Armchair Archaeologist: [Kings] Bonzi the Barbarian (1)

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

[Kings] Bonzi the Barbarian (1)

Before welcome him with open arms (although many of the fans are still busy crying about the loss of Greg Ostertag...oh well), guess it won't hurt to give this Bonzi guy a little bit of background check...Or it will.

Like what they said in Memphis: Out with the bad, in with the good.
(or exactly the opposite?)

Wells, Trail Blazers spit out Spurs

San Antonio Express-News

By Johnny Ludden

Web Posted : 11/10/2002 12:00 AM

David Robinson didn't see the projectile leave Bonzi Wells' mouth. But he heard it.

When he saw saliva dripping off Danny Ferry, Robinson didn't need his math degree to put two and two together.

"It was pretty straight forward after that," Robinson said. "That was some pretty tasteless stuff."

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.

"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."

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.

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.

"The next time down the floor," Ferry was overheard telling Wells, "I'm going to hit you."

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.

"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."

Wells denied he spit on Ferry.

"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.

"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."

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.

"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.

"I think Pop made the right decision. But that's a difficult pill for Danny to swallow."

Said Steve Kerr: "Danny was mad at himself that he didn't just go after (Wells) right there."

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.

"Half the time we couldn't even execute an out of bounds play," Robinson said. "We just made stupid mistakes.

"This fuels up a rivalry. We'll see them three more times and the games will be spirited."