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<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Bowen paying off 3-fold <br>
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By Johnny Ludden <br>
San Antonio Express-News <br>
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Web Posted : 01/07/2003 12:00 AM <br>
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LOS ANGELES — Defense wins championships, according to the timeless adage, and occasionally it might even make you $11.3 million. <br>
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But, as Bruce Bowen also reminds, it doesn't always get you off the bench in the fourth quarter. <br>
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Though one of the NBA's best on-the-ball defenders — a distinction evidenced by back-to-back second-team All-Defense selections — Bowen's one-way skills have sometimes left him feeling squeezed during crunch time.<br>
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"It can be frustrating because they treat it like football," Bowen said. "You have offense and defense and then it's time for the defense to come off the field."<br>
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Bowen has been shuttled off the court a lot less frequently of late because he's become, of all things, one of the Spurs' most dependable shooters.<br>
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In the past seven games, Bowen averaged 11.6 points while making 14 of 26 3-pointers (53.8 percent). He has hit clutch baskets in four of the Spurs' past five wins, burning defenders who left him open in the corner, his favorite spot from which to shoot. <br>
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For the season, Bowen ranks third in the league in 3-point shooting at 45.2 percent. <br>
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"Bruce is a big shot maker," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He has no fear. As long as he gets to the spots where he's been very proficient, he's somebody you have to have on the floor. You just believe when he shoots from those spots that it's going in.<br>
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"You combine that with the fact that he's also guarding people and you could make the argument that he's been our most consistent perimeter player, overall."<br>
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That wasn't the case early this season. After signing a three-year contract worth $11.3 million in July, Bowen, who had never made much above the league minimum in his first seven seasons, spent the summer working on his shot and trying to improve his offensive skills. Though his attempts to become a better all-around player earned the praise of Tim Duncan and other teammates, they didn't generate immediate results.<br>
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In the first 18 games of the season, Bowen averaged just 5.5 points while shooting 36 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line. In the 16 games since, he's averaged 8.3 points while making 51 percent of his shots, including 51.1 percent of his 3-point attempts. <br>
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"I wasn't happy with the way I started the season because I knew what I had been doing all summer," Bowen said. "Once I decided to just play and let the chips fall where they may, that's when things started to change. I think sometimes that happens to players because they press when they want to do well. <br>
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"I know there's still a long way I have to go to gain more of the coaches' confidence."<br>
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Bowen will have to improve his free-throw shooting, a career-worst 44.4 percent, for Popovich to keep him on the floor in the most critical of situations. Because he rarely makes multiple trips to the line in the same game, Bowen — who said he didn't struggle with his foul shooting until he reached the NBA — has had a hard time finding his rhythm.<br>
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"I know I have to improve on that," he said. "There's no excuse for it." <br>
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In addition to shooting extra free throws, Bowen frequently stays after practice to work on a teardrop runner he hopes will complement his corner shot. If defenders start to close out on him more frequently, he will need to be able to score off the dribble. Though Bowen has never been able to do that consistently, the coaches believe he now has a slightly better in-between game than Stephen Jackson.<br>
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"That's one of the biggest things I wanted to improve on this year," Bowen said. "It does no good when you're working on so many different aspects of the game and you don't even try it out there. You can't be afraid to try anything. If Pop yells at me, which he will, I have to be a good player and just say, 'OK, coach' and move on."<br>
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Bowen also is wise enough to know his defense will continue to earn him a paycheck. Shedding his reputation as a one-dimensional player, he said, is less of a concern now than it was early in the season. <br>
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"I can't worry about changing everyone's perspective or views," Bowen said. "I just have to go play. And if I play well then nine times out of 10 people will say, 'You know what? He's all right.' "<br>
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jludden@express-news.net
<p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.sahoops.net/"><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:purple;font-size:x-small;">"Shaq is getting married. Yeah the bad news is it'll be his only chance to get a 4th ring this year." -Jay Leno</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></a><!--EZCODE LINK END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub61.ezboard.com/bsanantoniospurs62937.showUserPublicProfile?gid=biggdrew>BiggDrew</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://www.sahoops.net/drewspersonalicon.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 1/7/03 2:44:39 pm<br></i>
