Spurs Dig In, Down Blazers

The San Antonio Spurs are making the kind of late-season surge that started their march toward the 1999 championship.

The Portland Trail Blazers, meanwhile, are showing signs of self-destructing, and once again they're facing questions about Rasheed Wallace and his uncontrollable anger.

Derek Anderson scored 29 points and Tim Duncan had 16 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs used a 23-6 run at the start of the third quarter to rout the Portland Trail Blazers 93-79 Thursday night.

"These are the kinds of games that define you, especially down the stretch," said Duncan, who also had 16 points on 4-of-16 shooting and six assists. "You've got to win on the road to be able to win in the playoffs."

David Robinson added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs, who have won 19 of 23 games and 10 of 12 on the road. San Antonio finishes its four-game, five-day West Coast trip against the Los Angles Lakers on Friday night.

Two years ago, the Spurs won 12 of their last 13 regular-season games, including four of five on the road. During that stretch, they beat Portland three times, Utah twice and the Lakers once.

Bonzi Wells scored 16 points to lead the Blazers who were coming off a humiliating home loss to Vancouver on Tuesday night.

Rasheed Wallace, who did not start because he went to the wrong place for the shootaround and was late, was ejected for the second straight game and for the fourth time in his last 13 games.

"It's a major problem," said Portland's Detlef Schrempf. "I think it should have been addressed a long time ago, but it hasn't been. (Now) it's too late."

"We've got to find a way to be more composed, and we've got to find a way to keep (Wallace) in the game," Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "I don't have the answer. I keep looking for it and looking for it."

Wallace, who had only nine points and five rebounds, was in a bad mood all game long because of foul trouble, and referee Steve Javie finally had enough of his arguing. Javie issued two technicals to Wallace, the second coming with 4:35 to play after Wallace already had fouled out.

Wallace pushed his league lead in technicals to 36, two shy of the record he set last season. He has 11 technicals in his last 13 games.

Moments after Wallace's ejection, Wells and San Antonio's Terry Porter were tossed for a dispute. It was the first ejection of Porter's career, spanning 1,181 games.

The latest showdown between two of the West's best teams further jumbled the tight playoff race in the conference: The Spurs (42-19) moved within a half-game of Utah for the Midwest Division lead.

Meanwhile, Portland (42-20) fell from second-best in the conference to fifth. The Blazers are now a half-game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for first place in the Pacific Division and percentage points behind Sacramento.

"We're all beating each other up, and it's going to change drastically day to day and week to week," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

The Spurs hurt Portland badly with second- and third-chance baskets, getting 10 offensive rebounds in the second quarter alone, compared with two for the Blazers.

Anderson had 15 of his points in the third period, and the Spurs outscored the Blazers 27-14.

It was a complete reversal from the teams' first meeting on Feb. 27. Portland overcame an 11-point halftime deficit in that game by outscoring the Spurs 33-16 in the third. The Blazers went on to win by eight.

San Antonio led by nine at the half Thursday night and blew the Blazers off their own floor in the next nine minutes. After Damon Stoudamire's jumper to start the period, the Spurs went on an 11-0 run, with Danny Ferry scoring five.

Scottie Pippen hit a 3-pointer to stop the run, but two 3s from Anderson, and a free throw by Duncan, capped an 12-4 spurt to push the lead to 74-48 with 3:04 left.

"It was a real focus for us coming out of the locker room, to not come out flat like we did last game and let them back into it," Duncan said.

San Antonio missed 13 of its first 14 shots in the fourth, letting the Blazers get within 80-67. But Wallace's tantrum unraveled the comeback.

Notes