Sports Illustrated - Bruce Bowen Plays Clean Defense; Video Evidence to the Contrary

Now, I have nada against Brucey Big Foot, except that a well-placed foot under someone in the air can irreparably tear ankle tendons, thus ruining a career, I've seen it happen. Whether that's Bowen's intention or not, that his actions can ruin a career speak for themselves.

The Allen video was included to show how Bowen's actions fly in the face of Burns' stretch of an assertion (largely through Spurs player's quotes) that Bowen is one of the nicest guys in the league.

And as far as the, "them just getting tangled up" b.s., here's what actually happens in the the crucial sequence of the Vince Carter vid: at the :44 mark in the vid, Bowen hacks Carter. At the :45 mark, Bowen smacks Carter in the face. At the :46 mark Bowen hand-checks Carter. At the :47 mark Bowen, reaches in, grabbing Carter's arm. Carter's move directly thereafter is not an elbow, but a ball-swing. The only elbow above Bowen's chest is Carter's right elbow which is farthest from Bowen's body. At the :48 mark Bowen performs his, "I just got shot" jump back move in an attempt to elicit an offensive foul call from the ref; almost simultaneously Carter swings his left arm across Bowen's chest. At the :49 mark V.C. rises up for his jumper - at this point in the vid Bowen is a good three feet away from Carter. By the :51 mark the ref has finally fully crossed the path of Bowen and Carter. You can plainly see where Bowen, from three feet away has landed - directly under Carter, his right leg in Carter's landing path. However, before that at the :50 mark, it is clear that Bowen has landed in Carter's landing area and is sticking his ass into V.C.'s body, causing Carter to begin his fall backward. Between the :50 and :52 marks you can see Bowen, after "booping" Carter, takes two quick hops back into Carter's body, ensuring that V.C. will hit the deck. Bowen then appears to trip over a "floor monster" making it appear that V.C. has heinously tripped him, when in fact, Carter's feet are at least six inches, if not a foot from Bowen.