Will Bruce Bowen beable to contain CP3

[Danny.Zhu]

If they put Chris, Wells, Peja on the court in the same time，how can we make defence？ After all, we only have one Bowen. Do we need to put Bowen and Ime both?

[Kori Ellis]

WOW Kori, very surprised to see this comment coming from you.
We got a guy called Bruce on our squad!

He'll be the one defending West the most part of this series with Ime as his back-up. This is how we gonna win it.

The Spurs will probably rarely use Bruce on West. Bruce will alternate between CP3 and Peja. David West is 6'9, 245 or so. He likely will be guarded by a rotation of the Spurs bigs. There might be a couple possessions where they try to let Bruce/Ime front him. But West is not a guy that Pop will regularly try to guard with smaller players (unless Pop is just going to let Peja go off and exclusively use Tony on CP3 - which I doubt.)

If you are starting out guarding West with Bowen. Who is guarding Peja and MoPete? Finley and Oberto?

[Pero]

Just get in his head.

[rascal]

The Hornets season was made with their first round win.

Paul will have a good series but it still won't be enough. Bowen won't matter. The Hornets just are not deep enough talent wise to beat the spurs is a 7 game series.

[Deuces88]

What wee need to do is analyze the 2 regular season games we won against the Hornets. What was interesting is that we all know Spurs don't play their max in the season because they don't have to (also look at the Celtics-Spurs game in the season where Celtics played their hearts out and won by the skin of their teeth; Duncan only had 10).

Anyway, we have to look at what the Spurs did in those 2 games to see what they need to do in this series.

When the Spurs won by 12, they limited Paul to only 18 and 7. Peja only had 2 points in 1-6 shooting. When the Spurs won by 9, Paul got a nice 27 points but they limited him to only 4 assists.

Furthermore, the rest of the team's stats reflect upon Paul. Put pressure on the passing lane, Paul doesn't get his assists and Hornets won't be able to do much.

[alamo50]

If you are starting out guarding West with Bowen. Who is guarding Peja and MoPete? Finley and Oberto?

Finley and Vaugh.
Scratch Oberto.

[Kori Ellis]

Finley and Vaugh.
Scratch Oberto.

You want to start Jacque Vaughn?

[alamo50]

Yep.

[1Parker1]

I'd like to see how Udoka does against West actually.

I think for CP3, Bowen and Parker will alternate on him, but also, CP3 is most likely going to have to defend Parker at the other end too, which is going to make him expend a lot more energy, something he didn't have to do against Dallas and defending Kidd.

The 2 guys the Spurs have to be carefull with is Janero (sp?) Pargo and Bonzi Wells. If the Spurs concentrate on stopping CP3, West, and Peja....those two have it in them to go off at any time.

Hornets are a surprisingly deep team, I remember people saying in the beginging of the season that they had a weak bench. It's not that bad I don't think.

[romsho]

Don't expect Bruce to guard Chris Paul much, if at all. In the past he has done well guarding Peja, and will probably continue to do so. It hasn't happened yet, but hopefully by the end of this series the Spurs will find a way to defend David West on the pick and roll. To be fair, it's not just them- West basically makes a living knocking down the 18 footer. It's usually an open look too due to the greatness of Paul, which makes it all the more effective. It really is a pick your poison situation. Their offensive execution has been a clinic for most of the year...I trust Pop will find something that works.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Oberto/Thomas/Horry/Bonner? v West is a key in this series. I have a strange feeling Oberto might be able to get under West's skin in a game or two with his frenetic movement. TD's help on West will also be crucial. We just have to hope that West's 20fter isn't falling for the whole series or we're in trouble.

I think CP3 will see a mix of Bruce, TP, maybe flashes of Manu and Udoka for something different. Whether anyone can contain Paul, we shall see. All I can say is that after the regular season series, CIA Pop better have some tricks up his sleeve. He's generally a far better coach than Scott - CP3 is the true coach of that team.

[cjjr72984]

If they put Chris, Wells, Peja on the court in the same time，how can we make defence？ After all, we only have one Bowen. Do we need to put Bowen and Ime both?

Exactly.......

Bowen is a good defender, but I just don't see how the Spurs are gonna be able to defend Paul, West, Peja, Bonzi, all at the same time.

I personally think putting Bowen on Paul would limit him a little, but it would be silly for Pop to do that considering Paul is so quick off the dribble. He would drive past Bowen all day.

[bdictjames]

Paul is going to get his. He's probably the sickest point guard the league has seen since Magic Johnson. I'm more worried about the Spurs limiting David West, and going off the Dallas series, Jannero Pargo.

