Raja Bell better defender than Bowen?

[RonMexico]

Bowen was the difference in harassing Nash and making him give up 7 TO's in the loss to the Spurs.

Still, Bell played some good D against Kobe and when he was switched on Odom last night. Kobe wasn't shooting well, but he also wasn't getting very easy looks.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Timvp, that might've been the best post you've made all season, and that's really saying a lot

[aaronstampler]

I don't understand what you are getting out. First of all, the Spurs not going after offensive boards has won them three championships. It can't be argued whether it's an effective tactic, because it has proven to be so.

And well-coached team's know that Bowen's offense isn't the Spurs' weakness. The Spurs have never lost a series because teams have dared Bowen to beat them. Because the teams that have tried that strategy against the Spurs have all lost.

The way to beat the Spurs is to not leave Bowen open. Phil Jackson and AJ know this. Bowen isn't one to choke, especially in the playoffs. You don't keep a man on him at all-times, the Spurs will find him open and they'll win.

Sure, Bowen isn't going to win you anything taking the ball off the dribble. But those who say that the Spurs play 4-on-5 on offense or whatever don't really have a clue on how or why the Spurs lose in the playoffs.

In games five and six last year against the Mavs, Bowen had one field goal attempt in 69 minutes. It wasn't because the Spurs never passed it to him, it was because AJ knows that Bowen isn't someone you dare to beat you.

To beat the Spurs, you want TP and Manu shooting jumpers. You want to throw a bunch of double teams at Tim. You want to see if Finley or Barry will shrivel up under pressure. You try to expose the bench and make the Spurs go small. You don't leave Bowen open in the corner.





The Spurs glaring weakness has been Bowen's offense? He's right around his scoring output when the Spurs have won their two championships with him. Bowen's scoring (or lack of scoring) doesn't even crack the top 20 weaknesses for the Spurs.

Spurs fans don't understand the concept of a fifth option. The Spurs have three premiere scorers. Manu, Tim and Tony are all in the top 25 in the league in points per minute. Then after that, you have guys like Finley and Barry who put up a fair amount of shots.

As a team, the Spurs are third in the league in points per possession, behind only the Suns and the Mavs. How much more offensively potent do Spurs fans want the team to be?

It's not as if Bowen averaging six points is holding the team back. If he averaged more, it'd just be less shots for someone else. It's not like if Bowen was replaced by a wing who averaged 15 points per game that the Spurs would become some offensive Phoenix Suns style juggernaut. All it means is that the shots would be redistributed.

And really, being third in the league in points per possession pretty much categorizes the Spurs as an offensive juggernaut. They score more per possession than teams like the Warriors and Nuggets. I'd have to double check, but I'm pretty sure this is the most potent Spurs offensive unit in the Tim Duncan era.

Spurs fans amaze me with their ability to focus on meaningless stats that don't begin to tell the whole picture. Instead of looking at Bowen's points per game, look at how the team averages more points per possession when he's on the floor. Instead of whining about a lack of steal or blocks, look at how the Spurs average 10 less points given up per 100 possessions with Bowen on the court (or how the Spurs give up only 85 points per 48 minutes that Bowen is on the court). Instead of whining about how Bowen doesn't rebound, look at how the Spurs are a better rebounding team with Bowen on the court.

Last I looked, Bowen was second in the NBA in +/-. Yet Spurs fans would vote him off the team if they could.

Like I've said before, people won't realize how much Bowen means to what the Spurs have done the last half decade until he's gone.

If Pop is going to play with two bigs behind him, then Bruce can play 40 minutes a night and I'll be okay with it. But if we play small, I'd rather not have him out there because smallball is supposed to be an offensive line-up and he's an offensive liability.

I'm not writing this as a knock on Bowen. If it was up to me we'd play big ALL THE TIME. But if Pop insists on playing small, I'd rather go with Brent-Fin-Manu as much as possible.