Anthony Bowie

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Anthony Lee Bowie (born November 9, 1963 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American basketball player. He is a former NBA shooting guard, most renowned for his stint with the Orlando Magic. With the Magic, Bowie became one of the top bench players, often stepping in to provide spark and energy, timely baskets, and defensive stops.

Bowie is notorious in the sports world for his infamous triple-double, which was accomplished on March 19, 1996, versus the Detroit Pistons.

[edit] Career

Bowie was selected in the third round of the 1986 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets out of the University of Oklahoma. He bounced around in Europe and played with Pallacanestro Varese, and in several minor leagues before signing his first NBA contract with the San Antonio Spurs. After a season in San Antonio, he joined the team that drafted him in 1989, playing 66 games that season. In 1991, Bowie was signed by the Orlando Magic during a West Coast road trip, and he remained with the team for five seasons. His tenure with the Magic was his most productive. Along with Donald Royal, Bowie provided the Magic with a spark off the bench, and was often used to guard the opponent's top offensive player. He was also good at hitting the jump shot, and could also hit the three-pointer. In his final season in 1996-97, Bowie joined the New York Knicks. He returned to Europe and won Euroleague with Lithuanian team BC Žalgiris in 1999. Then he played in Greece with AEK Athens BC, winning both the Saporta Cup and the Greek Cup in 2000, before retiring from basketball for good. In 2003, Bowie was named head coach of the Bishop Moore High School basketball team, a private school in Orlando.

[edit] The triple-double

Bowie is most remembered for his triple-double, in which he had 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. In the NBA, a triple-double is a rare accomplishment, and even more so for a reserve. In a game versus the Detroit Pistons, with the Magic up big, Bowie realized that he needed a rebound and an assist for the feat. He knew that as a bench player, there probably wouldn't be another opportunity. There were only about four seconds left in the game, and after rebounding a Detroit miss, Bowie immediately called timeout, much to the chagrin of coach Brian Hill. Hill walked away from the huddle in disgust, and let Bowie dictate the play to his teammates. Bowie proceeded to set up a play so that he can catch the inbounds pass, and pass it to a player in a position for the shot.

On the other side, Detroit Pistons coach Doug Collins was also animated, and sensing his opponents' apparent lack of class, decided to pull his players from the game. Since he could not actually bench the players, he ordered them to stand underneath the basket closest to the visitor's locker room. As Collins and his players looked on, Bowie took the inbounds pass, bounced it to a wide open David Vaughn near the basket, and he slammed it home for the tenth assist, and the triple-double. After the dunk, Bowie raced to the opposite end of the floor to apologize to Collins, but he was incredibly irate and wouldn't have any of it, and the Pistons rushed to the locker room.

During the post-game press conference, Brian Hill called the whole incident embarrassing and shameful. Anthony, on the other hand, was excited about the accomplishment.

Nowadays, this incident is always mentioned every time a player has an opportunity to pad statistics for the sake of a personal goal. In 2003, Ricky Davis attempted to shoot at his own basket to complete a rebound for a triple-double.[1] In 2004, Bob Sura of the Atlanta Hawks was denied his third consecutive triple-double by also attempting to shoot a deliberate bad shot in order to quickly retrieve his own rebound.[2]

[edit] External links

• AEK career@ aek.com
• Italian carreer@ legabasket.it