OPINION

By Michael Wilbon

Columnist

updated 4:57 p.m. ET June 9, 2007

Michael Wilbon Columnist

SAN ANTONIO - The tale-of-the-tape is of no use. Bruce Bowen is one inch shorter than LeBron James, 40 pounds lighter, 13 years older. Bowen doesn't appear to have a single athletic attribute working in his favor. The matchup, physically, seems to be a mismatch. Yet, the story of the great LeBron missing 12 of 16 shots and scoring only 14 points in Game 1 of the NBA Finals begins with Bowen.

Yes, Bowen has backup, so much so that it's like those cellphone commercials; Bowen has a network backing him up, one that includes essentially the entire Spurs team. Still, Round 1 of the Finals true heavyweight matchup went to Bowen. As Tim Duncan said after San Antonio's Game 1 victory Thursday night: "Our coaches do a great job of putting a game plan together, and if we're able to stick to it we do a pretty good job of containing people. It helps a little bit to have somebody like Bruce. He's guarded every position throughout the playoffs, and he's done a great job with it. So a lot of credit to him."

It's impossible to talk about the Spurs without starting with the Big Three of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. But it's Bowen who has the dirtiest job. Spurs assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo calls Bowen's willingness to guard the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash and now LeBron "critical to our success."

"Bruce wouldn't play him 45 minutes," Carlesimo continued, "but he will be on LeBron the vast majority of the time. He can't stop him; nobody can. But with Bruce leading the way, we can make LeBron work, make it harder for him to get his point. We can't let him get out in transition, can't let him get a ton of free throws, can't let him be out on three-on-two and two-one-one breaks. If we do, forget it, because at that point you can't do anything with him. If he's going to get 35 make him do it by taking more shots than he'd like to take."

So Bowen's assignment is to effectively harass the man who turned in, just two games ago, one of the great playoff performances ever. Do hand-to-hand combat with the most explosive offensive force in basketball in the world. And though there is network backup, Bowen has to play as if there isn't. "If I rely on Tim [Duncan] and LeBron gets past me, now it's LeBron with a full head of steam against Tim. It's a bad situation for Tim. Anytime a big man is dealing with a guy coming at him with a full head of steam, it's always difficult."

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The Pistons, renowned for their defense, couldn't do late in the Eastern Conference finals what Bowen did in Game 1. Bowen will tell you he didn't do it either, that LeBron simply had an off night. Bowen isn't into fist-pumping, isn't going to pound his chest or pop his jersey. "He didn't have a 48-point night and I'm happy with that," Bowen said afterward.

His reward for forcing LeBron into 0-for-7 shooting the first half, for holding down the Golden Child in his first ever NBA Finals game is to do it again Sunday in Game 2. "It's not something you can be happy with at this point," Bowen said, "because at this time of the year it's about how you react to victories."

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Bowen never cracked a smile publicly, probably not in the locker room either. The Spurs always have what Coach Gregg Popovich calls "appropriate fear."

The most impressive thing about LeBron immediately after the game and Friday morning is that he seemed to have such a tight grasp on what happened and what has to happen differently if Cleveland is to avoid falling in a hole in this series. Asked how much of his miserable shooting was Bowen's defense and how much was his almost passive play, LeBron said: "Some of it was me, and some of it was the defense they put on me. It was definitely crowded. They did a great job of shrinking the floor. If I went by [Bowen], another guy stepped up, something I'm going to have to make an adjustment for in Game 2. I'll definitely be ready to counter some of the things they did defensively. The six turnovers was uncharacteristic of me in the postseason. [I] tried to force a lot of passes in there that looked open at times but really wasn't. I have to play better."

So, now the battle between Bowen and LeBron is really on. Cleveland Coach Mike Brown and his staff have to spend the hours remaining before Game 2 creating ways to get LeBron a foot of space to operate in. The Cavaliers have to set better screens, get the ball to LeBron in post-up position, get somebody else on the ball and let LeBron move more without it. And LeBron has to play against the Spurs with the same kind of rage he used against the Pistons. That means splitting double-teams, and going harder and more frequently to the basket, even when he winds up passing off to teammates.

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