John Stockton?

[YoMamaIsCallin]

I think the Spurs are going to try to make CP3 a scorer, and cut down his kickouts and dunk lobs. This is a similar strategy to how they've handled Steve Nash the last few years.

[spurster]

Let Chris Paul score and shut the rest of the Hornets down.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

As long as Bowen can guard West, CP3 and Peja we should have no problem with the Hornets. If Bowen can't guard all three of those guys simultaneously we may be in for a pretty hard fought series.

[oboymeetsogirl]

All excellent assessments. Like everyone, I would guess that Pop would try both Tony and Bruce on CP3. Bruce, of course, would have more success "limiting" Paul, maneuvering him into less comfortable positions; but if Peja (notoriously streaky) gets off, I can see Tony having to take over on Paul. Needless to say, the Spurs play a true team-defense (i.e. efficient switching and disruption of passing lanes); and so it's not purely a one-on-one battle.

But like Nash for the Suns, Paul is the heart, soul, arms and legs of this team. If West heats up, I don't think the Spurs would panic. The only big no-no would be giving Peja open looks from the three. Against the Suns, for instance, it's almost part of the game plan to let players like, say, Diaw and Stoudemire do their thing. If anything, Pop is a master at forcing teams to play in ways they are less accustomed to. He goes with the percentages; and when it comes to the Hornets, you have a higher percentage chance when you limit Paul, not so much West. West can score 40 points for all we care -- as long as the Spurs as a team ends up with more than the Hornets as a team.

[Jimcs50]

The Spurs will probably use both Parker and Bowen on CP3 (using Bowen on Peja too).

No one is going to stop Paul, but hopefully Bowen can deny him the ball as much as possible. They need to get the ball out of his hands.

I think TP will guard CP and Bowen will once again shut down Peja.

[wijayas]

The Hornets season was made with their first round win.

Paul will have a good series but it still won't be enough. Bowen won't matter. The Hornets just are not deep enough talent wise to beat the spurs is a 7 game series.

I am not so sure of this. Hornets is very good from 1 to 5. We need to play our best to beat them. David West is the one I fear the most.

[AI-square]

I'll say this much... of all the people in the NBA I could think of that I could choose to put on Chris Paul, Bowen is right up there. It's not about stopping someone it's about making it as hard as possible for him and Bruce does that better than anyone.

[xtremesteven33]

skip bayless:

"Chris Paul is about to meet the postseason BRUCE BOWEN."

[remingtonbo2001]

Bowen shouldn't have a problem.

Just wear a cup and protect those family jewels.

[Que Gee]

Don't expect Bruce to guard Chris Paul much, if at all. In the past he has done well guarding Peja, and will probably continue to do so.

Of course he's done well guarding Peja...Peja doesn't do except for stand on the wings and wait for a pass and shoot a three...not unlike Barry, or Bowen. It would be a waste to have Bowen guard Peja...any one of of 5 different Spurs including Barry and Finley could guard him.
This series will be interesting in that there are multiple mismatches. David West is a huge problem for the Spurs. Bowen can't guard him in the post, he's to big for him...and if you have Bruce take CP3, who is Parker going to guard? Horry or even Bonner are going to have to help out with the DWest situation. Horry is long and lanky, but look to possibly have Bonner out there...a guy who hustles, is strong and can give you 6 fouls.
Extended time with Bruce on Peja is probably going to happen given that if Parker is in at the same time, the only person for him to guard is CP3...but then you have to decide if Bruce is going to guard DWest and rotate the weak side help in the post, or if Bruce is going to guard Peja, and have one of the bigs, try and keep West out in the 12 - 15 ft range and see if he can consistently knock down the j's.

[DazedAndConfused]

If the Spurs put Bowen on CP3, I can bet you Scott will counter with a lineup of CP3, Wells, Peja, Chandler, and West. There will be at least one mismatch on the floor because TP will have to guard Peja who has a good 6 inches or so on him. Also who the is gonna guard Wells......Manu? That's another mismatch.

If the Spurs try and trot out Udoka and Bowen at the same time their offense goes to . You pretty much have TP and Duncan trying to carry the entire offensive load, which won't happen against a good defensive team. The best bet for the Spurs is to let Parker guard Cp3 and see how it goes.

[alamo50]

I have a strange feeling Oberto might be able to get under West's skin in a game or two with his frenetic movement.

That indeed is a very strange feeling you got there grasshopper.