Yao Ming s former teammate Ryan Bowen s basketball story from player to head coach of the Development League

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The most impressive masterpiece of Bowen is the defense of Nowitzki in the first round of the 2004-05 playoffs. At that time, the Mavericks were at their peak. The Rockets' only power forward, Zhu Wan Howard, suffered a heart attack, so Van Gundy had to mention Bowen as the starter and used him to pester Nowitzki to get a miraculous effect. Bowen carried out a desperate front-circling defense against Nowitzki, and chased Nowitzki in every game and ran away and didn't let him pick him up. The ball, Nowitzki made 5 of 19 two-pointers in the first game, 0 of 2 three-pointers, 8 of 2 three-pointers, and 8 of 21 shots in the second game. The Rockets won two away games in a row. At that time, the CCTV host explained the second game and said excitedly that after the second game, he said a statistic. In the history of the NBA playoffs, the team that fell behind 0-2 at home has only appeared twice. The Rockets have entered the second round with one foot. After the second game, the reporter interviewed Nowitzki specifically and asked him what he thought about Bowen's defense. Nowitzki said angrily: "He It's like a fly keeps flying around me."

The Rockets, who have enjoyed the sweetness, continue to use this strategy, but the Mavericks' head coach, General Avery Johnson, is not a good meal. He arranged more pick-and-roll covers for Bowen's defensive characteristics, and Nowitzki began to use the ball to break through and attack. Although Nowitzki's shooting percentage is still low, he relies on the inside to make free throws and score free throws, which makes Bowen's The defensive effect was discounted, and there was another point. At that time, the referee of the law enforcement game Tim Donagy bet on his own. He deliberately favored the Mavericks in the law enforcement game. The Rockets themselves had no other offensive firepower except Yao and McGrady. Although Nowitzki was affected, there were stars such as Starkhouse, Terry, Josh Howard, Finley and other stars who performed in turn were performed. In the end, the Mavericks successfully turned the tables. In the seventh game, the Mavericks stared at McGrady to defeat the Rockets with a big score. McGrady burst into tears, and all Rocket fans were heartbroken.

Bowen averaged 18 minutes per game in that round of series, scoring 2.6 points per game. His role on the court cannot be measured simply by data. There is a technical statistics. In the seven games between the Rockets and the Mavericks, Nowitzki shot a total of 128 shots, hitting only 45 goals, with a shooting percentage of only 35.1%. In the previous regular season, Nowitzki's shooting percentage reached 45.9%, which made him lose the level so much and has a lot to do with Bowen's defensive restrictions.

After the end of the 2005-06 season, Bowen underwent a hip surgery and eventually missed the training camp due to injury. He then left the Rockets and played in the overseas league in 2006-07 season. He played for two teams, including Luis Scola's parent team Tao Seramika and Israel's Inoni Naharia, who averaged 4.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. In 2007, it was shown that the Nessoda Timberwolves participated in the summer league, averaging 5.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. In 2007, he joined the New Orleans Hornets for 53 appearances (of which 4 starts), with an average of 12.5 minutes of playing time, he was able to contribute 2.2 points and 1.9 rebounds. At that time, the peak of the combination of Queen Bee Chris Paul, Tyson Chandler and David West. Bowen also played 9 times in the playoffs. Fans dubbed him a famous Rockets. In the 2009-10 season, Bowen played a game for the Thunder, which was also a farewell battle for his NBA career. In the game against the Lakers on November 22, 2009, he played for 8 minutes, scored 4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 steal, and was later cut by the Thunder.

Bowen played a total of 507 games in his entire NBA career, averaging 12.8 minutes per game, contributing 2.6 points and 2.1 rebounds.

After retiring in 2010, Bowen still did not leave basketball. He first returned to his alma mater, the University of Iowa, served as a video analyst and administrative assistant. In 2011, he joined the Denver Nuggets coaching staff and George Carl's assistant. In 2013, he became the Kings assistant coach and the head of the player development department, and became a partner with Mike Malone. In 2015, Mike Malone joined the Nuggets from the Kings. He strongly invited Bowen to join his coaching team. Since then, the two have established a tacit cooperative relationship. Bowen is responsible for the training of inside players in the team. Jokic gradually became an MVP-level star under his guidance. I think he will definitely share many experiences of his partnering with Yao Ming when training Jokic. After coach Ma Long left the team, Bowen was not affected. Now he will join the G League and stand alone. I hope that one day he will see him in the NBA arena. It can be said that Bowen has devoted half of his life to the basketball career. This kind of ordinary player has also left his own name in the NBA through hard work. His professional attitude and spirit are worth learning from all players, because it is ordinary, so extraordinary.