- Aug 4, 2004
- 755
- 17
[h2][size=+2]NBA: Fortunate 500 - Spurs' Bowen savors gamesmilestone[/size][/h2][h5][size=-1]Web Posted: 03/11/2008 11:19 PM CDT[/size][/h5][size=-1]Jeff McDonald
San Antonio Express-News[/size] NEW ORLEANS - George Karl tells the story with a self-deprecating chuckle, like anempty-handed fisherman regaling friends with the tale of the big one that got away.
It was the summer of 1999 and Karl, then the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, had invited a handful of NBA wannabes to Las Vegas fora tryout camp. Among them was a 28-year-old, 6-foot-7 beanpole named Bruce Bowen.
Karl stayed home in Wisconsin and left assistants to preside over the workouts. Over and over, one name kept popping up in their reports from the camp.
"My staff kept telling me that Bowen could cover anybody on our team," recalls Karl, now the coach in Denver. "He could cover Ray Allen, hecould cover Glenn Robinson. He could cover all of them. My assistants loved him."
Ultimately, nothing came of the workout. Bowen, who unbeknownst to Karl was destined to become one of the league's top defenders, wound up inPhiladelphia, where he lasted just half a season before moving to Miami.
Tonight in New Orleans, Bowen - in his seventh season with the Spurs - will celebrate a milestone of longevity that would have been but a pipe dream to that28-year-old fighting for his basketball life in Las Vegas.
Bowen will play in and start his 500th consecutive game, extending on both counts the longest active streaks in the NBA.
Second place as a starter isn't even close.
Detroit's Tayshaun Prince ranks No. 2 on the games-started list, a scant 163 behind Bowen. If Bowen's streak ended now, Prince would have to startthe equivalent of two more seasons to eclipse it.
For more perspective: the Spurs have won three NBA titles since Bowen last missed a game - Feb. 6, 2002 against Phoenix.
The approach of his imminent iron-man landmark has left Bowen, 36, in a reflective mood.
"More than anything else, I reflect on being able to do something I really enjoy," Bowen said. "Not a lot of people can say that. I have awonderful job."
He didn't always have an NBA job, which is what makes Bowen's streak even more impressive.
Undrafted out of Cal State Fullerton in 1993, Bowen bounced around in basketball's bush leagues, first in the French professional leagues, then in theCBA, then cycled through three NBA teams from 1996-2000 before joining the Spurs in the summer of 2001. His life was a series of tryouts and 10-day contracts,every day a fight for his daily bread.
That struggle still forms Bowen's approach to the game. He has been named to seven consecutive all-NBA defensive teams.
"Guys in that situation all tend to play a certain way," says Spurs forward Ime Udoka, "like every game is their last."
Bowen credits his staying power to a work ethic honed in his youth.
Practically abandoned by his parents, both of whom were addicted to drugs, Bowen sought role models in other nooks of the family tree.
The uncle who worked as a janitor at Bowen's high school in Fresno, Calif., during the day, then attended school himself at night. The aunt, alibrarian, who also took night classes.
Bowen says he has thought of them often during his streak.
"It's not anything where I think I'm anything special," Bowen said. "It's a product of enjoying and appreciating where I am andbeing able to go out and do it every day."
So how is it that Bowen is still plugging along, at an age in which most of his contemporaries are checking tee times?
"He must have good genetics somehow or another," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich joked.
Indeed, it takes a good bit of luck to play 500 games in a row - an awkward fall here, a jammed finger there, and it's all over.
But Bowen has also made his own luck.
Teammates say it isn't uncommon to arrive for a 10 a.m. practice to find Bowen has already been at the team's workout facility for two hours,working up his own sweat.
Married with two young children, Bowen rarely stays up late and rarely ventures outside his San Antonio home after hours.
His only vice? Chicken pot pies, a culinary remnant of his hardscrabble youth.
Robert Horry, at 37 the only Spur older than Bowen, calls his younger teammate "a nerd" - a description Bowen doesn't necessarily deny.
"That's fine," Bowen says. "You know in the end, the nerd always ends up with something special."
