Would we have made it to the Finals w/o Bruce?

[1Parker1]

Bruce Bowen has been the most under-rated factor in the Spurs success. He is the guy that sets the tone for us when it comes to defense. Although he may not be the best offensive player on the court, he more then makes up for it on the defensive end by stopping the other team's best offensive weapon.

Throughout the first 3 rounds, he has had to deal with stopping one of the top scorers in the league: Carmelo Anthony, Ray Allen, Shawn Marion/Joe Johnson.

Round 1: Carmelo Anthony averaged 19.2 points--while shooting only 42% from the field and averaged 2.6 TO's.

Round 2: Ray Allen averaged 21.5 points--while shooting only 43% and 30% from the 3 pt line.

Round 3: Shawn Marion averaged 7.8 points---while shooting only 39% from the field.


The thing is, Bruce Bowen not only disrupts the other teams best offensive player with his aggressive defensive approach, in doing so, he disrupts the whole offensive strategy of the other team. They are forced to adjust and look elsewhere to score points and/or have their best player continue to take ill-advised and difficult shots that are contested on almost every play.

Many people on this forum have been debating about who is more important to the team, Duncan or Manu, or how Tony Parker's play will determine how far the Spurs go, how Nazr has been the greatest trade, how Horry never fails to make clutch shots, and how Barry seems to be waking up. Yet, Bruce Bowen continues to go under the radar.

My question for debate, do you think the Spurs would have advanced to the Finals without Bruce Bowen?

[Chris]

Of course we coulda have made it to the finals without Bruce. We're talking about the Spurs here. Sorry but i'm tired of these what if topics about us making it to the finals. IE:Mohammed,Rasho getting hurt, Joe Johnson. Everyone knows Bruce is the king of defense in the NBA despite being ousted by a few points to Ben Wallace this year. Nothing personal btw :angel

[mavsfan1000]

It would've been harder but I think San Antonio has enough good defenders to deal without Bowen.

[myhc]

It would've been very tough in my opinion because you don't know how guys like Allen and Marion may have gone off if we had to have a guy like Brent Barry on them.

[Sense]

No.

[gospursgojas]

Well, we will never know...what we do know is that when Tim went out, the Spurs really struggled. Same with Manu. What we don't know is how we would fair against some of the teams with great perimeter scorers if Bruce was not there, bc Bruce has been one of the most durable Spurs of late. So the answer should be We dont know.

[mavsfan1000]

I'd say the defense wouldn't be as good but the offense would be even better. Nash, Ray Allen, and Melo would have to guard a scorer instead of Bowen. Duncan and Mohammad do a good job at contesting shots at the basket so the defense would still be good.

[slayermin]

I think we could have survived if Devin was healthy.

[rwb]

I don't even want to think about the Spurs without Bruce.

[angel_luv]

Bowen is one of the best defenders I have ever seen- so much so that I sometimes take his work for granted. Bruce works super hard but makes it look so easy.

In answer to your question: Our guys are no strangers to adjusting under adversity; they would not throw in the towel if Bruce couldn't play. The Spurs would fight through the loss and, very possibly, win in spite of it.

That said, I'm very grateful, as I'm sure the whole team is, that playing without Bruce has never been an issue

[MI21]

No Bruce means perimeter players are more liable to drop 30/40 points on a good %. No Bruce means someone else has to go out there and set the tone from the start of the game on defense. No Bruce means no player getting into the heads of other star players. No Bruce means more foul trouble on the big people. No Bruce means the rotations aren't as crisp. No Bruce means.....blah blah blah and so on.

[Sii]

no

[NASHville]

No doubt that Bruce took Shawn out and he did a good job on JJ too.
The man could be a defensive coach for sure.

[newbiefan]

Ben Wallace's numbers?? Bruce minimized some of the league's best scorers and we have these numbers / percentages. What are Wallace's numbers?? Thanks

[bigbendbruisebrother]

No.

[1Parker1]

Ben Wallace's numbers?? Bruce minimized some of the league's best scorers and we have these numbers / percentages. What are Wallace's numbers?? Thanks

Wallace doesn't defend the league's best scorers one on one like Bruce does, so it would be hard to find a accurate measure of that.

[HB22inSA]

No.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

No!