[orangedays]

Horry docked pair of games

Web Posted: 03/04/2006 12:47 AM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer

It didn't take long for Robert Horry's cell phone to start filling with messages Friday morning. Big Shot Rob, apparently, had earned a new nickname.

"Everyone was calling me Mike Tyson," Horry said.

Horry's nibble — or gumming, depending on who you ask — of Dallas guard Jerry Stackhouse on Thursday night also earned him something else: a suspension.

The incident occurred with 1:02 remaining in the Spurs' 98-89 victory over the Mavericks after Horry and Stackhouse became entangled near Dallas' basket. Stackhouse appeared to shove his forearm into the face of Horry, who clamped his mouth around Stackhouse's arm.

Unlike Tyson, who chomped off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear in a 1997 heavyweight fight, Horry said he never bit Stackhouse.

"When you haven't been playing, you have a lot of emotion and stuff," said Horry, who was appearing in his first game in nearly three weeks. "I almost reverted back to my old days when you're in the schoolyard fighting with somebody. They grab you around the neck, so you just get out the best way you can.

"He had his arm around my shoulder, and I was trying to get loose. It was like, 'Let me go, or I'm going to bite you.' So he let me go."

*ahem*