For some reason, I hate Bruce Bowen. It's almost irrational how much I can't stand the dude. He strikes me a cheap shot artist with minimal basketball skill. He bends and breaks the rules every chance he gets. What makes it worse, is that I have a serious "man crush" for Artest even though he led the league in flagrants and is a total head case. I just like the way Artest is all up your face and doesn't try to hide anything. If he is going to knock you down, he does it for everyone to see and he doesn't cry that a foul was called on him. To me there is a difference between a hard foul and a cheap foul and Artest commits the former and Bowen commits the latter. Is this even remotely rational or am I jaded by the spurs/rockets rivalry.
I agree with your assessment. Artest is what Artest is --- sort of like Tyson. He doesn't pretend to be anything else. He is not sneaky, just mean
The rivalry that makes me have goosebumps everytime I see a replay of the 95 western conference finals.
Bowen's getting a lot of attention right now, but Artest (IMO) is far more physical. Bowen does have the worst rep. Evan
Yeah Artest is just as bad if not worst as far as body contact and physical play goes. But if you dont play a whole year, people dont b**** about you. Also I hate how these guys who b**** about physical play. And since Bowen is known to bring the same intensity every night some people b****. Like Ray Allen, thinks hes a superstar, but hes not. Most players that Bowen matches up with agree that he can be a pest but dont call him out and say he can't play ball. Most respect him for his defensive intensity. My favorite players are also those who can be good defensively also. Why I liked Cat last year so much. Also why Bowen and Artest are probably in my top 20 favorite players playing. It is also why I like T-mac more than Carter when they were playing together in Toronto, because I always thought that he was a better defender and just as physically gifted and could be better one day. If you are a little girl who does not like any contact, then you have no right to be playing in the NBA.
There's a difference between being "a little girl who does not like any contact" and being a professional athlete who doesn't appreciate having guys stick their foot underneath you when you're shooting a J, hoping you land on it and sprain your ankle. Or undercutting you when you're going for a layup/dunk, which can cause serious, season-ending injuries (Chauncey Billups did this to Richard Jefferson, who missed the rest of the regular season with a wrist injury). And I know a lot of guys don't appreciate being karate kicked in the face when they're spotting up for jumpers. That's not basketball, that's downright dirty and stupid, and it can seriously injure opposing players. Anyone who's played the game knows that. It's not just Ray Allen and Vince Carter. It's Michael Finley, Wally Szczerbiak, and your boy, Cuttino Mobley. Players respect Artest's defensive intensity, because as nuts as he is, guys generally don't complain that he's blatantly trying to cause injuries like Bowen. Players don't respect Bruce Bowen. And fans shouldn't either.
Yeah but you would love him if he was on YOUR team... I havent' seen Bowen do to much blatant stuff but I love the way he fights through picks and puts his body on the offensive player while doing so. It totally disrupts the timing of plays. He also plays the passing lanes very well. And you gotta love his spot up 3 pt'er from the baseline, thats gotta be the toughest shot on the court next to a layup in traffic. If your opponent says that you are being a pest when you are guarding him then you are doing your job well.
I don't think either player is very dirty. They just try to do as much as they can to be the best defensive players they can be. For Bowen, he makes millions in the NBA because he tries to make up for all of the physical tools he lacks. I voted Bowen because so many players complain.
Bowen's flying head kick agaisnt Sacramento that time made me lose all respect for him, he could have killed whoever it was, and in slow motion it appears very deliberate.
Wasn't that against Minnesota? I can't remember if he made contact or not, but he "inadvertently" tried to kick Wally in the head with that ridiculous move.
I don't think so. I couldn't stand Posey when he was on our team and he is not half as dirty and is alot more talented than Bowen.
yeah that might have been it, it was against a white guy is all I remember. I sort of buy Bowen's story it was inadvertent insofar as he didn't consciously mean to hit him in the face, but it looks to me like he deliberately kicked his opponent to break up the play and that was where he ended up kicking him. At best he was reckless. I think a major suspension should have been handed out, like 20 games or more.
I have to agree. I've played with guys like that at the playground who really think hurting someone is acceptable in competition. Something's wrong with their heads.
the guy has absolutely no other responsibility on offense. i'm sure he practices the baseline 3 all day, every day in practice and it's basically the only shot he takes in games. the guy should look like steve kerr on that shot by now. he doesn't have to handle the ball, create for anyone else, move around, or shoot from more than one spot on the floor. he does nothing on offense but that 3 from the corner. a good strategy for SA so he can rest for D, but hardly something to garner respect. like i said, he should be the greatest in the world at that shot by now, and he's just average. and bowen is definitely dirtier. i think i've only seen snapshots of the kick and just assumed it was a coincidence. if he really meant to kick the guy (face or not) then yeah he should've gotten a suspension.
Artest is just a rough player, he plays physical and gets a couple cheap shots when he can. Bowen is the dirtiest player in my book, especially due to the fact that he tries to cover it up. Guys like Allen and Carter have both severly sprained their ankles from coming down on Bowen's foot, it doesn't sound bad, until you see Bowen deliberately put his foot under them or tries to box them out on the 3-pt line by undercutting them.
Uh, not really. It's the shortest 3 pointer. How many guys do you see use the backboard on jumpers? Once you get beyond the mental perception of the backboard, it's the easiest trey you can take. A layup in traffic isn't all that tough either. Fadeaways with a man in your face and shooting on the move are much tougher in comparison. There's a .gif of the Bowen kick on Wally somewhere around the internet. I can't fathom any reasonable defensive situation where you'd be doing a Jackie Chan impersonation like that. Edit: I found one. I went to upload on rapidshare and it said someone else had already uploaded it (weird filename). Here it is Bruce "Jackie Chan" Bowen
