INDIANAPOLIS — Kent Benson’s NBA debut lasted two mins and 9 seconds. Basketball took up the primary 120 seconds. A two-man brawl that began with an elbow to the tummy and ended with a punch to the face performed out within the ultimate 9.
Fans sat in surprise inside of MECCA Arena on Oct. 18, 1977, as Benson, enjoying his first professional basketball sport with the Milwaukee Bucks, shoved his proper elbow into the decrease abdomen of Los Angeles Lakers middle Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to ward him off.
Abdul-Jabbar did not like that. He bent over in ache. And then Abdul-Jabbar stood up. He lunged towards Benson, pulled again his proper arm and punched Benson sq. within the face.
Abdul-Jabbar was ejected from the sport, went again to his resort room and watched the Los Angeles Dodgers lose to the New York Yankees in Game 6 of the World Series.
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Benson wanted the assistance of a teacher to stroll off the ground. Hewas sidelined with a gentle concussion, swollen eye, bruises and cuts that required stitches. He watched the Los Angeles Lakers lose to his Bucks 117-112.
The victory was candy, however it did not soothe the ache. Neither did the bandages and ice packs.
The No. 1 select within the 1977 NBA draft, a 6-10 famous person middle at IU and NCAA champion affectionately referred to as the “gentle giant,” had taken a unique kind of hit.
In his NBA debut, the rookie all eyes had been gazing had taken a significant blow — to his ego.
Benson: ‘Why carry that up now?’
Benson isn’t excited about speaking about that evening 45 years in the past. He returned IndyStar’s name for an interview request however to not relive that punch.
“Why would you write an article about that,” Benson mentioned of one thing that came about greater than 4 many years in the past. “Why bring that up now?”
But Benson has mentioned that evening repeatedly prior to, together with the day after the sport.
“I feel funny all over,” Benson informed the Indianapolis Star in 1977 as he neglected the crew’s travel to Denver for a sport in opposition to the Nuggets. “It’s kind of hard to see out of my eye. My jaw is hurting.”
Benson mentioned that he elbowed Abdul-Jabbar after the Lakers’ middle had “jostled him on an earlier play.” Benson mentioned it was no longer a “vicious shot” on his phase.
“I turned away to play defense,” Benson mentioned in 1977, the Star describing him as a “puffy-eyed rookie.” “(Abdul-Jabbar) must’ve lost his composure and I got hit.”
Video pictures of the combat presentations Abdul-Jabbar arising in the back of Benson who pivots and offers Abdul-Jabbar a proper elbow to his decrease abdomen.
“Nothing malicious,” Benson mentioned of the hit in a YouTube video posted in 2014, titled “Undefeated with Kent Benson.”
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But that elbow will have to have felt malicious to Abdul-Jabbar who in an instant bent over in ache, who then became round to stand Benson and bent another time. The referees hadn’t observed it. No foul was known as, so Abdul-Jabbar took issues into his personal arms.
He took one step towards Benson after which a 2nd step after which a 3rd and, on his fourth, inches from Benson, Abdul-Jabbar smashed a fist into Benson’s face.
Benson flailed backward from the pressure of the hit and fell to the bottom.
He knew as he laid there, this wasn’t on the subject of that elbow. Abdul-Jabbar did not like an NBA rookie coming in and wreaking havoc on his Lakers sport in simply two mins.
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“I out-jumped him at the tip,” Benson mentioned in 2014 of that 1977 sport. “Kareem’s 7-2 (with those) long arms. And I outjump him at 6-10. So we control the tip, come down and (Bucks’) Brian Winters takes a shot from outside, misses it. I go up over Kareem, rebound and put the ball back in.”
On the way in which backtrack the court docket, Benson mentioned, Abdul-Jabbar elbowed him a number of occasions.
“And I beat him down to his spot on the block where he could shoot his famous hook shot. And as he came barreling down, he takes and drives his elbow right into my chest,” Benson mentioned. “And so we’re jostling for position and I just elbow him back. Nothing malicious, but elbow him back.”
Benson mentioned that Abdul-Jabbar “put on a big act like he was hurting. He bent over and kind of fell back 10 feet. You can see he looks to see if the officials are looking.”
