Bowen Will Try to Stop Allen

Ray Allen took a seat on a water bucket after practice Thursday, and it wasn’t long before he was asked about Bruce Bowen.

“It’s going to be a key matchup, definitely,” Allen said as the Seattle SuperSonics prepared to play the San Antonio Spurs.

But it’s actually so much more.

Making the showdown between one of the NBA’s best shooters and best defenders even more interesting is Allen’s distaste for Bowen, a former friend.

The Western Conference semifinal series starts Sunday in San Antonio.

Allen averaged 32.4 points as the Seattle SuperSonics eliminated Sacramento in five games, but Bowen has been the one defender who most flummoxes Seattle’s five-time All-Star guard. He stays on Allen’s hip like a parasite every time they play, needling his way into Allen’s head.

“It’s the stuff he does that referees don’t see,” Allen said. “He pulls on you. He grabs you. He hits your elbow when you shoot. When you go to the basket, he’ll shove you and then he’ll fall.

“Just stuff like that that’s real annoying. That’s not really basketball.”

Bowen has always maintained he’s simply doing his job by stopping the other team’s best offensive player. He’s been named to the NBA’s last four All-Defensive Teams, and a fifth appearance should be a lock when the award is announced next week.

“They have one of the hottest players in the league right now with Ray Allen,” Bowen said after the Spurs eliminated Denver on Wednesday. “We will have to come up with a good game plan to stop them.”

Bowen has done it before.

After an especially frustrating 3-for-12 shooting performance against the Spurs in February 2004, Allen was angry in the locker room.

He said he wanted to fight Bowen and accused him of playing “sissy basketball.”

The last time they squared off, a win by the Spurs on March 30, Allen iced his thumb afterward and implied Bowen had injured him during a 6-for-17 night. But for Seattle to advance, Allen knows he’ll just have to ignore his nemesis.

“Oddly enough, Bruce used to be a good friend of mine -- used to be,” Allen said. “We used to hang out in the summertime until he started playing a brand new brand of basketball.”

Sonics coach Nate McMillan has no concerns about the matchup getting ugly. He praised Bowen’s aggression and ability to avoid screens.

“Ray will be OK,” McMillan said. “Ray has played against him a number of times and knows what he wants to do. And we know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to set screens. We’ve got to get him open, just as we did in this last series.”

Allen has momentum. He scored 75 points and shot 60 percent from the field over the final two games against Sacramento, which included an exciting 45-point scoring effort on the road in Game 4.

“He’s the guy,” San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili said. “He’s playing great right now. We’re going to have to take care of him and guard him tough. Bruce will be guarding him, but it will have to be a team effort.”

The Spurs are certain to gear their defense to stop Allen, much as they did against Carmelo Anthony in the first round.

“I don’t foresee it being as easy as it was before,” Allen said. “We’re going to have to work.”