Is Bowen the dirtiest player?

[birdsanctuary]

Now that Karl is officially gone....

Is Bowen now the dirtiest player?

[Max Power]

Bowen was dirtier BEFORE Malone retired. Malone was living off reputation the last couple of years.

[DubOverdose]

Atleast Karl was a great player if you took away his dirty play. Bowen is nothing without his dirty play.

[FilthyFinMavs]

And he really gets dirty when the opposing player is skunking him.

[TripleDipping]

What pisses me off more than his dirty play is looking at his "What? Me? I didn't do nothing!" face.

I think Bowen's earned the nickname ODB now that Stockton and Malone are gone.

[bernardos70]

Yes, and he's sneaky about it, which shows what kind of character he has. I think that is worse than just being a total a-hole, such as artest. I love it that his latest dirty play happened against Vince Carter, who is as popular as any player in the league. I hope people see it now that one of their posterboys almost got his ankle bombed again. But this is more the league's fault than Bowen himself. He is only doing it because he gets the benefit of the doubt, and he can get away with it. If he got ejected for a dirty play, he wouldn't do it as much. He gets away with so many obvious fouls for his reputation as a great defender, which he is, that I just lost all respect for him. One thing though, he has a heck of a funny face.

[sike]

he has my vote...and a kick in the nuts for free if we ever meet...

[TripleDipping]

bernados: The media will always side with Bowen. I don't remember any of them saying Bowen's dirty when Carter got hurt last year, and all the ESPN crew commented on about the incident last weekend was purely on how Carter over-reacted. I guess it's something about being a Spur means you can do no wrong.

[bernardos70]

I'm sure there was a fair share of Carter fans that got ticked off at it though. They're loud enough to make their voices heard at the All-Star game...... it'll filter down to the "analysts"

[irontoad]

Anyone have the video of Bowen with the jumpkick to Szczerbiak's face? Man that was bad...

[Drbio]

Bowen can suck it.

[seal614]

bowen has no basketball skills to speak of. oh... except playing dirty and pissing other ppl off.

[Phil Helmuth]

Every team can benefit from a Bill Lambeir type player. That said I despise Bowen.

[razap]

BY DAVE D'ALESSANDRO
Star-Ledger Staff

Roughly 30 years and 30 pounds ago, George Karl was one of the most annoying defenders in basketball, an inexhaustible pest who played so hard and defended so persistently he was known as "the flea."

So admittedly, Bruce Bowen is Karl's kind of player.

But the Denver coach understands why the Nets could be miffed by Bowen's tactics Friday night, when the Spurs swingman effectively took Vince Carter out of the game to spark a comeback.

"Bruce is good. I love his tricks, man -- he reminds me of me a little bit," Karl said before the Nets' 94-79 victory over the Nuggets last night.

"But you're getting into a really tough area. I don't think Bruce Bowen's a dirty player. He's a competitor, he's an angry defensive competitor who makes his living covering people and getting into people's heads.

"He's pushing the line all the time, some people think he crosses the line. I personally don't think he does. I just think he pushes it to the point where it becomes annoying. That's usually the sign of a great defensive player, a guy that gets annoying." Eventually, Karl got to the point: Whether Bowen's final "tactic" was a dirty play is in the eye of the beholder.
"I think Bruce crosses the line if he's playing against me," Karl said. "If he plays for me he doesn't cross the line."

[#41]

Originally posted by: seal614
bowen has no basketball skills to speak of. oh... except playing dirty and pissing other ppl off.

He can shoot 50% from nearly everywhere on the floor, ft-line included [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]
Of course his game is dirty, but it helps to confuse other players, why not play that way!? He's definately not a player I like, but he's special.

[bo319]

He is definitely dirty. He is a punk who could not stay on the floor at his other stops till he joined the Precious Spurs. In Boston and Miami he was dirty and unskilled...but in SA he's all world on D...that's total BS.

[Phil Helmuth]

Fuck the media and their self-righteous bullshit in regards the the spurs.

[V2M]

From WOAI - San Antonio Sports
========================

Ray Allen Calls Foul ... Again
LAST UPDATE: 3/31/2005 8:12:58 AM
Posted By: Kori Ellis

Last season, Sonics guard Ray Allen said that Bruce Bowen played "sissy basketball." After Wednesday night's matchup with the Spurs' hard-nosed premiere defender, Allen's accusations continued.

"I don't compare him to anyone, because he's the only one I know that doesn't play basketball," Allen told the media after the game. "He's out there playing some other sport. I don't know what you call it."

Allen, who is averaging 23.7 points on the season, was held to 14 points on 6-for-17 shooting on the night.

"He doesn't play basketball," the frustrated Allen continued. "I don't know what he does. They put him out there to throw punches and throw elbows. I don't know what he's doing. That's not basketball that he plays."

"It's about us playing Spurs-style basketball, which is playing defense more than anything else," Bowen responded.

“Ray is a very talented player and it is challenge any time you have to guard him. I just try to do what I can to limit him when I am guarding him. I respect Ray a great deal, and when I play him I always have to be that much more ready to play.”

Last season after a Spurs-Sonics matchup in March, Allen voiced similar sentiments to those he made Wednesday night.

"I was at a point where I wanted to fight him. I wasn't thinking about playing basketball. I wanted to fight him. That's not good for this team. I've never been so mad on the court while I've been in the NBA," said Allen.

"... what he does is sissy basketball, the way he cheap-shots."

[rakesh.s]

bowen is a puss..

i'd like to see him guard Shaq...Shaq always says he plays football out there, not basketball..

I wish someone would knock bowen's ass out though, especially after seeing him try to slide his ankle under vince carter a little while back