A Fast Start Helps Clippers Hand Winless Kings 7th Defeat, 112-101

In the latest episode of “As the Clippers Turn,” played out Wednesday night before 8,986 at the Sports Arena, the plot got even more confusing.

The understudy guard cut 2 games ago on a technicality and reclaimed hours earlier, Tom Garrick, provided a spark off the bench in the first half. He played early and often, finishing with 12 points and 7 assists (and only 1 turnover) in 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, one of the featured attractions, center Benoit Benjamin, stayed around for the whole performance and scored 25 points this time, after having been ejected for a flagrant foul Tuesday night.

So, the Clippers, a sometimes-ready-for-prime-time team, jumped out to a big lead, then reverted to their off-Broadway form to make it close again. Finally, to a standing ovation from what remained of the crowd, they beat the Sacramento Kings, 112-101.

It was a Tale of Two Halves, according to Coach Gene Shue.

“We are the Clippers and we’ll take wins whenever we can get them,” Shue said. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I was very happy with the win, but we do have to learn to play 2 halves.

“In the first half, we played fantastic. We were very aggressive and everyone was working hard. But we came out in the third quarter and went nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. And that was very disappointing to me. When you have a team down, you have to put it right to them.”

The Clippers (3-4) had the Kings down, all right.

The Kings (0-7) shot 30.4% in the first quarter, when they trailed, 28-19, and then fell behind by 22 points midway through the second. By halftime, the margin was 23 points, 65-42.

Everything was going the Clippers’ way, a notion that was never more obvious than just before intermission. The Kings, coming off a 30-point loss to Phoenix, trailed by 18 when Rodney McCray hit a pair of free throws with 28 seconds left before halftime, but then they allowed the Clippers to score the final 5 points. .

Reggie Williams’ basket put the Clippers up, 62-42, with 6 seconds left. The Kings’ offense then switched into underdrive, with Clipper Ken Norman stepping in front of LaSalle Thompson’s backcourt pass to the left of the basket. Norman took control, but his pass was knocked away by a Sacramento player, only to have Norm Nixon pick it up on the right side.

Nixon, who finished with 13 points and 12 assists, dribbled in a few steps to the 3-point line. He swished the jumper as the buzzer sounded.

“That kind of put a stake in their heart,” Garrick said of the Kings. “We played great and they were struggling just to stay within 20.”

The Clippers, shooting a solid 50.6% coming in, made an impressive 62.8% of their shots in the first 2 quarters. They finished 54.9%

And the Kings? Freezer burn again--32.6% in the first half and 38.3% for the game.

The win was especially sweet for Garrick, who was barely even playing 2 weeks ago. Then came the waivers before Saturday’s home opener, when he watched teammates he knew he might rejoin within days from the stands, and the sitting around in the hotel while waiting to be picked up by another team. With no car and staying on Century Boulevard, he had plenty of time to think about the next game.

“Tom wasn’t ready to be waived yet,” Nixon said, laughing. “He wants to stay a while. I hope he stays around a while, too.”

The feeling is mutual.

Clipper Notes

The Clippers put reserve forward Joe Wolf on the injured list and re-signed forward Dave Popson and guard Tom Garrick, bringing the roster back to the league limit of 12. Garrick, the team’s second-round draft choice, probably would have been brought back anyway after being let go last Saturday to make room for Danny Manning under the salary cap, but Wolf going on the injured list with a groin injury cleared the spot for Popson. The only hitch for Garrick is that he had to take a $15,000 pay cut to bring his contract down to the minimum of $100,000 because of a technicality with the salary cap. “But it doesn’t really matter,” said Garrick. . . . Benoit Benjamin said he will appeal the automatic $250 fine for the flagrant foul that got him kicked out of Tuesday night’s game at Portland. Benjamin also said he still plans to call the league over what he termed unprofessional conduct by Trail Blazer Coach Mike Schuler in the aftermath of the third-quarter foul that knocked Jerome Kersey out of the game with 5 stitches above the right eye, a sprained right shoulder and a sprained right wrist. Schuler came off the bench and had a few words with Benjamin under the basket, enough that the Clipper center, appearing to want to help Kersey up a moment earlier, had to be restrained.