duncan228
12-28-2008, 01:51 AM
Spurs' Bowen still an elite defender (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Bowen_still_an_elite_defender.html)
Mike Monroe
That Bruce Bowen helped the Spurs win a game with outstanding perimeter defense hardly qualifies as “man bites dog.”
That he keeps himself prepared to play his brand of lock-down defense in a new role as a backup makes his defensive pre-eminence noteworthy.
Two days after playing only 11 minutes against the Suns, Bowen was the defensive star Saturday in the Spurs' 106-103 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. In about 39 minutes, he limited high-scoring Rudy Gay to 5-for-18 shooting and took an occasional defensive turn on sensational rookie O.J. Mayo.
“I know they're both good scorers,” Bowen said, “so if I could, I tried to deny them the ball. If not, I just tried to change it up, where they don't have a steady diet of thinking I'm just going to lay off them and they can shoot over me.
“A lot of times, I start out off them, then I end up on them, and they don't know what's going on. I more or less give them a different diet of things and slide my feet. They try to feel my body, and I'm nowhere to be felt.”
Bonner, Hill share a wager: As college basketball rivalries go, it didn't have quite the same feel as North Carolina-Duke, but Saturday's game between the University of Massachusetts and Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) was vitally important to Spurs Matt Bonner and George Hill.
Hill, the Spurs rookie point guard, was IUPUI's leading scorer last season before the Spurs made him the first IUPUI player selected in the NBA draft.
Bonner's brother, Luke, is a backup center for Massachusetts.
At stake in Saturday's game, played in Amherst, Mass., was lunch this week in San Antonio.
Because Massachusetts emerged from the game with a 64-57 victory, Bonner will be feasting on — what else? — a sandwich at one of his favorite sandwich shops.
Luke Bonner scored five points and had one rebound in 12 minutes Saturday.
“I didn't tell him about the friendly wager I had with George,” Bonner said. “He already knew it was an important game.”
What's practice? Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, his team finally through with a grueling stretch of seven games in 11 days, gave his players another day off today, but said they would be back on the practice court Monday to prepare for Tuesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
It will be the Spurs' first full practice session since Dec. 16, the last time they had more than one day off in between games.
“Practice,” Popovich said. “That's kind of a distant memory.”
No Oberto: Spurs center Fabricio Oberto missed his sixth consecutive game Saturday because of a sore left foot, and Popovich said he did not know when the three-year veteran might be able to suit up again.
“He's still out,” said Popovich. “That one-week thing wasn't a very good prognostication, was it?”
Mike Monroe
That Bruce Bowen helped the Spurs win a game with outstanding perimeter defense hardly qualifies as “man bites dog.”
That he keeps himself prepared to play his brand of lock-down defense in a new role as a backup makes his defensive pre-eminence noteworthy.
Two days after playing only 11 minutes against the Suns, Bowen was the defensive star Saturday in the Spurs' 106-103 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. In about 39 minutes, he limited high-scoring Rudy Gay to 5-for-18 shooting and took an occasional defensive turn on sensational rookie O.J. Mayo.
“I know they're both good scorers,” Bowen said, “so if I could, I tried to deny them the ball. If not, I just tried to change it up, where they don't have a steady diet of thinking I'm just going to lay off them and they can shoot over me.
“A lot of times, I start out off them, then I end up on them, and they don't know what's going on. I more or less give them a different diet of things and slide my feet. They try to feel my body, and I'm nowhere to be felt.”
Bonner, Hill share a wager: As college basketball rivalries go, it didn't have quite the same feel as North Carolina-Duke, but Saturday's game between the University of Massachusetts and Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) was vitally important to Spurs Matt Bonner and George Hill.
Hill, the Spurs rookie point guard, was IUPUI's leading scorer last season before the Spurs made him the first IUPUI player selected in the NBA draft.
Bonner's brother, Luke, is a backup center for Massachusetts.
At stake in Saturday's game, played in Amherst, Mass., was lunch this week in San Antonio.
Because Massachusetts emerged from the game with a 64-57 victory, Bonner will be feasting on — what else? — a sandwich at one of his favorite sandwich shops.
Luke Bonner scored five points and had one rebound in 12 minutes Saturday.
“I didn't tell him about the friendly wager I had with George,” Bonner said. “He already knew it was an important game.”
What's practice? Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, his team finally through with a grueling stretch of seven games in 11 days, gave his players another day off today, but said they would be back on the practice court Monday to prepare for Tuesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
It will be the Spurs' first full practice session since Dec. 16, the last time they had more than one day off in between games.
“Practice,” Popovich said. “That's kind of a distant memory.”
No Oberto: Spurs center Fabricio Oberto missed his sixth consecutive game Saturday because of a sore left foot, and Popovich said he did not know when the three-year veteran might be able to suit up again.
“He's still out,” said Popovich. “That one-week thing wasn't a very good prognostication, was it?”