Reply With Quote
I think Rip will get his fair share of points in some games. But he won't shoot a good percentage against Bowen.
Spurs' Bowen tough matchup for Hamilton
BY HELENE ST. JAMES
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/11838191.htm
(KRT) - Richard Hamilton has tested his furious scoring pace against Allen Iverson, against Reggie Miller, and against Dwyane Wade in the playoffs. Those three All-Stars, though, have nothing on Hamilton's next opponent.
That's because Iverson, Miller and Wade all liked to score, and so, while they expended energy chasing Hamilton, they also expended energy running off screens and making shots. San Antonio's Bruce Bowen is a different creature.
``He's a guy that comes out and when he plays, don't even look for his offense,'' Hamilton said Monday night after Detroit advanced to meet the Spurs in the NBA Finals. ``He's a guy that just plays defense. He tries to hit you with all different parts of his body, tries to frustrate you and things like that. It's a challenge.''
Hamilton averaged 23.6 points in seven games against Wade and Miami in the Eastern Conference finals. He averaged 18.7 points in six games playing against Miller and Indiana in round two, and 21.4 in five games against Iverson and Philadelphia in Round 1.
Those numbers might fall this round. Bowen held Hamilton to eight points on 4-for-14 shooting in an 80-77 loss at San Antonio. In the March game at the Palace, a 110-101 Pistons victory, Hamilton shot 4-for-12 and had 11 points .
``He's an unbelievable defender, maybe the best in the game as far as one-on-one wise,'' Chauncey Billups said. ``I've known him since he came in the league. We played in Boston together. I know his family; he's a good friend of mine.''
SHOW ME SOMETHING: Shaquille O'Neal called out Ben Wallace during the Eastern Conference finals, challenging him to guard him, though O'Neal outweighed Wallace by more than 80 pounds.
``I think when a guy does that, it's a form of a compliment,'' said Wallace, the NBA defensive player of the year.
Asked if he thought he showed Shaq anything, Wallace replied: ``I'm going back to the Finals.''
NOTEBOOK: Emotion poured forth in the visitors' dressing room after Monday's victory, with Antonio McDyess crying for joy amid the delighted chaos. ``Just celebrating, hugging, shouting, going crazy, some people crazier than others, of course,'' Billups said of the scene immediately afterward .
``You know, it's for the guys that haven't been through it like Antonio or Carlos Arroyo or (Ronald) Dupree. I'm just so happy for them. That's the reason why they came here, to get a chance to play for a championship and make it to the Finals.'' . . . The 76ers traded a second-round pick to Detroit on Tuesday. The Sixers dealt the 60th overall selection to the Pistons to complete a trade made on Dec. 18, 1997, in which they acquired Theo Ratliff and Aaron McKie for Jerry Stackhouse and Eric Montross. The Sixers acquired the pick from the Utah Jazz for a future second-round draft pick. Philadelphia had until June 12 to deliver a second-round pick to the Pistons or they would have surrendered their No. 45 selection.
I think Rip will get his fair share of points in some games. But he won't shoot a good percentage against Bowen.
Either way they won't be easy points, he'll have to work for them....
Bowen doesn't guard off the ball as well as on the ball. Hamilton is smart because he uses alot of picks to get open and works for it. Bowen will not shut Hamilton down. I expect pretty close to the usual stats. Kobe had success against Bowen when he played off the ball instead of having the ball last year.
i dunno, i think he can hamper him quite a bit. i doubt hamilton will get rattled as easy as ray allen, but they play the same sort of game. bowen should be able to stay with him.
Bowen and indeed all of the Spurs have been terrific at denying the passing lanes for teams this year. Their entire defense has been predicated upon clogging the passing lanes this year, and much less dependent on their funneling. Its been an interesting progression.
I actually slightly disagree, specifically in these playoffs. The Spurs have been defending very good one-on-one, on the ball type of D. The perimeter players still try to funnel to baseline and play D in coordination with the help D in the paint. I don't see them attacking the passing lanes as much, except when playing Nash off the pick and roll (they did clog him and the passing lanes pretty good).
One interesting fact is that the Spurs have drastically reduced the number of steals per game. This is mainly due to the fact that Pop has probably asked Manu (the Spurs' player with most steals per game and one of the leaders in the league) not to gamble, and consequently he has dropped his regular season average steals/game in half. In the Seattle and Suns' series, based on the comments made in the press, Manu said that he went for steals during certain games because he thought the team needed that from him at some point of the game. It was clear that he was making a conscious decision to go for steals in lieu of Pop's game plan/orders.
Rip will average about 20 - 22 points a game. With all of the screens that he gets, he will get about 15 halfway open shots, converting about 7 or 8 of them. He is also usually good for about 5-7 free throws a game, putting him somewhere in the 20 - 22 points per game range.
Are you on crack??!!
Bowen is the best "off-the-ball" defender in the freakin' league. That's where the majority of his defense is, and why he didn't get MVP Defensively...people don't notice is as much.
