对待一件几年前就该被扔掉的体恤般无情。
Now the rivalry takes a new turn as JamesHarden and Russell Westbrook matchup against LeBron and Anthony Davis. A serieswin for Houston may very well put them in the driver seat to take the LarryO’Brien trophy home this season. A loss will mean another offseason full ofcriticism of the fashion-forward style of “small ball” that H-Town hasembraced.
现在，主导这场对决的人变成了詹姆斯-哈登和拉塞尔-威斯布鲁克以及勒布朗-詹姆斯和安东尼-戴维斯。火箭若能取得这轮系列赛的胜利，奥布莱恩杯很可能就会成为他们的囊中之物。如若不然，休赛期的他们将会再次因为采用前卫的小球打法而面临铺天盖地的批评。
On paper, history favors the Lake Show. TheLakers have 16 NBA Championships to Houston’s two. The Rockets two titles arealso considered to contain an asterisk since Michael Jordan was primarilyfocused on baseball those years. Critics ignore that Jordan participated in the1995 NBA Playoffs and even dropped 55 at MSG that year.
纸面上来看，湖人的历史底蕴要更加深厚。他们曾拿下16次NBA总冠军，反观火箭只有2个。火箭夺冠的两年里，由于迈克尔-乔丹退役去打棒球，这两个冠军也被认为是打了引号的。批评家们忽略了乔丹实际上出战1995年的季后赛的事实，同年甚至还在纽约麦迪逊花园狂砍55分。
Nonetheless, Houston has a chance to secureits place as a legitimize title threat and take down the league’s most iconicplayer in LeBron James. Harden’s style of play may actually gain praise if hefills up the stat sheet and most importantly, win the series. Mike D’Antonicould prove the doubters wrong and demonstrate his quick offense can beat a ruggeddefense. Or the Lakers simply win.
尽管如此，火箭仍然有机会成为冠军的有力争夺者，并击败联盟的门面勒布朗-詹姆斯。如果能填满数据统计表（最重要的是赢得系列赛），哈登以往为人诟病的打法可能也会赢得人们的称赞。迈克-德安东尼可以证明那些质疑他的人是错的，证明快速进攻击败稳固防守不是痴人说梦。又或者是另一种结局，湖人赢了。
The Rockets' future is uncertain.D’Antoni’s contract is up after this season and there is already speculationthat Harden and Westbrook are not complementary players that can win together.
火箭的未来充斥着各种不确定因素。德安东尼的合同将在本赛季结束后到期，现如今已有声音指出哈登和威斯布鲁克并不互补，说他们无法一同获胜胜利。
Just like fashion, this rivalry comes andgoes. It will be renewed when the two teams take on each other for Game 1. TheLakers are favorites and have been waiting for this matchup for the past fewdays so of course, Houston had to keep them on their toes. Let’s just say theRockets were fashionably late but all fans should be on-time for what willcertainly be a matchup for the books.
潮流圈中有着此消彼长的规律，球场的对抗也是如此。当两支球队开场跳球，新的轮回便开始了。湖人是这场对决中更被外界看好的一方，他们在过去几天里一直在等待这场比赛的来临。因此，火箭也要他们对手的神经。紧绷起来。打个比方，火箭在这场对解决中就像是潮流圈中有些过时的一方，但对球迷而言，这场注定会被载入史册的对决值得每个人搬好小板凳准时收看。
NBA rivalries are like fashion trends.What’s hot today may not be “in” tomorrow and what once “was” can easily turninto what’s “now.”
NBA的宿敌之争就像时尚潮流。今天大红大紫，明天可能就会被人遗忘；曾经风靡一时，今天又再次焕发新生。
The most recent NBA rivalry involved StephCurry and the Golden State Warriors against LeBron James and the ClevelandCavaliers. Historically, the Lakers-Celtics rivalry is known to be the “best”and we may very well get to see those two teams matchup in the bubble over inOrlando.
NBA中离我们最近的一对宿敌是由斯蒂芬-库里率领的金州勇士和勒布朗-詹姆斯的克里夫兰骑士。回溯历史，当属湖人与凯尔特人的相爱相杀最为著名。今年，我们很可能在奥兰多再次看到两位老对手在总决赛的碰撞。
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselvesthough.
不过现在谈论这些还为时尚早，还是把目光转回当下。
There is at least one rivalry that has beenunder the radar and only the most astute NBA fans are aware of all the layers.It involves the aforementioned Lakers and the Houston Rockets. The playoffmatchups between these two teams are like a vintage pair of sneakers. They onlycome out once in a blue moon, but when it happens, it’s special.
