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<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>By Johnny Ludden <br>
San Antonio Express-News <br>
Web Posted : 11/10/2002 12:00 AM </strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <br>
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David Robinson didn't see the projectile leave Bonzi Wells' mouth. But he heard it.<br>
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David Robinson and the Spurs shot 39 percent from the field, while the Blazers hit 51 percent. Entering the game, the Spurs were holding opponents to 37-percent shooting.<br>
William Luther/Express-News<br>
Timberwolves at Spurs<br>
When: Monday, 7:30 p.m.<br>
Where: @Spurs<br>
TV, Radio: FSSW, WOAI-AM & KCOR-AM<br>
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More Spurs-Blazers coverage<br>
• Game box<br>
• Quarter-by-Quarter recap<br>
• Spurs notebook<br>
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NBA coverage<br>
• Glenn Rogers: Scoring becomes offensive <br>
• Mavericks maintain perfection<br>
• Pacers trounce Raptors in third<br>
• NBA players of the week<br>
• NBA notebook<br>
• Dream career ends where it all began<br>
• The week ahead<br>
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Dale Davis and the Trail Blazers gave the Spurs and Tim Duncan trouble, as the San Antonio star had only 16 points and six rebounds in the loss. Duncan took only two shots after halftime. <br>
William Luther/Express-News<br>
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When he saw saliva dripping off Danny Ferry, Robinson didn't need his math degree to put two and two together.<br>
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"It was pretty straight forward after that," Robinson said. "That was some pretty tasteless stuff." <br>
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Unfortunately for the Spurs, their aim wasn't nearly as good as Wells'. In a game that ended with Ferry claiming Wells spit in his face, the Spurs missed 43 of 70 shots and committed 19 turnovers as Portland rolled to a 95-76 victory Saturday night at the SBC Center.<br>
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"We got our behinds kicked and we got spit on," Malik Rose said. "But that's OK, we ain't dead. We'll be back." <br>
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The loss was the Spurs' worst since they fell 112-88 on Feb. 23 last season to Minnesota at the Alamodome. A soldout crowd of 18,781 was on hand for Saturday's blowout, but few — if any — people knew what caused the fourth-quarter dustup between Ferry and Wells until after the game.<br>
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According to the Spurs, Wells spit on Ferry midway through the final quarter after the Trail Blazers opened up a 16-point lead. The officials didn't see the incident and Ferry was hit with a technical when he started jawing with Wells.<br>
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"The next time down the floor," Ferry was overheard telling Wells, "I'm going to hit you."<br>
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Ferry continued to yell at Wells after the technical and was called for a personal foul on him five second later. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told Ferry to cool down, then pulled him out of the game. The two had a heated exchange on the sideline with Ferry pleading with Popovich to leave him on the floor so he could retaliate.<br>
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"It's really a shame when you have somebody that decides the best way to compete is to spit on somebody else," said Popovich, who discussed the incident with Portland coach Maurice Cheeks after the game. "In that sense I think Bonzi Wells really showed a lack of class spitting on another player. I can't imagine why there's any room for that any place in the game. Go knock somebody, play your ass off, but that's absolutely ridiculous." <br>
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Wells denied he spit on Ferry.<br>
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"I don't know what's up with Danny Ferry; I think he's just got a problem with me," said Wells, who was involved in altercation with Ferry last season. "I don't have no problem with Danny Ferry. I think he's a good guy and I don't know why he's got it in for me. <br>
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"I think he's just one of those guys who wants to go out there to make me lose my head a little. This is my fifth year, so I guess I'm a little smarter now to stay out of that stuff."<br>
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Though Ferry — who had left the locker room by the time the media was allowed in — was upset he didn't get a chance to even matters with Wells, the Spurs believed Popovich was wise to get him off the court.<br>
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"We're short as it is," Rose said. "We have guys banged up and the guys we have playing, they're not too healthy. We just couldn't lose another guy for two or three more games. <br>
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"I think Pop made the right decision. But that's a difficult pill for Danny to swallow."<br>
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Said Steve Kerr: "Danny was mad at himself that he didn't just go after (Wells) right there."<br>
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The incident overshadowed a loss in which the Spurs allowed a Blazers' team that was 2-4 entering Saturday to shoot 51.4 percent. Tim Duncan was held to 16 points and six rebounds.<br>
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"Half the time we couldn't even execute an out of bounds play," Robinson said. "We just made stupid mistakes.<br>
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"This fuels up a rivalry. We'll see them three more times and the games will be spirited."<br>
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jludden@express-news.net<br>
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11/10/2002 <br>
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