MVN - Most Valuable Network

Why Bowen didn’t deserve the suspension

I expect the majority of readers to disagree with this post, and I expect a good portion of the comments to tell me how stupid I am, at least in some form.

That’s fine.

I am writing this because something had to be said. I am tired of listening to people blow everything Bruce Bowen does out of proportion. This latest incident with Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets is a great example. In a physical game between division rivals, things got a little heated, and Bowen and Paul had an altercation. Immediately after the game, all the talk was about how Bowen kneed Paul in the chest to knock him down, adding further proof to the argument of Bowen as a dirty player. Here is the video that circulated on the Internet.

From this video angle, it looks pretty obvious that Bowen kneed Paul back to the ground. When I saw the video, I was disappointed with Bowen. But I kept hearing talk of a different angle that showed Paul hitting Bowen in the nether regions and Bowen never making contact with Paul. Here is that video.

After watching that video dozens of times, here is what I see.

When Paul is on the floor and Bowen is straddling him, Paul seems to hit him once on the inner thigh while going for the ball. I don’t think this was intentional by any means, just part of the game. Then Paul actually makes contact with Bowen’s crotch while going for the ball. Once again, I don’t think it was intentional by any means, but Bowen does get hit by Paul’s hand. Then Bowen reacts like any normal male by flinching his legs and trying to clear away whatever or whoever hit him. He definitely didn’t make any contact with Paul here. Then after the whistle is blown, Bowen does move his leg towards Paul, but I think the second video shows that there was either no contact or minimal contact at most. Paul then flops to the ground as if kicked hard.

Of course, both players acted like they never touched each other, which was annoying and unnecessary, but I find Paul’s reaction interesting. If I had just been kicked in the chest while on the ground, I would have been furious and probably acted angry. Paul put his hands behind his back and looks around with big eyes like he was trying to play innocent. Why didn’t he act upset? I’m not sure if this means anything, I just thought it was an interesting reaction.

I also can’t help but wonder why Bowen was suspended for this incident. If he would have been suspended for anything, it should have been when he kicked Ray Allen in the back. That was an obvious one from any angle and it also came after the whistle. This incident doesn’t have an angle that shows conclusively that Bowen kicked Paul. What makes this one worse than the other? The only solution I can think of is backlash from fans and media who have been after Bowen for years. Stu Jackson and the rest of the league officials knew that if they didn’t suspend Bowen, various markets (cough::Phoenix, Dallas::cough) would complain loudly. It would have been bad publicity for the NBA, and that’s the last thing David Stern wants right now.

It’s a shame that Bowen’s streak of 500 consecutive starts has to end this way. He plays harder than most players in the NBA, always facing the other teams best player. To start 500 games in a row at his age is amazing. His is also a great story. He was not as physically gifted or as naturally talent as others, but he out-worked his competition. The reason he is so good at defense, Kobe has said that Bowen defends him better than anybody else, is his tenacity and focus to his job. Does Bowen toe the line between hounding defense and dirty play? Yes. And at times, like the play with Ray Allen, he crosses that line. Mostly he just plays hard defense, not allowing players to stay within their comfort zones. He is the type of player that you hate to play against but love to have on your team, and that’s important to remember.

I don’t expect many people, if any, to all of a sudden say, ‘Yeah David, you’re right. I’ve been wrong about Bowen all along.’ Most people already have their mind made up. However, before going on a rant about how dirty this play was, look at both videos and consider what happened. Think about if Bowen was on your favorite team’s roster. I would almost guarantee that you would love the guy.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 11:39 pm and is filed under San Antonio Spurs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.