Bruce Bowen the Conquerer

[fgrep15]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stor ... 15f72.html

The Legend Continues

Wally Sczerbiak a while ago
Vince Carter
Ray Allen and Now Micheal Finley

Finley, however, was bluntly insulting Bowen, a defender he said he formerly respected.

"A coward guy made a coward play," Finley said. "He gave me a cheap shot from behind and I retaliated.

"I thought I deserved a technical foul. I don't know about the ejection. The refs must have missed the first one because it was away from the play. I was just going back down the court and he came up behind me and leveled an elbow into my ribs.

"I'm a man first and I went down and let him know it's not going to be like that."

Naturally, Bowen saw things differently. In fact, Bowen said it was Finley who threw the first elbow.

"We both elbowed one another," Bowen said, "and he bumped me back. Basically that's what happened. He hit me. I hit him back. That's the gist of it."

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he doesn't believe he will have to report the incident to the NBA office because he expects it will take action on its own after reviewing replays.

"Everybody knows about Bowen," Cuban said. "Hopefully I won't have to turn it in to the league. That was obvious. They showed it on national television. They showed it in the arena. I shouldn't have to do anything."

Finley said he respected Bowen's reputation before Friday's incident because he didn't believe he resorted to dirty play.

"That's not his reputation," Finley said. "His reputation is as a physical defender, and you have to give him his due on that. But when you have to start giving people cheap shots, that's not basketball, especially away from the play.

"I'm a man before I'm a basketball player. He can't disrespect my manhood by giving me a cheap shot. I'm going to retaliate every time."

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 120077.htm

"It was a dirty play," said Danny Fortson, who had a three-game suspension for knocking Phoenix's Zarko Cabarkapa to the floor earlier this season. "And I think he meant to do it.

"I think this one was worse. Mike's got stronger bones than the kid from Phoenix. If he'd have broken something, maybe this would be a three-game suspension, too. But that doesn't make it right. Mike was our hot guy. And he (Bowen) was going to come in there and nail him."

Said Finley: "Hopefully the league will see it. I might have been wrong about going back and elbowing him. But if they look at it, they'll know I had a reason

[Matthew]

I cant seel how bowen saw things different.. even the most ignorant of people cant justify that. I was going for Dallas after that.. the way the officals handled that was joke. Bowen Didn't even recieve a technical for his actions

[Andrew]

There's a difference between being a gritty, physical defender and simply being a dirty player. Seems like Bowen is fast becoming the latter.

[Nel]

He's a cheap shot artist. IMO the nba should look into bowens play. I saw the game and he intentionally elbowed finley. He did this coz finley is getting hot and he can't stop him so he instigated it while the refs aren't looking. He's a dirty player. I also saw what he did on carter w/c i feel he also intended to place his feet on the ground where the feet of carter is going down. What a player....

[thebigsleep]

First off, I am not a Bowen fan by any stretch. But I don't believe that the initial bump at half court was intentional. Finley had just missed about a 16 foot jump shot and was back pedalling. Bowen came up to either act as a pressure release man or to go after the loose rebound as he had released down court after the shot. There was contact but it didn't seem like an intentional hit. It seemed that Bowen was looking to create seperation in anticipation of either a pass, or to break for the loose ball. I think it was incidental contact. But I can see why Finley would take it personally, because the play took place so far away from the ball that at face it may have looked intentional. I really don't think Bruce was being malicious. As far as the allegations that Bruce is a cheap shot artist, I don't buy it. He's a physical on the ball defender, and a pest, but not a cheap shot artist. You don't even know how hard it is for a Die Hard Laker fan as myself to admit that, but its the truth.

[Matthew]

I wasnt a bruce bowen or Mike Finely fan either, but what dowen did was just stupid. If I was finely i wouldve probably punched him in the head. What i saw was bowen lower the shoulder into finely, then run up court grinning. Now if it was an accident, wouldnt it be appropiate to apologise instead of continueing up court with a kobe-like smirk on your face?

Once again, to throw Finely out and bowen not recieve any punishment was an absolute joke. And Nellie was thrown out as well.. which was also quite amusing. Amusing that a refferee will throw a coach out for "showing up" an official, but they wont discipline a player who cheap shots an opponent and laugh all the way up court.

[DipSetVC]

Trust me the NBA will review this guy's antics when he's hurting so many money makers for the league (i.e Ray Ray, VC).

[allamerican08]

what r u talking about, its unair that Bowen dint get anything while Finley got ejected?!
Obvously the refs din't see the first contanct!!! Where is the joke?
Bowen did everything he could to make sure his team wins. And is knoking Finley out of the way was it, then he did it. When u want NBA games closly u see tonnes of such things, which are not as obvious.
I personally think the best way for Finley to get bak at him would be score on the other side.

[Old School Fool]

what r u talking about, its unair that Bowen dint get anything while Finley got ejected?!
Obvously the refs din't see the first contanct!!! Where is the joke?
Bowen did everything he could to make sure his team wins. And is knoking Finley out of the way was it, then he did it. When u want NBA games closly u see tonnes of such things, which are not as obvious.
I personally think the best way for Finley to get bak at him would be score on the other side.

Seems like you lack grammar and spelling....but I don't care....but it does Seem like your a BOWEN FAN....I do not Apprecaite Bowen.....Why...Earlier Today in a Video Game...I crowss up Bowen in the middle of the lane...he sat there on his ass....And I just Jumped over the Sitting Bowen and Dunked on him........It felt good

[Andrew]

Bowen did everything he could to make sure his team wins.

And that's fine in most cases, but intentionally hurting another player is poor sportsmanship. As I said before, there's playing tough physical defense, and then there is just playing dirty. Watching these incidents, it's difficult to imagine they're all accidents or within the rules and spirit of the game.