TMTTRIO
04-18-2008, 09:55 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA041908.07D.COL.BKNfinger.spurs.3363679.html
Mike Finger: Suns' Bell plans to keep it clean while doing the dirty work
Web Posted: 04/18/2008 09:18 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
The comparison should have been flattering, but Raja Bell didn't see it that way. He heard his name mentioned in the same sentence as another noted defensive irritant and he winced, crinkling his nose like he'd caught a whiff of old cheese and gym socks. Even when he's not in the room, Bruce Bowen can have that effect on people.
"In that we have a lot of tough assignments, I can relate to Bruce," Bell said last week. "But I think Bruce and I go about it in two different ways, though."
It seems the black hat has never fit the Phoenix Suns, and that highlights one reason why this figures to be one of the most compelling first-round series in the history of the NBA playoffs. Most watching will see good guys and bad guys, a sympathetic bunch of crowd pleasers seeking vengeance against the villains who supposedly robbed them, and both sides play their roles perfectly.
Although this generation of Phoenix players hasn't beaten the Spurs when it has mattered, the Suns consider themselves morally superior, and that perception was hammered home again last week. After Amare Stoudemire called out Bruce Bowen for attacking a screen elbow-first, someone suggested that tensions always seem to mount when these two teams get together.
Stoudemire almost looked offended.
"It's definitely not us — it's them, really," Stoudemire said. "But we're going to be the bigger men about it."
It was the same attitude Bell had when asked about Bowen, and the message in both comments was clear — they think the Spurs are willing to do things the Suns aren't.
YouTube furthers this idea, what with the clips of Robert Horry hip-checking Steve Nash, Bowen taking aim at Stoudemire's heels and Tony Parker bonking Nash in the nose. But have the Suns' problems against the Spurs been a matter of the Spurs going too far?
Or of the Suns not going far enough?
The addition of Shaquille O'Neal helps Phoenix in this regard, if for no other reason than he's willing to be the bad guy. Shaq's been booed in his old hometown for more than a decade, and more than a few times he's been able to celebrate afterward.
But he'll need some help with the dirty work, and the Suns' best candidate is still Bell. Even if Shaq can neutralize Tim Duncan, he won't always be able to guard the rim against Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and Bell is the only Phoenix player with the ability and willingness to slow either down.
Bell starts games on Parker, but it's his work on Ginobili that might define this series. In four meetings with Phoenix during the regular season, Ginobili was guarded primarily by Bell and shot just 19 for 64 (29.6 percent) from the field. He did not shoot better than 37 percent in any of those games.
Considering that the Spurs will be leaning on Ginobili over the next couple of weeks as much as they ever have, those are interesting numbers. But in the closing minutes of a playoff game, does anyone really expect Manu to be as flustered by Bell as Nash has been by Bowen?
Part of the answer to that question lies in Ginobili's track record, and part of it goes back to Bell's reluctance to be compared to Bowen. Bell, once honored by PETA as one of the "World's Sexiest Vegetarians," doesn't have the same taste for blood.
The ingredients are there, though. Like Bowen, Bell has been hailed as a "Kobe stopper" (even if Kobe didn't show him much respect), and like Bowen, Bell has been creative with his feet (he was once suspended for kicking Toronto's Andrea Bargnani).
But in the end? This could come down to the black hat.
And who's more willing to wear it.
Mike Finger: Suns' Bell plans to keep it clean while doing the dirty work
Web Posted: 04/18/2008 09:18 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
The comparison should have been flattering, but Raja Bell didn't see it that way. He heard his name mentioned in the same sentence as another noted defensive irritant and he winced, crinkling his nose like he'd caught a whiff of old cheese and gym socks. Even when he's not in the room, Bruce Bowen can have that effect on people.
"In that we have a lot of tough assignments, I can relate to Bruce," Bell said last week. "But I think Bruce and I go about it in two different ways, though."
It seems the black hat has never fit the Phoenix Suns, and that highlights one reason why this figures to be one of the most compelling first-round series in the history of the NBA playoffs. Most watching will see good guys and bad guys, a sympathetic bunch of crowd pleasers seeking vengeance against the villains who supposedly robbed them, and both sides play their roles perfectly.
Although this generation of Phoenix players hasn't beaten the Spurs when it has mattered, the Suns consider themselves morally superior, and that perception was hammered home again last week. After Amare Stoudemire called out Bruce Bowen for attacking a screen elbow-first, someone suggested that tensions always seem to mount when these two teams get together.
Stoudemire almost looked offended.
"It's definitely not us — it's them, really," Stoudemire said. "But we're going to be the bigger men about it."
It was the same attitude Bell had when asked about Bowen, and the message in both comments was clear — they think the Spurs are willing to do things the Suns aren't.
YouTube furthers this idea, what with the clips of Robert Horry hip-checking Steve Nash, Bowen taking aim at Stoudemire's heels and Tony Parker bonking Nash in the nose. But have the Suns' problems against the Spurs been a matter of the Spurs going too far?
Or of the Suns not going far enough?
The addition of Shaquille O'Neal helps Phoenix in this regard, if for no other reason than he's willing to be the bad guy. Shaq's been booed in his old hometown for more than a decade, and more than a few times he's been able to celebrate afterward.
But he'll need some help with the dirty work, and the Suns' best candidate is still Bell. Even if Shaq can neutralize Tim Duncan, he won't always be able to guard the rim against Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and Bell is the only Phoenix player with the ability and willingness to slow either down.
Bell starts games on Parker, but it's his work on Ginobili that might define this series. In four meetings with Phoenix during the regular season, Ginobili was guarded primarily by Bell and shot just 19 for 64 (29.6 percent) from the field. He did not shoot better than 37 percent in any of those games.
Considering that the Spurs will be leaning on Ginobili over the next couple of weeks as much as they ever have, those are interesting numbers. But in the closing minutes of a playoff game, does anyone really expect Manu to be as flustered by Bell as Nash has been by Bowen?
Part of the answer to that question lies in Ginobili's track record, and part of it goes back to Bell's reluctance to be compared to Bowen. Bell, once honored by PETA as one of the "World's Sexiest Vegetarians," doesn't have the same taste for blood.
The ingredients are there, though. Like Bowen, Bell has been hailed as a "Kobe stopper" (even if Kobe didn't show him much respect), and like Bowen, Bell has been creative with his feet (he was once suspended for kicking Toronto's Andrea Bargnani).
But in the end? This could come down to the black hat.
And who's more willing to wear it.