Clippers Lose Home Exhibition Opener, 121-105

Stanley Roberts, a second-year player, and Elmore Spencer, a rookie, already have the odds against them. They are young and they are centers. Bad combination.

In a league where newcomers rarely get breaks from the officials, the Clippers are counting on two youths to play center. This during a season when officials are expected to clamp down on excessive use of hands and legs in post defense.

So the Clippers are ready for Plan C in case of foul trouble:

Six-foot-9 John Williams.

“I don’t think (Williams could play) against every center,” Coach Larry Brown said Tuesday night, when the Clippers lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 121-105, in their exhibition home opener at the Sports Arena.

“But he’s smart enough and strong enough to do a good job. Plus, I think it would be tough for centers to guard him.”

This would be making the most of Williams’ versatility. Maybe even more than he would like.

“I’m not a center. At least I don’t think I am,” he said. “But if that’s what he wants me to do, I’ll do the best I can.”

Ideally, the Clippers would like to stay with Roberts and Spencer, the rookie from Nevada Las Vegas. But Brown says he is concerned over one of the obvious drawbacks to having two young centers, a rookie and Roberts, his starter. Roberts acknowledges that he is foul prone.

“Sure,” Brown said. “But I’d rather have two young guys who have the qualities and the abilities that these two have and realize they are going to grow and learn. When we get more respect as a team in that way, they will get more respect as individuals.”

The Clippers lost for the first time after opening with back-to-back road victories, including last Saturday against Cleveland. Danny Manning had 15 points and seven rebounds and Ron Harper and Kiki Vandeweghe added 14 points each.

Roberts fouled out in 17 minutes after scoring four points; Spencer had four points and five rebounds in 22 minutes.

Cleveland, which led by 16 at halftime and 28 early in the third quarter, got a game-high 22 points off the bench from John Battle on eight-of-nine shooting. Mark Price had 18 points.

Clipper Notes

The Clippers waived center Tito Horford and forward Ed Horton. . . . Negotiations on a contract extension for Ken Norman, broken off a week ago when the sides could not agree on a length, have resumed. Norman, due to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, has indicated he is willing to take the Clippers’ offer of four years, instead of the five he wants, for more money. . . . Cleveland Coach Lenny Wilkens, still recovering from surgery on his left Achilles’ tendon and subsequent blood clots on his lung, did not make the three-game trip. Wilkens suffered the foot injury during a pickup games while an assistant at the Barcelona Olympics and then developed the clotting, which doctors said was related. Dick Helm and Brian Winters, the Cavaliers’ assistant coaches, were in charge in his absence. . . . Cavalier center Brad Daugherty did not dress because of tendinitis in his right knee.