Sonics Roll With Spurs' `Punch' -- Brickowski Angers Robinson

A couple of hours before sticking the biggest needle possible into the San Antonio Spurs, Frank Brickowski was asked if, over time, he'd uncovered any secrets about a former teammate.

The veteran SuperSonic big man and David Robinson go way back in San Antonio. Searching his memory banks for a response, Brickowski flashed a mischievous grin, his goatee somehow conveying an even more diabolical nature to what he was thinking.

"David's a squeaky clean guy, you know," Brickowski said.

And, during the Sonics' 112-100 victory at KeyArena last night, Brickowski pushed last season's league MVP to the limits of his squeaky cleanliness.

In doing so, Brickowski managed to instigate one of the more bizarre sequences of this young, replacement-refereed season. After a six-minute delay with 3:17 remaining in the third quarter, the Spurs had lost Robinson to a punching foul and Coach Bob Hill to two quick-triggered technical fouls.

The sequence, while having little real effect on the outcome of the game, did inspire some interesting conspiracy theories.

"I saw it coming," the Spurs' Avery Johnson said. "They took Ervin Johnson out of the starting lineup and put Brickowski in. I know George (Karl). I know what he was trying to do. And it worked. Give him credit."

Brickowski's methodology is well-known.

"Brick is good at bringing out the worst in people," said Sonic teammate Hersey Hawkins, who had a team-high 27 points. "When you draw out the worst in David Robinson, you're doing something."

Indeed. Last night's was only the second career ejection for Robinson, one of the most respected and gentlemanly players in the game.

Brickowski said he and Robinson had gotten their arms tangled. While getting untangled, Robinson may have flipped out an arm. Brickowski said Robinson did not connect.

"I don't think David intentionally threw a punch or elbow at my head," Brickowski said. "It very easily could have looked like it. I think they (referees) made the right call."

Robinson's coach disagreed.

"David Robinson has never punched anyone in his life," Hill said. "He said to me . . . that he didn't punch anybody. When you know him, that's the truth. He (referee Mike Lauerman) made an error. A big, big error."

Amid the third-quarter mayhem, Hill and Lauerman were discussing Robinson's ejection when Karl approached to ask about the delay. Then the two coaches got into it.

"Just the two of us acting like a couple of two-year-olds," Hill said.

There was some irony in how the whole, ugly mess may have come about.

Robinson was a handful at the beginning of the game and, in an attempt to establish position against the star center on the blocks, Brickowski was pinned with three fouls during the first 3 1/2 minutes of the game. Accustomed to having fouls called upon contact, Robinson likely became frustrated after the referees allowed the game to loosen more and more as it progressed.

In the meantime, Shawn Kemp was switched defensively to cover Robinson in the second quarter, and he helped hold the Spur center without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes.

"I think it's more frustrating when you think you're getting fouled and it's not being called," said Kemp, who had 24 points. "I think that was the source of David's frustration."

If Robinson's ejection was premeditated on the Sonics' part, it almost backfired. The Sonics were leading comfortably, 77-64, when the hijinks erupted. Later, after leading by as many as 17, they had to survive an 11-0 Spur onslaught fueled by three Chuck Person three-pointers that opened the fourth quarter.

Long after the dust had settled, Brickowski was asked if he felt he was doing his job if he simply got the opposing center ejected every night.

After mustering the most innocent face he could, Brickowski said, "I take that to mean that I'm establishing my presence down low. If I'm doing that, then, yes, I'm doing my job."