Let's Get Physical

Goateed, soft-spoken and even-tempered, San Antonio Spurs small forward Bruce Bowen has the stolid aspect of a jazz bassist. Yet in recent NBA seasons opponents have singled out the 6'7", 200-pound Bowen as--let's not put too fine a point on it--a thug. "Nothing could be further from the truth," he says, flashing an enigmatic smile befitting either a cool musician or a cold-blooded enforcer. � While the postseason is the time when superstars such as Tim Duncan , Shaquille O'Neal and Tracy McGrady continue down their paths to the Hall of Fame, it is also time for bruisers such as Bowen to emerge from the background and make their marks (sometimes literally). Call them the Disrupters: Their unsung handiwork can change the flow of a game and the outcome of a series. "The pretty stuff makes the highlights," says Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson , "but it's the guys who do the down-and-dirty work who can make or break a team."

The Nuggets, and forward Carmelo Anthony in particular, felt the impact of two such scrappers in Game 3 of their first-round Western Conference playoff showdown with the Spurs last Saturday in Denver . When Anthony wasn't getting banged and badgered by Bowen, he was getting jammed and jostled by swingman Manu Ginobili , whose style, as disgruntled Nuggets coach George Karl described it, is "put your head down and run into people." Anthony didn't play badly, but each of his 19 points was a struggle. With 22 seconds left and San Antonio 's 86-78 victory and a 2-1 series lead sealed, he whacked Ginobili with a forearm, drawing a flagrant foul and an ejection.

"We may have gotten into his head a little," said Bowen. There was that smile again.

While Bowen had a typical nonoffensive night (three shots, five points), Ginobili pinballed his way to a game-high 32 points. Even though he has a sweet lefty jumper and a variegated array of moves to the hoop, it is Ginobili's willingness to sweep the floor with his headlong dives and bounce off opponents (or teammates) that gives him his identity. In a salute to Ginobili's style and Argentine heritage, Spurs guard Brett Barry has christened him El Contusi�n.

It is the perfect postseason nickname. Something changes when the phrase best of seven is in the air. The final six weeks of the regular season are--except for a stray team or two trying to grab an eighth seed--a sleepwalk to the finish line. But when the playoffs start, feet get lighter, elbows sharper, shoulders more forcefully placed. The in-the-paint bangers, loose-ball retrievers, back-screen setters and pick-and-roll thwarters make their presence felt. Backup big man Michael Ruffin , by his own account, has "never ever had a play called for him" during five seasons, but there he was last Saturday in Washington , making an early follow-up dunk that set the tone for the customarily soft Wizards in their 117-99 Game 3 defeat of the Chicago Bulls . "One small play can cost you a game and turn a series around," says Miami Heat power forward Udonis Haslem . "If you have an opportunity to make a play, do one of those little things, you'd better take advantage of it."

Or as Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy puts it, "At this time of year, even the little things are big things." That was confirmed, for good and ill, in Houston 's showdown with the Mavericks. In Games 1 and 2, the pesky defense of forward Ryan Bowen against Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki helped the Rockets pull out a pair of road wins. (It also earned the 6'9" Bowen, who had made just six starts and averaged all of 9.2 minutes during the season, a new handle: the Germanator.) But in Game 4 on Saturday in Houston , a Mavericks role player trumped the Rockets' star. Though McGrady scored a game-high 36 points, he lost possession with 11.4 seconds remaining when small forward Josh Howard --the Mavs' one true disrupter--knocked the ball out of his hands, keying a 97-93 series-tying victory. "That kid is special," Dallas swingman Michael Finley said of Howard . "He doesn't always wow you, but he's got that knack for making game-changing plays at both ends."

The little things are often delivered in a forceful way, for pure muscle is a major part of playoff basketball. That's why nasty-by-nature players have an advantage in the postseason, a prime example being Bulls rookie forward Andr�s Nocioni , whose energy will be critical if Chicago is to get past Washington , which squared the series with a 106-99 Game 4 win on Monday night. Rougher than Ruffin and bigger (but less skilled) than his countryman Ginobili, the 6'7", 225-pound Nocioni never goes around someone he can go through--and never steps aside if he can make someone go through him: Drawing offensive fouls is one of his specialties. "Noche positions his body, and he takes the hit, a lot of them directly in the middle of his chest, which is always a charge," says Bulls coach Scott Skiles . "Take that same hit in either shoulder, that's a block."

It's hard to say whether Nocioni thinks he plays dirty. "In Europe , I play like this all year and I never have problem," Nocioni says with disingenuousness made charming at least in part by his fractured English. "Here, I don't know why the people don't like my style. I try to defend strong. I try to get the rebounds. But some people aren't happy for this. It's a different style than most people. Maybe it's too hard for some people."

Sonics 6'8" forward Reggie Evans is too hard for some people also, though he is undersized for a power rebounder. After Seattle 's first three games against Sacramento , Kings coach Rick Adelman filed an official complaint to the league about what he considered the Sonics' overly physical play. In helping Seattle to a 3-1 series lead, it was no surprise that Evans was throwing his 245 pounds around at both ends of the floor. When he goes for an offensive rebound, instead of trying to slither around the box-out, he latches on to his opponent's midsection, using one hand to keep him grounded while reaching for the board with the other. On the defensive end he sprints to the basket, carves out space with his butt, then spreads his stance to create more room. "I kind of sit back in the woods," says Evans , "just waiting for something to happen."

The best disrupters do the subtle things physically and, sometimes, the physical things subtly. Such a warrior is 14-year veteran Dale Davis , whose fierce play helped the Indiana Pacers stay even at 2--all in a bruising series with the Boston Celtics . Davis goes almost unnoticed by fans during a game--except when one of his rare shots clangs off the rim--but not by his teammates and coaches, who were delighted when he returned to Indiana from New Orleans in March. "Dale has been one of the main reasons this team has taken off," says guard Reggie Miller . He should know, for more often than not it is Davis who clears the way for a Miller jumper. Most fans don't look at setting a pick at all, but Davis studies it; he reads not only what Miller does ("He may take two steps left, two steps right, circle around and then come back up," Davis says) but also what the guy he's picking does, then he adjusts accordingly. And, unlike many of his oversized peers, he rarely gets called for an offensive foul.