Benjamin Again at Center of Clippers’ Problems in 106-100 Loss

In a war of the have-nots in the National Basketball Assn. here Tuesday night, the Clippers lost to the Phoenix Suns, 106-100. That seemed to translate to the Clippers having not as much as the Suns, which is a little like losing a cooking contest to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Going into the game, these were two teams of destiny. Both were destined to drive their fans right out of the seats and into a hockey game, or something almost as drastic. The Suns had lost 10 in a row, the Clippers 6. The Clippers had a 10-32 record and the Suns 13-29 at tip-off time.

But from this potentially depressing setting rose a game of NBA quality, albeit not the Celtics and the Lakers in playoff Game Seven. And basically, in a hard-played and relatively intense contest, the outcome was decided by one glaring have-not: The Clippers have not a center.

Oh, they start one named Benoit Benjamin, a young man of 23 who plays somewhere between 17 and 18. He appears to be physically equipped, standing 7 feet and weighing 255 pounds. It is other areas that seem to be lacking.

Tuesday night against the Suns was to be an excellent opportunity for the much-maligned youngster to show some signs of growth. He was facing a team that basically would go without a true center. James Edwards was out with an injury and Larry Nance and Armon Gilliam would get the call for Phoenix. They shared the duties because neither is really equipped to go it alone in that position. Gilliam is muscular enough, but only 6-9. Nance is 6-10, but not muscular enough.

So this was Benjamin’s chance to make hay. Or at least some progress.

Instead, he turned in a 10-point, 5-rebound performance while Nance and Gilliam played well. And when the game came down to its crucial moments, Benjamin was nowhere to be found, unless you happened to be looking at the bench.

Because the game plan established by Clipper Coach Gene Shue and his assistant, Don Casey, revolved around taking advantage of the Suns’ no center predicament, it was not hard to ascertain afterward how well Benjamin had executed that game plan. Asked about it, Shue and Casey responded with rolled eyes and bites of their tongues. The Clipper policy has been, all along, to be gentle with Ben and wait for him to develop. One wonders if Shue and Casey will live that long.

The crucial time for Benjamin really began with the Clippers holding a 91- 85 lead in the fourth period. Up to then, Benjamin had played little, but when he had played, it had been badly. Still, his team was winning and he had a chance to come through in the clutch.

At this point, he took the ball at the top of the key, looked inside and zipped a dazzling pass to Jay Humphries. The problem was, Humphries plays for the Suns.

Humphries quickly got the ball downcourt to Gilliam, who was supposed to be guarded by Benjamin, but who wasn’t. That made it 91-87. Next time down the court, a teammate passed neatly inside to Benjamin, who dropped the ball. It went quickly downcourt to, you guessed it, Gilliam, and the scored quickly was 91-89.

Shortly thereafter, Shue’s clock struck for Big Ben and he spent the rest of the game on the bench. Which meant that, at the key point of the game, after the Suns returned from a timeout huddle and the score tied at 97-97, Benjamin wasn’t around when the ball swung neatly to Gilliam for a short base-line jumper over an outmanned Earl Cureton, who shouldn’t have even had to face a stronger player such as Gilliam at that moment.

Gilliam sank his shot and the Suns never trailed again.

Gilliam, asked afterward who was the toughest player he faced in that situation, said, “Buck Williams (of the New Jersey Nets) is all over me on that type of thing.” And asked if the Clippers had anybody approaching Williams’ ability in that regard, he responded with a wide smile.

The Clippers stayed in the game--as a matter of fact led by as much as 14 points in the second period--much on the strength of a superb game by Quintin Dailey. He had his Clipper high scoring game with 33 points, including 12 of 17 shots from the floor.

“Quintin just had one of those nights where he had a feel for the ball,” Shue said. And Shue took great advantage of that, going to him repeatedly during the game on match-up situations.

The game also marked the debut of former Celtic Greg Kite, a 6-11 center who, despite being in his first game since Dec. 4 and despite having practiced only once with the Clippers, still played 18 minutes and contributed with good picks and hustle throughout.

“I thought he played well,” Shue said. “We brought him here to set screens and run and improve his offense, and he got a good start on that tonight.”

Clipper Notes

Clipper starter Joe Wolf injured his left hamstring muscle early in the second half and played no more. No immediate word on the severity of the injury. . . . The Suns’ Gorilla, a man dressed up to entertain fans at home Suns’ games during pauses in the action, had a nice moment late in the game. The Suns’ Larry Nance had just made a key basket and a timeout was called. The Gorilla ran onto the floor and tore that day’s Phoenix Gazette sports section into hundreds of little pieces. The section had a big story about Nance, headlined, in huge dark letters: Trade Bait . The game officials were Ed T. Rush and Eddie F. Rush. One of them called a technical on Clipper Coach Gene Shue late in the game, meaning that he was certainly in no hurry to praise them afterward. Shue called one of the key plays of the game the Suns’ three-pointer by Jeff Hornacek at the buzzer ending the first half. The Clippers got fouled up on defense and left Hornacek all along at the top of the key, changing a 58-48 halftime lead to 58-51. . . . Mike Sanders, former UCLA star who plays very little for the Suns these days, received praise from Coach John Wetzel afterward for 12 minutes of play, including some tough defense on red-hot Quintin Dailey.