I'm suprised it wasn't shaq and duncan. Without shaq, Kobe only accounts for one le. Shaq has four in his own right.
Poor Bruce, caught between a rock and a hard place. To me, he really wanted to say that he feels a "player of the decade" le should encompass a high character, which the great Tim Duncan epitomizes. Of course, to say this on national tv would imply that Kobe does not have a high character, and as we all know, that won't fly on ESPN.
Am I the only one who heard someone on the crew or someone who was there with Bowen yell, 'Timmy!' when he was asked to pick between the two?
Yeah, you're right, someone says Timmy very loudly. I'm surprised I didn't hear it the first time.
Lol, good ol' Bruce...
"Bigs are so important for championships in this game, as well as wing players, as well"
I heard it too when I saw it this morning on ESPN. I was about to mention it when I saw your post. When I first saw it, I thought he was gonna say Kobe but watching it several times just now, I agree, he was trying to say co-.
the difference here is bruce bowen was a nobody when he was defending jordan...i think a prime bruce or artest wouldve did well against jordan
He wasn't gonna say Ko-Be. He was gonna say Co-Players of the Decade. AS in Co-MVPs.
Mentioned like 10 times now already.
Bowen has said Dirk was his hardest cover and with Dirk's height that is certainly plausible and Anthony is another tough cover for anyone when on - Kobe is fabulous but will also continue to shoot and shoot his way to 9 or so of 30+ nights which he had frequently when Bowen covered him.
No way is Kobe the player of the decade he was the MAN on only one championship team tying him with Wade - Duncan and Shaq had three MANs (Wade was the major force on the Heat le). Duncan or Shaq yes for Decade most valuable players (i.e. MANS on le Teams) as Kobe is a laughable choice - I MVP, I Finals MVP gimme a break NO WAY is it Kobe.Co MVPS of the Decade are Shaq and Duncan period.
Yeah, she almost seemed disappointed when he didn't agree that Kobe was the PotD. Hilarious.
Phil Jackson couldn't stop Kobe from taking 30 shots. Bowen did the best defensive job on Kobe of any players and he made Kobe work for every shot and held him to lower percentages.
Sure Kobe made spectacular shots on Bowen, but Bowen forced Kobe to make spectacular shots. And if Kobe wasn't hitting spectacular shots, he was in for a long night.
Dirk? Of course Dirk was a tough cover for him, Dirk is 8 feet tall
I can't say I like Bowen's lack of respect for Kobe when Kobe has done nothing but give him respect and praise throughout their careers when most players were calling him dirty.
In my opinion the player that played Kobe the toughest was Eric Snow.
I didn't realize that it was not much history of Bowen vs. Kobe's career average in the playoffs is .444. So Bruce really only was successful against Kobe 2 season. The famous rape trial season and one season when he shot .434 but averaged 32.3. Two other seasons Kobe shot above his average. .466 and .453
I think I saw this posted here already so I wont post the article but here's an excerpt from it,
Bruce Bowen: Myth vs. Reality
This question is based off of two myths: Once upon a time Bowen actually shut down Kobe and Bowen has declined significantly, particularly since last season. Neither of these are true. Yes, Bowen has managed to slow Kobe at points over the years but his defensive style has never proven able to stop the black mamba consistently.
http://www.48minutesof .com/2009/...th-vs-reality/
01, 02, 03, 09
kobe isnt even close for player of the decade. are you kidding me espn? god the los angeles/new york constant sucking needs to stop. its getting really ing annoying
duncan
shaq
then kobe.
kobe player of the decade? lmao
No one can stop a top ten scorer from getting his points. All you can do is make them a volume shooter with a lower shooting percentage. Bruce did that to Kobe better than anyone including Eric Snow.
FYI everyone said Kurt Thomas could guard Tim Duncan but Duncan got 20/10s against him. No one ever stopped Tim but some players made him work harder than others.
Looking at the playoffs, Kobe Bryant actually has better results, statistically, vs. Bowen and the Spurs than nearly any other team. 28.6 points per game on 46.7% shooting (2002, 2003, 2004, 2008 combined). He did have better numbers against the Suns, but his team was 0-2 in playoff series against them.
In 2004, Houston held him to 38.6% in five games. In 2002, Kobe had his best results, shooting-wise, against the Spurs (45.5%). OTOH, he was only 35.3% vs. Portland, 41.9% vs. Sacramento. In 2004, he also had his best shooting series against the Spurs. '00 Portland did okay (43.9%).
In '03 and '04, Wolves held him to 43% and 41.4%. All of the NBA finalists the Lakers have faced, barring the Nets, did a great job holding him below par also. 36.7% (IND); 41.5% (PHI); 38.1% (DET); 40.5% (BOS); 43% (ORL).
So comparatively, Bowen and the Spurs haven't done as well defending Kobe. 45.5% (2002); 43.4% (2003); 46.2% (2004); 53.3% (2008). To be fair, 2008 came against a Bowen that was clearly past his prime.
In the regular season, Bowen has done as well as anybody. Lifetime H2H: 42.6% in 32 games. However, an obscure fact is how poorly Kobe has done H2H vs. Vince Carter: 14 games 37.7%, despite 10 wins, 4 losses. So I'm kind of glad Spurs didn't pick him up for a le run.
I have to disagree with you on that. Bowen's weakness on defense was he couldn't defend guys when they decided to post him up ala Mello. Mello always struggled against Bruce until he realized that if he posted him up theres nothing Bruce could do to stop him. I remember during the '01 playoffs when Bruce was with the heat he got destroyed by Mashburn and in that series all Mash did was post up Bruce everytime on the block and score. MJ would have done the same to Bruce a bunch of times but worse it would be brutal.
I don't know if you ever heard of the story of the summer one on one pickup game that happened betwen Artest and MJ. I think it occured in the summer of '02 some where in a Chicago gym. Anyways not only did MJ light up Artest badly he also taunted him and rubbed it in his face that Artest couldn't guard him. After the game was over Artest lost his cool picked up MJ and broke MJ's ribs. There used to be stories about this game and both sides have never denied what has happened. A young Artest couldn't handle an old MJ which makes me doubt he would have been able to cause problems for a prime MJ.
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