missmyzte
05-10-2005, 12:14 AM
Buck Harvey: Kobe as the standard? How Allen should be acting
Web Posted: 05/10/2005 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Bruce Bowen isn't merely in Ray Allen's head.
Bowen has checked into a non-smoking king there, with breakfast included. Bowen has become such a frequent guest — the front desk knows him — that Allen's head is filled to capacity.
Allen, for example, imagines something now he admits he never saw.
The Spurs don't mind. They witnessed firsthand earlier this season what happened when Bowen got in Vince Carter's head. Carter lost his.
But not everyone has reacted this way to Bowen, and this player isn't a role model to anyone else today.
Kobe Bryant.
Even before Bryant started his commute to Eagle County, Colo., he was never as engaging as Allen. Allen has starred with Denzel Washington in a movie, and in real life Allen acts even better.
He's smart, funny, opinionated, polite and available. That's the reason he got more votes than anyone last season for the NBA's all-interview team.
But it's also clear he hung around with George Karl too much in Milwaukee. :lol Just as Karl couldn't stop talking about the officiating in the previous series, Allen can't in this one.
Allen started before the series did, which might be a playoff record. And Sunday night Allen went further.
After he suffered a sprained ankle, Allen told a Seattle newspaper: "Same old Bruce. I got caught on his foot and it just turned. He's good for that. He's done that before."
Bowen has quick feet, all right, and he's been known to put them in the way of other feet. But while chasing someone on a drive to the basket? Where contact is always waiting anyway?
This is possible only in Allen's head.
Allen believed in the worst on Monday. He said this kind of injury has happened before with Bowen around. And when asked if Bowen helped cause this one, Allen nodded.
"Yeah, because that was the second time I went to the hole, and he was grabbing and holding on to me. And he flops out of bounds like I pushed him into the backstop."
Allen kept fielding questions, accommodating as always, but his answers began to change. He admitted he didn't know exactly what happened, and that he could have sprained his ankle with anyone defending him.
But Allen never backed off with his opinion about Bowen. "So many people make excuses for him as though he is doing something out there legitimate," Allen said. "But we've all seen what he does."
Many have seen what Bowen does, and some have voted on it. Just last season NBA coaches named Bowen to the all-defensive first team. This season Bowen finished second for defensive player of the year, an award determined by the media.
As for "many people" making excuses for him: These awards suggest there are many.
But everyone who has watched Bowen knows he isn't always effective. Last year in the second round, in fact, everyone saw something entirely different.
Then Bryant had other issues in his head. On the same day as Game 4 against the Spurs, Bryant was in Colorado to enter a not-guilty plea to charges of rape. That means he had little time to worry about a Bowen hand-check.
Bryant had another reason to worry less. Instead of Jerome James, Bryant had Shaquille O'Neal.
Still, Bryant treated Bowen as he should be treated. With some respect, and with some high-level basketball.
"I really don't worry about Bruce too much," Bryant said in that series. "What Bruce does is, he's in excellent condition, great shape, and he just tries to run with you all night long. He tries to be a pest all night long, but I don't let that get to me."
Bryant also said this: He liked going against Bowen.
He had reason to like it in Game 4. Bryant went for 42 points, tying up the series, and on the other end he tilted the series even more. Bryant left Bowen so often to pinch Tony Parker's drives that Gregg Popovich eventually chose to bench Bowen.
Allen's ankle might stop him from doing the same tonight. But if Allen is healthy, should he be sick worrying about Bowen? Isn't it better to see Bowen as a challenge, to concentrate on the game instead of the whistles, to simply play?
Bryant knew that.
He won the series. And the head games.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
Link (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051005.1D.buck.25bc8a302.html)
I never thought I'd see the day when an article appeared in San Antonio that was showing Kobe Bryant as a role model for anything. I'm truly shocked.
Web Posted: 05/10/2005 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Bruce Bowen isn't merely in Ray Allen's head.
Bowen has checked into a non-smoking king there, with breakfast included. Bowen has become such a frequent guest — the front desk knows him — that Allen's head is filled to capacity.
Allen, for example, imagines something now he admits he never saw.
The Spurs don't mind. They witnessed firsthand earlier this season what happened when Bowen got in Vince Carter's head. Carter lost his.
But not everyone has reacted this way to Bowen, and this player isn't a role model to anyone else today.
Kobe Bryant.
Even before Bryant started his commute to Eagle County, Colo., he was never as engaging as Allen. Allen has starred with Denzel Washington in a movie, and in real life Allen acts even better.
He's smart, funny, opinionated, polite and available. That's the reason he got more votes than anyone last season for the NBA's all-interview team.
But it's also clear he hung around with George Karl too much in Milwaukee. :lol Just as Karl couldn't stop talking about the officiating in the previous series, Allen can't in this one.
Allen started before the series did, which might be a playoff record. And Sunday night Allen went further.
After he suffered a sprained ankle, Allen told a Seattle newspaper: "Same old Bruce. I got caught on his foot and it just turned. He's good for that. He's done that before."
Bowen has quick feet, all right, and he's been known to put them in the way of other feet. But while chasing someone on a drive to the basket? Where contact is always waiting anyway?
This is possible only in Allen's head.
Allen believed in the worst on Monday. He said this kind of injury has happened before with Bowen around. And when asked if Bowen helped cause this one, Allen nodded.
"Yeah, because that was the second time I went to the hole, and he was grabbing and holding on to me. And he flops out of bounds like I pushed him into the backstop."
Allen kept fielding questions, accommodating as always, but his answers began to change. He admitted he didn't know exactly what happened, and that he could have sprained his ankle with anyone defending him.
But Allen never backed off with his opinion about Bowen. "So many people make excuses for him as though he is doing something out there legitimate," Allen said. "But we've all seen what he does."
Many have seen what Bowen does, and some have voted on it. Just last season NBA coaches named Bowen to the all-defensive first team. This season Bowen finished second for defensive player of the year, an award determined by the media.
As for "many people" making excuses for him: These awards suggest there are many.
But everyone who has watched Bowen knows he isn't always effective. Last year in the second round, in fact, everyone saw something entirely different.
Then Bryant had other issues in his head. On the same day as Game 4 against the Spurs, Bryant was in Colorado to enter a not-guilty plea to charges of rape. That means he had little time to worry about a Bowen hand-check.
Bryant had another reason to worry less. Instead of Jerome James, Bryant had Shaquille O'Neal.
Still, Bryant treated Bowen as he should be treated. With some respect, and with some high-level basketball.
"I really don't worry about Bruce too much," Bryant said in that series. "What Bruce does is, he's in excellent condition, great shape, and he just tries to run with you all night long. He tries to be a pest all night long, but I don't let that get to me."
Bryant also said this: He liked going against Bowen.
He had reason to like it in Game 4. Bryant went for 42 points, tying up the series, and on the other end he tilted the series even more. Bryant left Bowen so often to pinch Tony Parker's drives that Gregg Popovich eventually chose to bench Bowen.
Allen's ankle might stop him from doing the same tonight. But if Allen is healthy, should he be sick worrying about Bowen? Isn't it better to see Bowen as a challenge, to concentrate on the game instead of the whistles, to simply play?
Bryant knew that.
He won the series. And the head games.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
Link (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051005.1D.buck.25bc8a302.html)
I never thought I'd see the day when an article appeared in San Antonio that was showing Kobe Bryant as a role model for anything. I'm truly shocked.