Spurs' Bowen, Sonics' Allen Renew Testy, Spirited Rivalry

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Ray Allen visits the AT&T Center tonight, and Bruce Bowen obviously hasn't forgotten what happened the last time they met.

Allen scored 33 points. Bowen left Seattle with a $10,000 fine and a loss.

He blames the kick he gave Allen for both.

"I know we win as a team and lose as a team," Bowen said, "but I feel like that was my loss."

With the Spurs leading by 11 midway through the second quarter of the March26 game, Allen jumped into Bowen while attempting a shot. Hoping to draw a foul, Allen instead was called for one of his own after both players fell to the floor.

Upset that Allen may have intentionally knocked him down, Bowen kicked the Seattle guard in the back as he tried to get up. Allen tried to lunge at him but was restrained by players from both teams.

Bowen received a technical foul. Allen made the free throw, the KeyArena crowd came alive, and by halftime, the Spurs' lead was down to four.

Allen went on to score 23 points after the kick and make 8 of 13 shots, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds left.

The Spurs likely would have secured the victory moments before Allen's shot had Robert Horry called a timeout while he had the ball before stumbling out of bounds. But Bowen thinks none of it would have happened had he not "lost my head."

"The whole momentum changed," Bowen said. "It's something I wish I never would have done.

"It's unfortunate, but I have a penalty for that. Not the monetary part. It's that I feel like I let the team down because of my actions."

Bowen publicly apologized after the game, but Allen called the kick dirty and said Bowen played "coward's basketball." Allen told Seattle reporters he called NBA senior vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson to personally lobby for a fine. Jackson, Allen said, was leaning toward not penalizing Bowen until the call.

"I think you put yourself on an island when you do stuff like that," Bowen said. "I think now it's hard for people to respect someone like that.

"I'm not saying I was right. I was wrong for what I did. But you let the powers that be take care of that."

The incident added only more fire to the three-year feud between Bowen and Allen.

Bowen's relationship with Allen began to deteriorate after Allen was traded to Seattle midway through the 2002-03 season. When the Sonics played the Spurs near the end of that season, Bowen was ejected after receiving a pair of technical fouls: the first for a hard foul on Allen; the second for nearly hitting Brent Barry, then with Seattle, in the head with an elbow.

In their next meeting the following season, Bowen and Allen received technicals for pushing each other. Afterward, Allen said Bowen "cheap-shots" him and plays "sissy basketball."

Allen was the first player to publicly criticize Bowen, who thinks the comments helped trigger complaints from others. In their subsequent meetings, Bowen said Allen has told him he's a "terrible" player.

The officials "hear from him that I'm doing all these dirty things to him," Bowen said. "But what about when he hits me? I didn't go say, 'Hey, on the jump ball, he smacked me in the face.'

"There are a lot of people in the league who have lost a lot of respect for him. People are starting to see he's not so clean."

Allen was suspended for three games this season for fighting with Orlando guard Keyon Dooling. He also has had problems with Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.

Said Bowen: "Did anybody call Stu and politic and say we should fine Ray?"

Bowen appreciates his rivalry with Bryant not only because of Bryant's competitiveness, but also because Bryant rarely complains or makes excuses. Even Vince Carter, who previously accused Bowen of stepping under him, has stopped complaining off and on the court.

"We all emulate Michael Jordan because he was the best we saw," Bowen said. "You never heard him talk about the 'Detroit (Jordan) Rules.' Or how physical the Knicks played him. Or how John Starks maybe hit him on a shot."

Michael Finley had his own altercation with Bowen, but the two cleared the air over lunch last summer after Finley signed with the Spurs. Bowen isn't sure whether he and Allen will someday be able to do the same.

"You've got to hear what the other person has to say," Bowen said.

Bowen knows the Spurs have little room for error if they want to hold off Dallas for the Western Conference's top playoff seed.

"Because I have respect for him as a player, that's why I'm able to prepare for him the way I do," Bowen said. "He hit a big shot for them. I have to do a better job ? I've never denied that." </div>

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