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<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Performance that Speaks for Itself</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br>
<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>By James Keith for SpursCentral.com</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br>
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When you type the name Bruce Bowen into a online search engine you get the obvious NBA player profile, ESPN player profile etc., the same type of pages you'd find if you where searching for Michael Doleac. The only difference between the two is that Bruce Bowen is a two time NBA defensive 1st teamer.<br>
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Besides the NBA player profiles and all that mumbo jumbo, you find a site called Bruce Bowen and company, an industry that makes firearms, while the name may be a coincidence the slogan is far more of one, "performance that speaks for itself."<br>
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Night after night Bruce Bowen is one of the hardest working players on the court, and sure the accolade of being named Defensive Player of the Year is great, but at the end of the game Bowen's efforts are either underplayed or not played at all. <br>
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When you hear about the Spurs and their success you hear about the three amigos Manu, Tony, and Timmy but the key player that anchors the one thing that makes the Spurs as dominant as they are, their defense, is Bruce Bowen. The eight year veteran who played with Miami, Boston and Philadelphia before landing in San Antonio almost always matches up with the other team's most explosive offensive player every game and does it with little recognition.<br>
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He's not endorsing shoes for millions, gracing the cover of posters or magazines, or seen on credit card commercials. (Oh I'm wrong he is, if you watch closely in the Tim Duncan credit card commercial you'll see Bowen celebrating for 2 seconds at the end with former teammate Kevin Willis.) The closest product resembling Bruce Bowen is a Mr. Potato Head doll, but that's another story.<br>
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"The thing that attracted me to this game, the fun and the love of it and it just grew from there."<br>
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The man who can play 4 positions on the court depending on who he's guarding doesn't do what he does for the glory or theprestige. What Bowen does on the court by no means could be considered the glory defense (Blocking and stealing), but what he understands better than any player is that most of defense is off the ball. Wreaking havoc on his opponent before they even touch the ball is Bruce's specialty. <br>
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Just like any other player on the Spurs roster, Bruce Bowen is a role-model. Sure he's not the quickest, he doesn't jump the highest, but no one can doubt his work ethic.<br>
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As for how Bruce became the defender he is today, "A little bit of talent and a lot of work; being able to take on the challenge of going up against the top guys, even when you didn't win that battle. Being able to come back the next day and try again. I think that's the most important thing."<br>
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Going into the NBA finals, Bruce Bowen is the most important person to the Spurs regardless of who he guards.
<p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"> <!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://img146.exs.cx/img146/8899/manusig3cr.gif"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>So whos playing for second?<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p204.ezboard.com/bsanantoniospurs62937.showUserPublicProfile?gid=blondie4spurs>Blondie4Spurs</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://homepage.eircom.net/~bray/em/orose.gif" BORDER=0> at: 6/4/05 9:50 am<br></i>
2003 