至少已经有两支球队进入到人们的视线中，只有最死忠的球迷才能悉数说出他们的历史，这两支球队就是上文所提到的洛杉矶湖人和休斯顿火箭。他们在季后赛的对决就像经典款球鞋，很少露面，但一旦出现便注定非比寻常。
once in a blue moon：千载难逢；百年不遇
The tension between these two teams can betraced back nearly 40 years ago when Magic Johnson and company were knocked outof the first round of the 1981 NBA Playoffs by Calvin Murphy and Moses Malone.Houston spoiled the Lakers’ chances of repeating but eventually lost steam asthey fell to Larry Bird and the Celtics.
两支球队的恩怨可以追溯到近40年前，当时的卡尔文-墨菲和摩西-马龙一道让魔术师约翰逊率领的湖人倒在了1981年的季后赛首轮。火箭浇灭了湖人卫冕的希望，但之后的他们面对拉里-伯德率领的凯尔特人同样回天乏术，最终倒在了绿衫军脚下。
Flash forward 5 years and the two teamswere back at it again. Houston again ended the Lakers hope of winningback-to-back titles as Ralph Sampson hit one of the most memorablebuzzer-beaters in playoff history.
五年后，两支球队再次狭路重逢。火箭球员拉尔夫-桑普森命中了季后赛历史上最令人难忘的绝杀之一，湖人连冠的希望再次破灭。
Houston went on to lose to Boston once morebut remained a thorn to the Lakers’ dynasty. For perspective, the Lakers got tothe Finals 8 out of the 10 years in the 1980s. The two years they didn’t?Houston beat them.
尽管那年的火箭又一次输给了凯尔特人，但他们早已成为湖人王朝的眼中钉，肉中刺。之所以这么说，是因为湖人在上世纪80年代的10年中有8年打进总决赛。那另外两年呢？另外两年都被火箭淘汰了。
The Lakers eventually took care of businessagainst the Rockets, and the rest of the league for that matter, as they wonconsecutive titles and advanced to three straight Finals between 1987 and 1989.The Lakers also defeated Houston in the 1991 NBA Playoffs en route to Johnson’slast Finals appearance. Houston collapsed and things got so bad that HakeemOlajuwon began to be rumored in trade talks.
湖人最终还是迈过了火箭这道坎，联盟的其他球队也无法再给湖人造成威胁。他们在1987-1989年连续三年打入总决赛并完成两连冠。1991年季后赛中湖人再次击败火箭，魔术师也就此迎来了他最后一次总决赛之旅。火箭则逐渐式微乃至分崩离析，连哈基姆-奥拉朱旺都深陷交易流言。
The teams didn’t meet in the playoffs againuntil 1996. Houston was coming off back-to-back titles of their own and handedMagic his final playoff loss and essentially ended his career as a player.
火箭直到1996年才再次杀入季后赛，拿下两连冠的同时也让魔术师吞下生涯季后赛最后一场败仗的苦果，后者随即宣布退役。
Just like an ugly sweater that comes outfor the holiday season, the two teams appeared in another memorable seriesthree years later. This time the Lakers – reloaded with Kobe and Shaq --exacted revenge against the “Superteam” in Houston that featured HakeemOlajuwon, Charles Barkley, and Scottie Pippen. The series loss caused Pippen tolash out against his teammates, namely Barkley, and contributed to him beingtraded to Portland.
好马配好鞍，好车配风帆。三年后，两支球队又合力奉献了一轮精彩绝伦的系列赛。这次的湖人由科比和奥尼尔领衔，他们势在复仇当时的超级球队——拥有哈基姆-奥拉朱旺、查尔斯-巴克利和斯科蒂-皮蓬的火箭。在火箭输掉这轮系列赛后，皮蓬对自己昔日的队友巴克利大放厥词，这也促使火箭下定决心，将皮蓬交易至波特兰。
The two teams avoided one another for awhile as the Lakers went on another title-winning spree while the Rocketsrebuilt their roster. When they did meet, Kobe was a star on the proverbialrunway, delivering one of his most posterizing dunks over Yao Ming.
之后两支球队许久未曾碰面。在湖人又一次享受着夺冠游行的香槟和欢愉之际，火箭则在忙着重建。当他们再次相遇时，科比已经成长为联盟炙手可热的超级巨星，还上演了诸如隔扣姚明这般被频繁印上海报的高光时刻。
The Rockets looked to play spoiler in 2009and came within a game of ending the Lakers’ championship season. Houston wasshort-handed as Tracy McGrady was sidelined and Yao Ming suffered an injury inGame 1 of the series. The All-Star formally named Ron Artest, who had adistinct style of his own, was instrumental and did not back down againstBryant.
