Technically, This Is Not Reputation Kimble Wants

Bo Kimble has made an impression all right, it’s just that nobody expected it to be quite like this.

Four games. Four technical fouls. One angry opponent . . . and counting?

In the opener, he threw an elbow while trying to clear room after a rebound. Sunday, in a dead-ball situation against Golden State, he shoved Chris Mullin as the Warrior all-star leaned against him. Tuesday, Kimble and Golden State clashed again, this time when the Clippers’ No. 1 draft pick, feeling that he is being tested by veterans, used a forearm to knock away the hand of defender Tim Hardaway.

The Warriors won’t soon forget him.

“I don’t even want to talk about Bo Kimble,” Hardaway said after Tuesday’s game at Oakland. “I’m going to leave that alone.”

Added Sarunas Marciulionis: “I think it is too much with the elbows. OK to push, but you don’t have to hit. . . . I think somebody is going to have to give him lessons, some veterans. Like Detroit. My job is to play, not teach.”

The Pistons obliged Wednesday night. Rough play started in the second quarter, when Vinnie Johnson’s hard foul slammed Kimble to the ground while shooting, earning Johnson a technical. On the Clippers’ next possession, Kimble was called for an offensive foul plus a technical foul when referee Jake O’Donnell said Kimble threw a punch at Joe Dumars.

Kimble is unfazed, noting that all the technicals, at $100 each, are for what officials view as overly aggressive play, not arguing.

“They’re the kind of technicals from working hard, and I’m not going to be intimidated by anybody,” said Kimble, who had technicals in each of his last two games at Loyola Marymount. “If I get a technical every night, I’m still not going to back down to people. If they want to challenge me, come on with it.”

Clipper Coach Mike Schuler wouldn’t have it any other way. “I don’t want, nor would I ask, nor could I allow him to become passive,” he said.