The Gangs Can’t Shoot Straight : Pro basketball: Clippers beat Seattle SuperSonics, 78-65. Kimble benched.

The Clippers and Seattle SuperSonics played a game for the ages Sunday night at the Sports Arena.

The Dark Ages.

In a performance lowlighted with ineptitude, sprinkled with some defense and bottomed off with silliness, what will be best remembered from a night barely worth remembering is that the Clippers beat the SuperSonics, 78-65, in an honest-to-goodness four-quarter, 48-minute game before 10,980. So help us, Denver Nuggets.

“It’s probably a situation where I wish we were still in warmups,” said Seattle’s Xavier (who hit three of 14 shots) McDaniel, a teammate of Sedale (four of 11) Threatt and Gary (five of 15) Payton.

McDaniel shouldn’t complain. He got credit for two of his seven points when Clipper center Benoit Benjamin, unchallenged for the ball, tipped McDaniel’s missed free throw into the basket. So much for the Seattle highlights.

The SuperSonics, losers of four in a row after opening the season 3-0, shot 32.1%, hitting on 27 of 84 attempts. By quarter, they scored 12, 21, 16 and 16 points.

The Clippers countered with 25, 11, 25, 17, while shooting 39.7%. Good enough to win.

“It was a slow-paced game,” said Clipper Charles (six for 18) Smith. “(Sonic) Derrick (McKey) said to me on the court, ‘What are you guys doing playing that Minnesota ball?’ I said, ‘You guys aren’t really playing like Denver, either.’ ”

But both sides did play like record-setters, or close to it.

The combined 143 points ties the fourth-lowest mark in NBA history.

The 65 points are the fewest in the SuperSonics’ 23-plus seasons.

The 65 points also set the Clipper record for fewest points allowed and tied for the fifth-worst single-game showing in league history.

The 65 points established a season high for Seattle Coach K.C. Jones for most times bewildered in one game.

“No one had more than 28 minutes or thereabouts last night (when the SuperSonics played Chicago at home), so it’s not a question of fatigue. We just couldn’t hit the shots. We were missing layups, eight-footers, five-footers. Sedale couldn’t hit the side of a barn.

“Our two shooters were missing, Sedale and ‘X,’ so you say, ‘Well, it’s not happening,’ and scratch back on defense. We made some layups and free throws, so then we went back into the same old thing--’Let’s see what our outside shooting can do.’ Nothing again.”

And again and again and again.

The SuperSonics, playing without injured scoring star Dale Ellis, gave the Clipper defense some of the credit. The Clippers, playing without benched semi-scoring star Bo Kimble, accepted that as a reason for their second victory in three games.

“We have to give ourselves credit on the defensive end,” guard Winston Garland said. “That was the only way we were able to win the game, because our offense was just standing around. The defense saved us.”

The Clippers, 4-5 and with a very good chance to reach .500 with lowly New Jersey coming to the Sports Arena Wednesday, led, 25-12, after the first quarter. Then, shooting only 22.2% in the second period, they were up by only 36-33 at the half. They had been outscored, 21-11, in the second quarter even though the SuperSonics hit only 42.9%.

Seattle went ahead, 37-36, on Threatt’s layup 1:04 into the second half, but the offense, no doubt having over heated with two baskets in as many possessions, downshifted again. Some 6 1/2 minutes later, the Clippers led, 55-45, and soon pushed that cushion to 61-47.

The crowd started shouting for Kimble in the fourth quarter, but a presidential pardon wouldn’t have gotten him into this game. The Clipper rookie, a starter in each of the previous eight outings, was shooting 39.1% and had more turnovers than assists in all but one of them, but this clearly wasn’t about struggling on the court. Exactly what it was about, no one would say, but healthy bodies averaging 14.4 points and then sitting out an entire game seems something along the lines of a minor disciplinary matter.

“It’s a team-related matter,” Coach Mike Schuler said.

Was Kimble being disciplined?

“It’s a team-related matter.”

But by not disclosing the reason a starter doesn’t even play make it into a bigger deal?

“It is not an issue, per se,” he said. “I certainly hope there’s not going to be more made out of this than there should be. . . . The Bo Kimble incident is over and done with.”

So will he be back in the opening lineup against the Nets?

“Maybe.”

Kimble followed the party line.

“It’s team related,” he said. “We made an agreement to keep it among ourselves. There’s nothing to panic about. Everything will be back to normal the next game.”

Garland opened in his place and played well, a seven-for-10 night making him the only starter for either team to shoot 50% or better. A bright spot in the darkness.

Clipper Notes

The fewest points the Clippers/Buffalo Braves have ever scored is 63, against Milwaukee on Oct. 21, 1972. . . . The SuperSonics scored 31 points in a half against the Clippers in 1972, so Seattle’s 32 in the second half this time wasn’t a record, either. . . . Ken Norman led all scorers with 22 points, though he made only seven of 25 shots. Benoit Benjamin added 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers and Charles Smith contributed 14 points and 12 rebounds. Shawn Kemp led Seattle with 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots in 20 minutes off the bench.

Despite scoring a basket for the other team, Benjamin wasn’t alone in his embarassing moments. Coming out of a timeout late in the third quarter, referees mistakingly gave the ball to the SuperSonics. While the Clippers went to the other end to set up on offense, Seattle’s Dana Barros scored an uncontested layup. Only then did officials realize the mistake, with a little help from a bothered Clipper bench, and disallow the basket.