火箭在2009年险些成为搅局者，只差一场比赛就能让湖人那年的冠军梦破灭。当时的火箭面临人手短缺的窘境——特雷西-麦格雷迪缺阵，姚明又在系列赛首战受伤。当时球风彪悍、尚未改名的全明星罗恩-阿泰斯特挑起大梁，面对来势汹汹的科比没有丝毫退让。
In the end, the Rockets were unable to keepup with Los Angeles and Artest left Houston to join LA where he won his onlyNBA title.
最终，火箭还是难挡湖人迈进的步伐，阿泰斯特也在那之后转会湖人，并随队赢得了生涯唯一一枚总冠军戒指。
A few years later, Houston proceeded tolure Lakers big man Dwight Howard and Kobe made sure to treat his formerteammate like an old t-shirt that should have been thrown out years ago.
几年后，火箭从湖人得到德怀特-霍华德，当时的科比对待这位前队友态度就如同对待一件几年前就该被扔掉的体恤般无情。
Now the rivalry takes a new turn as JamesHarden and Russell Westbrook matchup against LeBron and Anthony Davis. A serieswin for Houston may very well put them in the driver seat to take the LarryO’Brien trophy home this season. A loss will mean another offseason full ofcriticism of the fashion-forward style of “small ball” that H-Town hasembraced.
现在，主导这场对决的人变成了詹姆斯-哈登和拉塞尔-威斯布鲁克以及勒布朗-詹姆斯和安东尼-戴维斯。火箭若能取得这轮系列赛的胜利，奥布莱恩杯很可能就会成为他们的囊中之物。如若不然，休赛期的他们将会再次因为采用前卫的小球打法而面临铺天盖地的批评。
On paper, history favors the Lake Show. TheLakers have 16 NBA Championships to Houston’s two. The Rockets two titles arealso considered to contain an asterisk since Michael Jordan was primarilyfocused on baseball those years. Critics ignore that Jordan participated in the1995 NBA Playoffs and even dropped 55 at MSG that year.
纸面上来看，湖人的历史底蕴要更加深厚。他们曾拿下16次NBA总冠军，反观火箭只有2个。火箭夺冠的两年里，由于迈克尔-乔丹退役去打棒球，这两个冠军也被认为是打了引号的。批评家们忽略了乔丹实际上出战1995年的季后赛的事实，同年甚至还在纽约麦迪逊花园狂砍55分。
Nonetheless, Houston has a chance to secureits place as a legitimize title threat and take down the league’s most iconicplayer in LeBron James. Harden’s style of play may actually gain praise if hefills up the stat sheet and most importantly, win the series. Mike D’Antonicould prove the doubters wrong and demonstrate his quick offense can beat a ruggeddefense. Or the Lakers simply win.
尽管如此，火箭仍然有机会成为冠军的有力争夺者，并击败联盟的门面勒布朗-詹姆斯。如果能填满数据统计表（最重要的是赢得系列赛），哈登以往为人诟病的打法可能也会赢得人们的称赞。迈克-德安东尼可以证明那些质疑他的人是错的，证明快速进攻击败稳固防守不是痴人说梦。又或者是另一种结局，湖人赢了。
The Rockets' future is uncertain.D’Antoni’s contract is up after this season and there is already speculationthat Harden and Westbrook are not complementary players that can win together.
火箭的未来充斥着各种不确定因素。德安东尼的合同将在本赛季结束后到期，现如今已有声音指出哈登和威斯布鲁克并不互补，说他们无法一同获胜胜利。
Just like fashion, this rivalry comes andgoes. It will be renewed when the two teams take on each other for Game 1. TheLakers are favorites and have been waiting for this matchup for the past fewdays so of course, Houston had to keep them on their toes. Let’s just say theRockets were fashionably late but all fans should be on-time for what willcertainly be a matchup for the books.
潮流圈中有着此消彼长的规律，球场的对抗也是如此。当两支球队开场跳球，新的轮回便开始了。湖人是这场对决中更被外界看好的一方，他们在过去几天里一直在等待这场比赛的来临。因此，火箭也要他们对手的神经。紧绷起来。打个比方，火箭在这场对解决中就像是潮流圈中有些过时的一方，但对球迷而言，这场注定会被载入史册的对决值得每个人搬好小板凳准时收看。
