Clippers, Already Short on Players, Give Way to Trail Blazers, 125-103

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Clippers, who had planned to be in a race for respectability at this point, found themselves instead in a race of attrition Tuesday night.

It was like a marathon . . . with hurdles. They were already down to 10 players on the 1-game trip because of both injury, Joe Wolf’s groin pull, and insult, the Clippers unexpectedly having to cut two rather than one to make room under the salary cap for Danny Manning.

Then the weak only got weaker here at Memorial Coliseum.

Clipper backup guard Quintin Dailey stayed at the team’s hotel with the flu, and starting center Benoit Benjamin was ejected with 8:07 to play in the third quarter for flagrantly fouling Jerome Kersey, who was severely cut near his right eye and had to leave the game.

That left the Clippers with 8 players, their team of tomorrow playing today, the result being a 125-103 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers before 12,812.

It was the Clippers’ 14th straight loss to the Trail Blazers and 23rd in a row here, and it ended a 3-game losing streak for Portland, which was led by Clyde Drexler’s 26 points and Steve Johnson’s 20.

At one point, the senior member of the Clipper lineup was Ken Norman, a second-year forward.

Otherwise, it was up to Grant Gondrezick, in his second National Basketball Assn. season but his first with the Clippers, and rookies Gary Grant, Charles Smith and Manning to try to keep pace after the Trail Blazers built a 55-46 halftime lead.

When the Clippers wanted a veteran look, they went to Reggie Williams, also in his second year, or backup center Greg Kite, who finished with 2 points, 7 rebounds, a black eye and a bloody nose in 27 minutes.

Manning, in only his second game as a Clipper, led the team with 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the floor and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line. Williams and Norman each had 18 points.

But there would be no sprint to the finish for the Clippers (2-4). They barely had enough people for a relay team, anyway.

“Sometimes, you could steal a game like this, maybe when you have a veteran team,” Clipper Coach Gene Shue said. “But you can’t get in foul trouble and then lose Benjamin. The game was over at that point because we didn’t have many players.”

The Clippers were making a run at the Trail Blazers, trailing only 63-56, when Benjamin was kicked out. Five minutes later, they trailed, 81-69.

Kersey didn’t have a chance to see it after being brutally fouled by Benjamin. While driving the baseline, Kersey jumped and twisted in the air, and Benjamin, apparently going for the block, hit him on the neck. Kersey went down hard and fast, the impact of the landing resulting in a cut that required 5 stitches above the right eye, a sprained right wrist and a sprained right shoulder.

Benjamin appeared ready to help Kersey up, at least until Portland Coach Mike Schuler got involved. But after Schuler came off the bench near the basket and walked into the middle of what until then had been limited to an ugly collision, Benjamin had to be restrained by Manning and others.

There was no other incident, but the conversation was provoking enough for Benjamin.

“I knew it (the hard foul) was a mistake, and I didn’t mean to hurt the guy (Kersey),” said Benjamin, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds despite missing much of the second half. “I saw him hurting. But then here comes Schuler with all his . . . , and I’m not going to take it from him.

“I don’t think he came out to break it up. I think he came out to give his little comments.

“He went into one of those little temper tantrums and called me names. That was totally unprofessional, and I’m going to call the league office and see what will be done about it.”

Schuler will have his defense ready, if the league wants to question him. Sort of.

“At some point, he (Benjamin) started to back away, to calm down, and I said, ‘Benny, you don’t need to do things like that,’ ” Schuler said. “It was something along those lines.”

Anything else?

“I probably said something right after it occurred. But I don’t remember what.”

The last thing the Clippers needed on this night was foul trouble. But that’s exactly what they got, in the first half no less.

Smith got his third foul with 6:12 remaining in the second quarter and was replaced by Manning, who proceeded to get 2 on the same trip downcourt. With 5:25 to play in the half, he also had 3.

Smith, who scored 14 points, finished with 5 fouls. Manning fouled out in the final quarter.

The Trail Blazers (3-3) made things tougher on themselves by shooting only 39.3% from the floor in that stretch. Drexler had 17 of his points by that time, while Kevin Duckworth had 15 of his 19 points. Duckworth also finished with 13 rebounds.

Clipper Notes

Danny Manning, whose scoreless performance in the U.S. Olympic loss to the Soviet Union is still dogging him, was asked Tuesday if he would like another shot to play in the Games in 1992, when professionals might be accepted. “I don’t know,” he replied. “I want to go back for selfish reasons, to play a good game. But I don’t know if it will be fair to the amateurs. . . . I think people will realize ultimately that the best basketball is played in the NBA and the United States, so maybe we should send some (pros) over in ’92 just to make a point. But I don’t think it should be an ongoing thing.” . . . The two players that had to be cut to make room for Manning’s salary were Tom Garrick and Dave Popson.

The Miami Heat replayed its Nov. 5 game against the Clippers on tape and came up with several scoring changes. Benoit Benjamin got 2 more blocked shots and 1 more assist; Quintin Dailey got 1 more assist; Gary Grant got 5 more assists; Norm Nixon got 5 more assists; Ken Norman got 1 more assist and 1 less blocked shot; Charles Smith got 2 more assists and 1 more blocked shot; and Reggie Williams got 2 more assists. Problems with the box score? After the game, Heat statisticians kept going back and forth between 111-93 and 111-91 as the final score, with the latter (and the Clippers) finally winning out.