Tonight, as Bowen prepares for his 500th consecutive opening tip, that will be as true as it ever was.
SMH at anybody that says he plays crackhead defense after hearing his parents were addicted to drugs.
San Antonio Express-News[/size] NEW ORLEANS - George Karl tells the story with a self-deprecating chuckle, like anempty-handed fisherman regaling friends with the tale of the big one that got away.
It was the summer of 1999 and Karl, then the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, had invited a handful of NBA wannabes to Las Vegas fora tryout camp. Among them was a 28-year-old, 6-foot-7 beanpole named Bruce Bowen.
Karl stayed home in Wisconsin and left assistants to preside over the workouts. Over and over, one name kept popping up in their reports from the camp.
"My staff kept telling me that Bowen could cover anybody on our team," recalls Karl, now the coach in Denver. "He could cover Ray Allen, hecould cover Glenn Robinson. He could cover all of them. My assistants loved him."
Ultimately, nothing came of the workout. Bowen, who unbeknownst to Karl was destined to become one of the league's top defenders, wound up inPhiladelphia, where he lasted just half a season before moving to Miami.
Tonight in New Orleans, Bowen - in his seventh season with the Spurs - will celebrate a milestone of longevity that would have been but a pipe dream to that28-year-old fighting for his basketball life in Las Vegas.
Bowen will play in and start his 500th consecutive game, extending on both counts the longest active streaks in the NBA.
Second place as a starter isn't even close.
Detroit's Tayshaun Prince ranks No. 2 on the games-started list, a scant 163 behind Bowen. If Bowen's streak ended now, Prince would have to startthe equivalent of two more seasons to eclipse it.
For more perspective: the Spurs have won three NBA titles since Bowen last missed a game - Feb. 6, 2002 against Phoenix.
The approach of his imminent iron-man landmark has left Bowen, 36, in a reflective mood.
"More than anything else, I reflect on being able to do something I really enjoy," Bowen said. "Not a lot of people can say that. I have awonderful job."
He didn't always have an NBA job, which is what makes Bowen's streak even more impressive.
Undrafted out of Cal State Fullerton in 1993, Bowen bounced around in basketball's bush leagues, first in the French professional leagues, then in theCBA, then cycled through three NBA teams from 1996-2000 before joining the Spurs in the summer of 2001. His life was a series of tryouts and 10-day contracts,every day a fight for his daily bread.
That struggle still forms Bowen's approach to the game. He has been named to seven consecutive all-NBA defensive teams.
"Guys in that situation all tend to play a certain way," says Spurs forward Ime Udoka, "like every game is their last."
Bowen credits his staying power to a work ethic honed in his youth.
Practically abandoned by his parents, both of whom were addicted to drugs, Bowen sought role models in other nooks of the family tree.
The uncle who worked as a janitor at Bowen's high school in Fresno, Calif., during the day, then attended school himself at night. The aunt, alibrarian, who also took night classes.
Bowen says he has thought of them often during his streak.
"It's not anything where I think I'm anything special," Bowen said. "It's a product of enjoying and appreciating where I am andbeing able to go out and do it every day."
So how is it that Bowen is still plugging along, at an age in which most of his contemporaries are checking tee times?
"He must have good genetics somehow or another," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich joked.
Indeed, it takes a good bit of luck to play 500 games in a row - an awkward fall here, a jammed finger there, and it's all over.
But Bowen has also made his own luck.
Teammates say it isn't uncommon to arrive for a 10 a.m. practice to find Bowen has already been at the team's workout facility for two hours,working up his own sweat.
Married with two young children, Bowen rarely stays up late and rarely ventures outside his San Antonio home after hours.
His only vice? Chicken pot pies, a culinary remnant of his hardscrabble youth.
Robert Horry, at 37 the only Spur older than Bowen, calls his younger teammate "a nerd" - a description Bowen doesn't necessarily deny.
"That's fine," Bowen says. "You know in the end, the nerd always ends up with something special."
Tonight, as Bowen prepares for his 500th consecutive opening tip, that will be as true as it ever was.
SMH at anybody that says he plays crackhead defense after hearing his parents were addicted to drugs.
