Former San Antonio Spurs forward Bruce Bowen had a reputation as being a "dirty" player when he was in the NBA. Bowen chalked it up to simply tough defense, but he wasn't without his incidents and altercations on the court whenever a player took exception to his brand of defense.

In Game 5 of the Nuggets-Warriors opening round series, Denver was accused of being "dirty" in their defense of Warriors' Stephen Curry. It got to the point where Golden State head coach Mark Jackson felt Denver sent "hit men" after Curry.

Bowen weighed in on whether or not the Nuggets were playing a bit more physical against Curry and in a nutshell, said Denver wasn't dirty with Curry but they were simply trying to limit his effectiveness. The style of defense versus Curry held him to 7-19 shooting, 1-7 from the three-point line, and 15 points.

Denver won Game 5 but is this something the Spurs can do in their series against Curry and his Golden State Warriors? 

Check out what the former Spur had to say and make sure to leave your comments on whether San Antonio should play a very physical game against Steph.

Before the San Antonio Spurs found out who they'll face in the West Semifinals (Golden State) and aside from taking in practice, Tony Parker visited the San Antonio Zoo in his spare time.

From being used as a perch for birds to putting his arm in a hippo's wide-open mouth, it seems Parker has been taking it easy before the second round kicks off Monday.

Nando De Colo's first year with the San Antonio Spurs has been filled with inconsistent minutes, but this is the rookie guard's first year in the NBA playoffs and he seems to be taking in this new experience on a veteran team.

In an interview with Sport24.com, De Colo discusses various topics including the NBA playoffs, Russell Westbrook's injury, the differences between the Western Conference playoff teams, and more.

When asked about the different mentality between the regular season and playoffs as it pertains to intensity, De Colo had a very predictable answer about the Spurs.

Golden State Warriors guard Jarrett Jack refused to focus on a contract extension during the season and instead wanted to focus on the team's success. The good news for the Warriors is that he's been playing extremely well during that stretch, but that may be a curse for them too.

Now with Jack becoming a free agent during the offseason, he's likely to demand a larger contract than the extension the Warriors had in mind. To the Warriors' disadvantage, he's also been receiving interest from other teams in the league, including the San Antonio Spurs.

Jack, who drew interest from multiple teams during the trade deadline, is in the last year of his contract paying him $5 million this season. 

The Golden State Warriors have advanced to the Western Conference Semi-Finals and their reward for defeating the Denver Nuggets is the San Antonio Spurs.

With San Antonio having a week off to prepare and rest for the upcoming round, they'll need a specific game plan and adjustments when they face the Warriors. Game 1 will be this Monday in San Antonio where the Warriors have lost 29-games in a row.

San Antonio will have to make adjustments against Golden State, who play a completely different style of basketball compared to the Spurs' first round foes in the Los Angeles Lakers. These are the 3 keys to the Spurs winning the second round and eliminating the Warriors.

Make the Warriors a 2-point team

With David Lee's injury and the Warriors moving Harrison Barnes as the starting power forward, Golden State's 3-point shooting has made them a dangerous playoff opponent. Barnes' play at the 4 position helps spread the floor for the team and forces opponents to make a decision to play up on him and contest the shot or play back because of his athleticism. He's also helped his teammates get good looks from beyond the arc too with these percentages so far this postseason.

Harrison Barnes 46%

Stephen Curry 42%

After the Phoenix Suns dismissed Lance Blanks from being the team's general manager, there's been an opening and one that's likely to be filled before the NBA Draft. Banks was a member of the San Antonio Spurs' organization from 2000-2005 where he served as a scout and got promoted to director of scouting. He also served as a television analyst during his last years with the organization.

The Suns are interviewing for the open position and they may be looking for a current Spurs official to take over that job.

The Suns plan to have completed interviews with Boston assistant general manager Ryan McDonough, Milwaukee assistant GM Jeff Weltman and San Antonio Spurs assistant GM Scott Layden soon, sources said.

The Nuggets and Warriors series continue and the San Antonio Spurs still wait for which team they will face next in the West Semifinals. So as the Spurs wait patiently, so do my fellow Spurs bloggers and media.

Let's take a look at what is going on at the other San Antonio sites to see how they been spending their time before the Spurs get back on the court next week.

• MVP Texas weighs in on whether Houston should be the next destination for Dwight Howard

• The Big Fundamental throws the kitchen sink at you with some musings ranging from Cory Joseph to Pau Gasol and a beer gut

• Our good friends at News 4 San Antonio have the second round series schedule for the Spurs which kicks off this Monday

On this week's edition of the Spurscast, Trevor Zickgraf and Jose Grijalva join me to talk playoffs. 

The San Antonio Spurs are resting and waiting for the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors to finish their series so we take a look at potential matchups for both of those teams.

We also do a full wrap up of the all the first-round series that haven't been decided yet and make our predictions for who advances on to the second round.

The Spurscast. The original Spurs podcast.

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Music: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour -- Around The Bend

Time and place. 

There is a time and place for everything, we are told, and we should limit ourselves to conversations on certain subject matters to the appropriate times in the appropriate venues. 

That these words, inspired by Jason Collins becoming the first openly gay athlete in the NBA, finally reach you days after the news cycle ran its course following Sports Illustrated breaking the story would suggest I've chosen an inappropriate time. That you are reading them on a website dedicated primarily to covering the San Antonio Spurs would lead some to suggest that I've chosen an inappropriate venue. 

But I wanted to discuss Jason Collins, and I wanted to do so from this platform that has been provided to me to reach all of you. 

What I didn't want to do is offer up some half-baked post for the sake of timeliness, simply because I had not dedicated enough personal time on the matter in the past to provide the fully-fledged thoughts this subject deserves. Others, like ESPN's Kevin Arnovitz--an openly gay sportswriter who covers the game of basketball far better than I ever could--have enough life experience to qualify as experts and you should give them a read. 

Cory Joseph has been impressing so far in the playoffs this season and played above everyone's expectations. When he's not managing the offense off the bench, he's been playing defense against guards and forwards taller than him.

When he was called up by the San Antonio Spurs this past season when Tony Parker got injured, it was believed it was just to fill in a roster spot and not get much playing time behind Patrick Mills, Nando De Colo, and Gary Neal. Instead, Joseph has been leading the pack from those names and he's not looking to slow down.

He's taking advantage of this opportunity since he didn't have that when he first came into the league.

“Your first reaction (going to the minors) is to get a little upset. You want to be playing with your team. But, you want to get minutes. And I understood I was there to learn, be positive and do my best,” Joseph said.