Meanwhile, Benson mentioned he was gazing the ball come down the court docket. “And he takes a running start and he sucker punches me right in the temple. Didn’t knock me out but it knocked me silly,” he mentioned. “I was seeing stars and birdies and everything else.”
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IndyStar reached out to Abdul-Jabbar for an interview however didn’t get a reaction. He did speak about that evening in 1977 on a podcast with former Lakers’ teammate Byron Scott in 2021.
“The Kent Benson incident, where Kent Benson elbowed you, just a deliberate elbow,” Scott mentioned on his Off the Dribble podcast. “He hit you in a great spot where you just bent over. Play goes on and you kind of gathered yourself, squared up, and just said, ‘POW’ and knocked him out.”
Abdul-Jabbar, whose hand was damaged on account of the punch and was out for 21 video games, informed Scott: “I’m so sorry I did that.”
But Benson’s elbow “was a cheap shot, a sneaky shot,” Abdul-Jabbar mentioned. “He did that as a result of his trainer, Don Nelson, informed him to love tough me up if he was going to achieve success. He simply made himself an issue. Every time I noticed him after that, I made certain he learned that I knew how you can play.”
NBA record fine
The night after the incident, the Lakers had a game at Market Square Arena to play the Indiana Pacers. Abdul-Jabbar traveled to Indianapolis with the team where Pacers’ physician Dr. Richard Hutson put a cast on his hand.
“The breaks of the sport or hand didn’t deter the Los Angeles Lakers,” the IndyStar wrote after the Pacers lost to the Lakers 133-120, even without their star center and reigning NBA MVP.
IndyStar described the reason Abdul-Jabbar was absent from the Pacers game. “His well-publicized proper go to the top of Milwaukee’s rookie middle Kent Benson within the earlier night’s loss to the Bucks left Abdul-Jabbar with a damaged bone in his hand.”
The next day, Abdul-Jabbar suffered another setback when the NBA fined him a record $5,000.
“NBA Commissioner Lawrence F. O’Brien seen videotapes of the sport and consulted experiences from officers prior to rocking the league with his resolution,” the Indianapolis Star reported.
“The reality {that a} unmarried swift act of violence ended in accidents to 2 gamers issues up the risk and recklessness of such motion,” O’Brien said in issuing the fine. “Conduct of this nature may not be tolerated and shall be punished accordingly. Every participant within the NBA is on realize that I oppose preventing throughout video games it doesn’t matter what the provocation. I will be able to use the entire powers of my place of work to stop violence inside the NBA.”
The NBA players union fought the fine.
“We’re unhappy with fighting on the court and we’ve talked about it at our meetings,” said Larry Fleisher, the association’s counsel, in 1977. “That’s not what the NBA is about. But fining a player $5,000 offends me just as much. I don’t care how much he’s making, that’s a tremendous fine.”
Before 1977, the largest fine handed down by the NBA was $2,500 each to Maurice Lucas of the Portland Trailblazers and Darryl Dawkins of the Philadelphia 76ers for fighting during the 1976 championship playoffs.
O’Brien said his initial punishment for Abdul-Jabbar was going to be an “quick suspension.”
“Until I gained new information overdue the day gone by of (Abdul-Jabbar’s) harm,” O’Brien said. “That construction restricted my choices and, as a result, I made up our minds in this high-quality.”
According to O’Brien, the videotape of the game showed Benson elbowing Abdul-Jabbar several seconds before the Lakers center punched him.
“Unfortunately, the violation happened some distance from the ball within the sport motion,” said O’Brien. “And, due to this fact, escaped detection by the referees. Whether or no longer Abdul-Jabbar was fouled, alternatively, there is not any excuse for a premeditated punch from the facet.”
Benson agreed in 2014 that there was no excuse for the hit. But, he added, he took the high road.
“I had numerous other folks announcing, ‘You should sue him. You ought to try this, you wish to do this,'” Benson said. “That gave me a chance to be told about forgiveness. I’ve forgiven him. It was laborious to do, indisputably.”
Follow IndyStar sports activities reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her by way of e mail: dbenbow@indystar.com.