Posts tagged Bruce Bowen at FanHouse

"It's very disappointing," Bowen said of Sunday's painful showing by his favorites, "but character wins out over talent any day, at least in my book. You can see how infectious certain characters can be down the end of the road."

Bowen declined to name which of the Cowboys characters he considered "infectious," but he made it clear he believed the Cowboys were doomed by self-centered players.

"It's very disappointing," Bowen said of Sunday's painful showing by his favorites, "but character wins out over talent any day, at least in my book. You can see how infectious certain characters can be down the end of the road."

Bowen declined to name which of the Cowboys characters he considered "infectious," but he made it clear he believed the Cowboys were doomed by self-centered players.

An NBA spokesman, commenting on the play involving Brent Barry and Derek Fisher at the end of Game 4 between the Lakers and Spurs, stated that, "With the benefit of instant replay, it appears a foul should have been called." While that might make some astute (if admittedly petty) observers of the game happy, I think it sets a bad precedent and will only create more controversy for a league that already has so many of its foul calls questioned on a nightly basis.

If we're going to look at a call that could have decided the game, why not examine the play before that? Derek Fisher's shot on that possession (with seconds left on the clock) was ruled to be an airball, when it clearly (again, with the benefit of instant replay) hit the rim. The shot clock should have been reset, which would have forced the Spurs to foul, which could have pushed the Laker lead up to four. Had that play been ruled correctly, we likely wouldn't even be talking about a controversy on the game's final play.

Do you see the problem with this? We could go back through every possession and find plenty of calls throughout the game that were questionable. Because the game's final possession is always magnified, the league felt the need to comment on it. But they really shouldn't have. Not unless they want whining about officiating to take over the game.

Chris Paul is Jordanesque, Chris Paul is a great human being, blah blah blah. Tony Parker put up a very similar stat line to everyone's favorite point guard last night, his Spurs got the win, and all I can hear is praise for CP3. Can we please give it a rest people, at least for one day?

For a single night, in the Spurs' Game 3 victory over the Hornets, I believe this to be true: that Tony Parker was at least just as good -- and possibly better --than Chris Paul. Statistically, they were virtually identical: Paul scored 35 points on 15-25 shooting, with two rebounds, nine assists, and just one turnover, while Parker had 31 on 12-24, four rebounds, 11 assists, and three turnovers. And as a reminder (because it's hard to hear over everyone's extremely loud praise-singing of Paul), the Spurs actually won the game.

As a team, the Spurs had assists on 13 more of their buckets than the Hornets did, and that's in large part to Parker creating and then his teammates making one more pass to get a wide open shot. This is a big reason why the Spurs were 11-25 from three-point land, while the Hornets were just 2-11. With Bruce Bowen all over Peja Stojakovic, and most of Paul's passes going towards the rim or to David West for a jump shot, the Hornets weren't able to get the open looks from behind the arc that the Spurs got, and that was largely due to Parker's playmaking.

There's no doubt that Chris Paul has had an incredible season, and an even more incredible playoffs. And he may end up being the greatest ever. But after a game in which Tony Parker played just as well and lead his team to the win, I think it's okay to not praise Chris Paul for a day. I'm sure he'll get over it.

I've got some bad news for Bruce Bowen: it looks like Amare Stoudemire is really taking that latest cheap shot personally. So personally in fact, that Stoudemire might not be opposed to a little cyber-stalking to track down Bowen for a little conversation in the confines of his own home.

"It definitely wasn't a basketball play on his part, and I reacted" Stoudemire said. "And I definitely didn't appreciate it. I let him know about it."

Asked if he would be Bowen's friend on the MySpace Web site, Stoudemire responded negatively at first, then changed his mind.

"I probably would," he said. "But just to get his address. Then I might go visit him at his home."

I can just see Amare now, sitting in front of his computer, pretending to be a young girl trying to get Bowen to give up his address, all To Catch a Predator like:

"LOL you are sooo funny, can I be your friend? OMG that would be the kewlest!! U R 2G2BT!! Can I come over just to talk and MIRL ... and maybe more J/K LOL?"

Okay, probably not. While Amare was clearly joking here, you can tell he's had it with the same player hitting him dirty like that over and over again. If these teams should meet in the playoffs again, it's going to be an absolute war.

Some things never change. Almost a year after the Spurs did the Suns dirty in last season's playoffs, Bruce Bowen is at it again, this time delivering an unnecessary forearm to the chest of Amare Stoudemire as he attempts to fight through Amare's screen. I'm sure you've seen it by now, if not, Odenized has got you covered.

I realize at first glance it didn't appear like much, and there's no question that Stoudemire is a big strong dude who should be able to take a little shot from Bowen. That's not the point. The angle shown at about the 1:04 mark of the clip is the one where you can see Bowen lean into it and deliver a clearly intentional blow. And Stoudemire's reaction afterwards also lets us know that this was an unnecessary cheap shot.

Let's not forget that there's a history here, people. In Game 2 of the playoff series between thee two teams a year ago, Bowen kicked Amare in the back of the leg as he went up for a dunk attempt. This was a dirty play too, one that caused Amare to label the entire Spurs team "dirty" afterwards.

So maybe this particular forearm shot wasn't all that bad, especially in the grand scheme of Bowen's tainted career. But given Bowen's past and the story that unfolded during the 2007 playoffs, I think it's obvious that there's still some bad blood between these teams. (By the way, can we just start the playoffs already? I can't take another week of this.)

I tell ya, there aren't many celebrations that are cooler than Sam Cassell's "I have huge huevos" dance. In a game that was filled with playoff-level intensity from both teams, it was the team with the league's best record who took down the defending champs. Depending on where your loyalties lie, that was either a gritty win for the Celtics -- coming from 22 down in the second all the way back to win it-- or a bad loss for the Spurs. Being a fan of neither one of these teams, I'll say that this one was the result of more good things from Boston than bad things from San Antonio.

The Spurs opened the game by jumping out to a 21-8 lead, and extended it to 22 points at 35-13. But the better teams often recover from slow starts on the road, and just as the Lakers did yesterday, the Celtics came storming back. Sam Cassell payed huge dividends with Ray Allen out, scoring 12 points in the second quarter alone, and eventually hitting the game's biggest shot late in the fourth. We'll get to that in a minute. But with Cassell's domination in the second, he was able to help his new team cut the Spurs' lead to a very manageable 10 points by halftime.

The Celtics then started the third with a blistering 15-2 run, taking a three point lead at 58-55. It was a close game from then on, so let's get to the good stuff: the last few possessions.

This points out yet another amazing fact about that streak. With all of Bowen's questionable antics over the years, you're telling me he's never actually been suspended?! Not for kicking Wally in the face, or kneeing Nash in the groin? Unbelievable. Well, all I can say is, it's about damn time, and it's coming tonight in Detroit. Hopefully the Pistons take care of business and put a little extra sting in this one for Bowen and the Spurs.