I’m basically saying the same thing as you, but with less Hornets love. Pop has played Bowen on Paul to limited results. Pop wouldn’t even attempt to guard Paul with Udoka. That’s a doomed experiment.

George Hill and Tony Parker are Pop’s best bet against Paul.

Bowen and Udoka can both stop Peja at about the same level, however. Imagine how dangerous my Hornets actually would be if they had a third scorer who could actually score when a defense pays attention to them.

You’re a big Ime Udoka fan, I assume.

Last season, I preferred Bowen and Barry to Udoka. I’d prefer Bowen to Udoka this year. But I think that the loss to the Lakers was because a) Ginobili was injured and b) L.A. is very good. I know you wouldn’t disagree–those two things are part of your roster of “specific reasons,” I trust. To my mind, those two reasons cast such a big shadow that all other considerations are pointless.

Btw: going small against the Mavs did backfire; so did Pop’s insistence of playing Nick Van Exel over Beno. But a dumb Ginobili foul lost that series. It also cost the Spurs a 5th ring. You know San Antonio would have pounded Miami.

One of the specific reasons that the Spurs lost to the Lakers last season was the ill-advised decision Pop made to give some of Bowen’s past MP to Udoka. Despite the fact that Ime can indeed hit an occasional shot that the Karate Kid cannot … it is simply a ridiculous decision by an otherwise first-rate coach to favour Udoka over Bowen, regardless what position either man is asked to check. BB isn’t as good as he once was … but, he is still a vastly superior player to IU; and, it isn’t even close. Basketball is played in three distinct phases [i.e. Defense, Offense and Rebounding] and Bowen totally out-classes Udoka in 2 of those 3. When considering that Udoka is far from being an offensive force, it’s a total brain cramp by Pop to go with anybody other than Mr. Bowen as his defensive/rebounding stopper alongside of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, when the chips are down.

In addition, Pop also screwed last season when he went with Udoka over Brent Barry, another highly serviceable player. Every minute that Udoka played during last year’s post-season run by the Spurs could/would have been better utilised by either one of Bowen or Barry, who were far superior match-ups with the Lakers’ bench personnel.

When Pop made the ill-fated decision to go “small” versus the Mavs a few seasons back and again last season when he chose Udoka over either Bowen or Barry for way too many minutes vs New Orleans and then the Lakers, the Spurs coach was primarily responsible for San Antonio being eliminated from the post-season.

PS. That said … know, as well, that I think Gregg Popovich is one of the best coaches in the history of the NBA. No one’s perfect; and that includes Pop.

I think there is something to that theory–in general, I think Pop plays possum against probable playoff opponents. See the LJ Ellis comment in the Other People post for more on this. But this isn’t a one game aberration. Pop has been slowly phasing Bowen out all season.

The other (near) DNP-CD of the season came on March 14. The only thing that prevented a DNP in that came was Pop’s final possession defensive substitution of Bruce Bowen (ice cold off the bench). And Bowen played sturdy D on that play. I don’t think Pop would hesitate to bring Bowen off the bench if he thought it would help. Remember, too, that Bowen’s most effective D against the Hornets is usually against Peja. It may be that Pop did not use Bowen because there wasn’t a clear matchup to exploit—in the same way that he prefers Udoka on Artest when the Spurs play the Rockets.

Udoka better step it up because he just replaced one of the most loved and integral parts of 3 championships.

(Assuming Pop has decided Bowen is done.)