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No. He was dirty to any guy he covered that expected to have an easy shot over him.
For stepping under jump shooters?
IE Vince Carter
No. He was dirty to any guy he covered that expected to have an easy shot over him.
If you look at the last 15 years of NBA basketball, there have been a number of rules changes and changes in the way games are called, that emasculate defense and make wing players more effective. The rules against handchecking, and bumping on the perimeter make any touch likely to be called a foul where as that wasn't true early in Bowen's career and a number of the older players were grandfathered for awhile. Bowen was also a very good athlete and could stay in front of many smaller players bothering them with his length. I do think that as he aged he would do things purposefully that made other players worry about what would happen when he was guarding them, which likely helped earn him the label but isn't really dirty if you are just putting the thought into their heads.
Yes bruce was dirty, but the more basketball I see, the more I realize that many players basically cheat if they can get away with it. Roughing up the other player, grabbing them or hitting them when the refs can't see, stuff like that. Stockton was well known for it. During these playoffs, the saw Ibaka hold one of the houston players to prevent them from guarding an open thunder three pointer. GS was grabbing tony to stop him from getting free on picks. They do what they can. Bowen did his share too. But regardless, he was an all-time defender who never got his full due.
As to the specific issue of "stepping under" shooters, I do not think Bruce tried to seriously injure players, I really don't. If two or three guys got injured from him doing that, you might have an argument.
, he never even close-lined someone, or hip-checked someone (although he did karate kick wally in the face).
He is a 3 time NBA Champion.
People and players called him dirty because he basically owned them all tbh. From bench warmers to role players to superstars, all of them.
I enjoyed seeing him own Ray Allen.
He is a 3 time NBA Champion.
That doesn't answer the OP at all.
No my friend
He was dirty. That's part of the territory when you are a pesky, defensive wing player. You have to get under opponents' skins to be effective.
Exactly.
And to everyone mentioning his stout defense, that doesn't have anything to do with the question either.
There's no way you can believe he never purposely tried to put his foot under a shooter. At least a couple times.
Aren't there other, safer, methods of getting into the opponents head though?
Only people who called Bruce dirty were those who played against him. I'm sure everybody wanted him on their team at one point.
Remember that one time when he jumped up and kharate kicked thata player in the face? Was it Szerbiak??? Ayways, right after that he tried to pretend it was an accident. But bruce didn't depend on dirtiness to be effective. There were little things he did to take scorers out of their comfort zone that were brilliant and he was able to predict their
moves and tricks before they made them. Bruce never seriously intended to hurt anyone though, he just loved to force opponents to struggle through their own anger, thereby diminishing their focus. It was very Tsun Tzu.
Define dirty.
Bowen's dirty tactics were strategical, though..he targeted soft players, mentally weak players and players with bad tempers, tbh..
Carmelo Anthony(mentally weak/bad temper)
Tracy McGrady(soft)
Vince Carter(soft)
Ray Allen(soft)
Jamal Crawford(mentally weak)
Amare Stoudemire(mentally weak)
Steve Francis(mentally weak)
Chris Paul(notorious bad temper)
Allen Iverson(notorious bad temper)
Michael Finley 2000-2005(bad temper)
There are exceptions to the rule, but he typically targeted players that would either be afraid of his tactics or would react with hostility towards his tactics, tbh..
Yes he was dirty a dirty nasty up in your face dirty winner!!!
He was dirty but the mainstream enlarger his dirty play. He's a perfect role player
Someone has gotta do the dirty work for a team to be successful, Bowen did the bulk of it for the Spurs.
The stepping under shooters trick was the dirtiest thing Bowen did, but when a guy's on fire that's the surest way to get in his head and slow him down. I don't think he'd do it to a guy who has ankle injury problems like Curry, but he sure did it to Ray Allen and VC lol
He was beyond dirty!
He was so great defender thatr no dirt was able to touch his greatness
yes. and with reason in the pussified league.
It's actually a pretty good strategy as long as you don't injure the player.
It's the one reason I can't completely hate Kobe tbh. He was the one player who only ever gave Bruce props.
But ya, "strategically dirty" covers him pretty damn well. It was a thing of beauty imo, just 'cause he was on the Spurs no doubt. Imagine if, for example, he had happened to play on that '05 Supersonics team, which was already dirty as , and he stepped under Manu's ankle on a play, 'causing Manu's ankle to shatter into a dozen pieces or some other equally expected horrific career ending injury. We'd have two less rings, and be a much more bitter fan base. So just be glad Pop found him first before some other coach turned him into a WMAD (Weapon of Mass Ankle Desctruction) and unleashed him on us.
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