Posted by franco12:

with the supposed rules changes made this year about calling fouls against a defender hold/impeding a player face up to the basket, bowen should probably have a foul called against him every play.

Posted by Killa4luv:

there is a huge difference between playing tough physical defense and playing dirty. I heard Stockton was dirty as hell too. They said he was really grimy on D.

Posted by eViL:

Primadonna says:
"You are a dirty player"
'90's Knicks were worse

Defensive Player of the Year
And the winner is .. Allen Iverson. With the way the game's being called now, I don't see a lot of defense in the league. They don't physically give you a chance to challenge a guy. The way I played Magic in the '91 Finals, you'll never see that again. That was fun. It was entertainment. The Rules Committee has taken all that out of that game and they're promoting scoring. It's hard to find a defensive player in the game. A lot of people mention Bruce Bowen as a candidate, but he's not a defensive player and he's never been a defensive player. He's got a seven-footer behind him who can block shots. What's his defense? Run you at the seven-footer? You put a seven-footer like Tim Duncan behind me, who's gonna get defensive player of the year, me or Tim Duncan? The deal with Bowen is he's 6-7 and there's not many people who can shoot over a 6-7 person. He never received the Defensive Player of the Year Award when he played in Miami, did he? Allen Iverson gets my vote because of his ability to steal the basketball. He's expends so much energy on the offensive end, carrying the load for the Sixers while leading the league in scoring yet he also brings it on the defensive end. Judging on how the game is being played, he's done an amazing job.

Posted by Masterplan:

Posted by EnySpree:

Posted by eViL:

Primadonna says:
"You are a dirty player"
'90's Knicks were worse

The 90's Knicks played ball not kick boxing. You wouldn't see them doing cheap stuff like flopping or trying to insight a fight or purposely extending you leg in between the defender after the play and try to say it was by accident.

The "No lay-up rule"......that means no one drives the lane without having a body on you. Sending a guy out there to play physical with the other teams best scorer is what basketball is all about in the NBA. There is a way to do it.

Anybody think guys like Starks, or Aguirre, or X-man, or Larry Johnson or Worthy, or some of the great would let Bowen get away with his cheap antics? All those guys would have slapped him at least twice by now.......even if they didn't someone like Oakley, Rambis, Laimbeer or Rodman would have caught him with a flagrant foul to keep him in check.

Ah.....80's-90's basketball at it's best.

i agree, there's a difference between fouling someone to make a statement or playing rough to get them off their game, and intentionally trying to injure them or to take cheap shots when the ref's back is turned. however, i couldn't really say whether the classic knicks teams fall into teh first or second category. my impression is, like yours, that they were tough but not dirty, but i really couldn't say if that's jsut because i'm a fan or if it really was the case.

Posted by EnySpree:

I know exactly what type of player Bowen is.

Bowen is that kid that couldn't play but played with you only because you needed the extra man. He didn't know what to do with the ball so he did what you told him "just don't let him score". So he would grab, bump and follow you like a shadow because that's all he could do. He would be playing defense when his team is on offense.

Bowen is that guy that you have to stop the game and everyone on the court, even on his team starts screaming at him saying "Yo man you can't do that....what's the matter with you....you can't touch him with two hands......you can't just trip him like that..........you can't just jump in front of someone if they are driving the hoop, man you gotta go for the ball.....yes slapping him in the face is a foul!!!!"