Sam Smith

Bruce Bowen is dirty.

But then he went into the washroom to wipe the smudge off his face.

What, is everyone done complaining about the increase in technical fouls? The latest hue (not Hollins) and cry around the NBA has been about whether the Spurs' defensive ace really has something else up his sleeve. Like a blackjack. Sort of like the card game with the "hit me" part

This had to be dealt with again after Knicks coach Isiah Thomas raised an old issue about Bowen, that he steps under shooters before they land, this resulting in sprained ankles, a charge previously leveled by Vince Carter, Ray Allen, Richard Hamilton and recently Thomas with Jamal Crawford.

The effect is obvious. Defenders are asked to do anything to disrupt the shooter. Just running at a shooter and putting a hand up reduces the chances of making a basket. So it follows that if the shooter believes he might come down and step on someone's foot, he might look there instead of at the basket. Mission accomplished.

This all seemed to be spiraling out of control in the NBA's kangaroo court when league vice president Stu Jackson said he'd look at it and called Bowen and said to be careful. Which prompted Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to tell Bowen to do what he's always been doing and ignore Jackson, which is not unusual around the NBA, anyway.

Though perhaps the question should be not whether Bowen is dirty — I do not believe he is —but whether anyone is?

Bowen plays perhaps the most aggressive defense in the NBA. That Ben Wallace was named Defensive Player of the Year over Bowen last season was a huge oversight, which is now becoming clear with Wallace laboring with the Bulls and showing last year's vote was more reputation than results.

Bowen doesn't do much else. He'll make a 3-pointer, but isn't generally a good shooter, less than 60 percent career on free throws. He doesn't handle the ball particularly well or rebound. But he figured out how to become valuable in the NBA. Like in the Billy Crystal "City Slickers" movie, he learned one thing: Defend.

So he gets up on opponents, regularly taking the opposition's best scorer, no matter the size. Best scorers don't like that, and occasionally Bowen is close and they're jumping in to try to get a foul and stuff happens.

Dirty really has been taken out of the game, for the most part, in the NBA.

Heck, now you can't even complain loudly about being dirty without penalty.

It wasn't that way not too long ago with players literally being taken out of the air with near clothesline tackles. John Starks used to do it with the Knicks, to the Bulls' Scottie Pippen, who also absorbed his share of cheap shots from Dennis Rodman, another notoriously dirty player of his era.

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It was Rodman's Bad Boy Detroit Pistons who probably were the dirtiest team ever to play in the NBA, and who led to the crackdown on physical play that today perhaps has gone too far.

Many recall the Pistons’ famous walkout after Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals in 1991 against the Bulls. It was regarded as some of the worst sportsmanship the league ever has seen. What's little remembered is the day before after practice Michael Jordan delivering a soliloquy about the Pistons, then down 3-0, and how they were undeserving champions because of the way they played. It's what prompted the Pistons, appropriately or not for Jordan's own questionable sportsmanship, to leave early.

Though it was a team of miscreants — Bill Laimbeer being the worst with shoves in the back when players were airborne — all sorts of nuisances seemingly designed to injure. Isiah Thomas was more subtle, known to step on opposing guards' shoes as they dribbled to loosen the ball.

Of course, Thomas took one of the great blows of the era from Karl Malone, worth 40 stitches, after Thomas had gone after John Stockton. The two Jazz players were known in their era for the not so sneaky elbow, push, grab and whatever was needed. It was a more brutal game then with the likes of Charles Oakley, always a threat with an elbow from nowhere.

Not that it was unusual. Charles Barkley offered his share since he played little defense, otherwise, and perhaps the best were Jeff Ruland and Rick Mahorn, who with the Washington Bullets had maybe the best ever nicknames, McFilthy and McNasty.

The NBA has mostly legislated filty and nasty out of the game so that dirty looks are being penalized now.

Though it's not as if players still can't get away with a few timely whacks.

Probably the worst offender is Seattle's Danny Fortson, who hasn't got much game other than a push or shove, a high or sneaky elbow. Of those players with skill, the player who probably gets in the most cheap shots is Dallas' Jason Terry, most famous for getting suspended in the playoffs last season for punching Michael Finley in the groin in a scramble for the ball. Players loved Terry coming up and feigning innocence, a stance he takes after delivering one of his
more frequent stealthy blows.

Those two are generally regarded as the worst, and Terry's teammate, Josh Howard, has been known to extend a foot in the trip position to break up a fast break now and again. Ron Artest, though not overly dirty, has been known to deliver the high and aggressive elbow with follow through. Alonzo Mourning, likewise, likes to deliver a physical message of his presence, which is more toughness than immoral. His teammate, James Posey, though, will deliver the blindsider, like he did on the Bulls' Kirk Hinrich in last season's playoffs.

Opponents often complain about Chicago's Andres Nocioni, though he is more like Bowen in that he is annoying because he insists on doing anything to stay close.

Dirty? Not much of it anymore, though you can find it if you look carefully.

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