Bowen is best known around the league at sticking with his guy...when his guy DOESN'T have the ball. Denying him the ball in the first place. That's why scorers all hate him so much, they have to work so hard just to get the ball, that by the time they finally do get it, they've expended a ton of energy. Guys he guards usually get their points early in game...cuz they are exhausted late in the game.
I dunno how many times Bowen gets someone like Ray Ray to foul him outta frustration when they try to push him away from them...when the ball is somewhere else on the court.
Bowens 1 on 1 defense when his man has the ball is good. But when a scorer gets the ball, they can do their thing against him as well as most other good defenders. Bowens defense when his man DOESN'T have the ball is what Bowen is known for.
Last edited by SouthernFried; 06-08-2005 at 08:32 AM.
Rip is going to have his work cut out for him. How many touches did Anthony get when Bruce was working on him in the paint? Bruce knows how to deny a pass. Or at the very least make someone work like a mule to get one. Hamilton won't get rattled like Allen, that's true, but I also don't think he's quite the shooter that Allen is. He's good, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't have that "dangerous from anywhere" quality that Allen has. Bruce won't stop him but he will slow him down noticeably.
RIP will average less than 20ppg in the finals. Bowen guards players at best when they run around screens and look for an open shot like that. The thing with RIP is that he is not very good at putting the ball on the floor and taking it to the hole. Bruce will win this matchup.
He scored 11 and 8 in the two previous meetings with the Spurs. What will Detroit do differently in the finals? (asking a serious question)Rip will average about 20 - 22 points a game. With all of the screens that he gets, he will get about 15 halfway open shots, converting about 7 or 8 of them. He is also usually good for about 5-7 free throws a game, putting him somewhere in the 20 - 22 points per game range.
They are more focused, obviously. He is more of a go to guy in the playoffs rather than the regular season. He will play a lot more minutes than he did (33 and 28). That last point is the main reason. You can expect Rip to play atleast 45 minutes a game in the playoffs.
Every coach loves a player like Bowen. I mean...how cool is it when deciding matchups to be able to say this...
"Who's the best perimeter player they have? Ok, Bowen, you take him.
Now, how are we gonna guard these other guys??"
A coaches wet dream.
That cracked me up too. Everytime a mavs fan comments about the spurs it's usually something ignorant like that bowen thought. I think it's the same guy, can't remember.
Actually I think a coaches wet dream is having enough quality perimeter defenders that they can say, "Can you guys sort out who you want to guard? I'm having lunch with Lebron James today."
He averaged about 10 ppg and 30 minutes per game in the previous 2 matchups.I look for hamilton to either average 15 ppg and shoot around 45% or see him score about 20 ppg and shoot lower then 40%.
At 38-42 minutes I think I'm correct, the former would mean rip is being patient and only taking shots when he's slightly open, meaning he's not getting many touches and being denied at the rim with the spurs many shot blockers. The latter would mean that the spurs will allow him the chance to score and not create for his teammates.
So my guess is about 17 ppg shooting in the low 40%.
I stand corrected.
It is very convenient to have a player like Bowen. The same thing was done to me in highschool. I always guarded the other team's best player. So then the coach would worry about the other matchups. Or if we would go zone we would always go box and 1.
The article makes a good point about Bowen being relatively fresh because he concentrates defense and doesn't put forth nearly the effort that Hamilton has to (and does) on both ends of the court.
Rip should also get fewer shots because Bowen will try to deny him the ball by sticking to his jersey like a burr.
Ok, I can see where Spurs fan is optimistic because Bowen is one of the premier defenders in the league. However, I will say this, if he shuts Rip down for a series it will be a first.
Rip has averaged better than 20ppg in each of his three post-seasons with the pistons. All three of those went at least to the conference finals so you're talking about a substantial number of games. He's as consistent as they come and has put up those numbers against some teams that aren't too shabby on defense. He's going to run and come off a screen, if that pass isn't open, he'll have two more screens waiting for him on the other side of the court. Ball-denial just doesn't work against him. In the fourth quarter, he's still sprinting. In the fourth quarter of a game seven when everyone has tired legs, he's still sprinting.
As the focal point of detroit's offense, they're going to look for him all the time. The basic "run rip around and see what happens" play is probably 70% of their half-court offense.
His off nights usually come because he decides to put the ball on the floor and drive, where lots of bad things happen for him. Also, he can be prone sometimes to pick up a lot of ticky tack fouls on defense which can take him out of his game.
I expect Rip to average 20ppg against the Spurs and that's no knock on Bowen, just a compliment to Rip and a reflection of the degree to which the piston offense revolves around him.
What about the reg. season vs the spurs? He didn't do to well then.
It was 2 games. That is not enough games to say that Bowen will slow down Hamilton.
I don't view the regular season as being all that relevant. What happens on night x out of 82 and what happens over the course of a seven game series, especially the finals, are two completely different animals.
not as tough as carmelo, ray allen and shawn marion
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
