Benjamin Gets Good Numbers, but Clippers Are Looking Bad : Pro basketball: Center contributing sooner than expected as club suffers another setback at Phoenix, 111-90.

PHOENIX —  Benoit Benjamin, team player, will not allow himself to be lured into a controversy about whether he should be the Clippers’ starting center. He’ll just play and let Don Casey take care of assignments.

“Whatever Casey feels,” Benjamin said. “He’s the coach. I’m not complaining.”

He paused.

“But something has to give sooner or later.”

Sooner came Friday night. Benjamin was one of the few bright spots in a 111-90 loss to the Phoenix Suns before 13,240 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Playing in his sixth game since returning from a 41-day contract holdout, he had 16 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes.

Most of it came in the fourth quarter, when Phoenix was comfortably on its way to improving to 6-6. But much of the time Benjamin was still going against Mark West, the Suns’ starter.

Besides, what does it mean to be the No. 1 center on the Clippers, a team in need of rebounding help? The last three outings, Joe Wolf, a former forward who generally has pleased coaches with his play against bigger people in the post, especially on defense, averaged 27.7 minutes. Benjamin averages 26.

More numbers from the past three games, as Benjamin makes a move to reclaim his former job:

--He has gone 12 of 19 from the field and averaged 12.3 points and 7.7 rebounds.

--After playing a major role in the blowout victory over the Chicago Bulls with 18 points and nine rebounds, Wolf has dipped to 10 of 29, eight points and two rebounds.

“I’ve just been trying to improve each game,” Benjamin said. “My timing is coming back. Of course, I’m not where I’m supposed to be, but I’m getting there.”

Casey has taken note of Benjamin’s gradual climb, which may have come sooner than most expected. Casey will not, however, commit to anything beyond saying changes may be forthcoming, but not tonight against the Sacramento Kings at the Sports Arena, and that there is more to be concerned with than a Wolf-Benjamin duel.

“I don’t think that’s the issue, the centers,” he said after the Clippers lost for the fourth time in five outings. “I do think Ben is rounding into shape. . . . He’s still not in real game shape; he is still sort of lumbering around. But the effort is there.”

The Suns juggled the lineup especially for this game, giving the more-physical 6-foot-6 Dan Majerle his second start of the season ahead of 6-4 Jeff Hornacek to match up with 6-6 Ron Harper. In his other start, Majerle helped contain the Orlando Magic’s Reggie Theus to four points last Friday.

The plan worked again. Harper made three of 14 attempts, continuing a Clipper problem of lack of outside shooting.

“He doesn’t always shut people down, and I don’t think he shut Harper down tonight,” Phoenix Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said of Majerle. “But he made Harper work for everything he got.”

Harper made his shots in the first half on nine attempts. Still, the Clippers, who lost here for the sixth consecutive time and dropped to 4-9 overall, stayed close early.

They led by three on a couple of occasions near the end of the first quarter and fell behind by five soon after, and then nine, 43-34, with 7:10 to play in the second. At halftime, Phoenix led, 54-48.

Ken Norman had 12 of his team-high 20 points by then. Tom Chambers of Phoenix had 19, well on his way to 29 on 13-of-18 shooting.

Phoenix also rolled up a 35-21 advantage on the boards after two quarters. In the end, the Suns had outrebounded the Clippers, 65-47.

Los Angeles was within nine, 80-71, at the start of the fourth quarter. Phoenix turned that into a rout by outscoring the Clippers, 31-19, in the final 12 minutes.

Clipper Notes

Talks continue between the Clippers and Dallas Mavericks regarding Roy Tarpley, but nothing has reached the serious stage and probably won’t at this rate. The Mavericks asked for guard Gary Grant, a request quickly denied. The Clippers’ thinking is more along the lines of some draft picks and a non-starter, maybe even on a conditional basis in which a portion of the package would be returned if Tarpley, currently under suspension for driving while intoxicated and facing a Dec. 11 court date, missed the rest of the season. Some in the organization don’t even like that, but others feel it would be worth the long-term possibilities to give up some picks acquired from Cleveland in the Ron Harper deal for a potential superstar.

The Suns took a pretty heavy rip at the Clippers, and subtle it wasn’t. During one of the first timeouts, the message board showed a taped skit made to look like the NBA draft. Except that ball boys played the other picks and the Gorilla, the team mascot, portrayed Danny Ferry. When his name was called as the No. 2 pick, Ferry showed several shocked expressions. When he finally walked to the stage and found the pseudo-commissioner waiting with a Clipper cap and jersey, the Gorilla turned and bolted. The crowd laughed. Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor, sitting courtside, was not amused.