Lakers Are Switching to A.C. : Riley Officially Has Added Green to Starting Cast

At the moment, A.C. Green can’t touch-type, play the piano or slap a double high-five.

Neither can Kurt Rambis.

Green can’t catch a basketball with his left hand.

Rambis can’t palm a ball with his right.

When Laker Coach Pat Riley asks for a show of hands, he has no problem picking out Green and Rambis. Green is the one with the cast on his left thumb. Rambis is the one with a splint on his right index finger.

On the Lakers, you could say that power forward is a hand-me-down position. Coming out of training camp, Green was the starter until he tore ligaments in his left thumb.

Rambis, the dislodged incumbent, returned as starter until he dislocated his finger, as well as badly cutting it, in practice last week.

With Rambis out, Green was back in, and it looks as if he will stay there, even though Rambis will be available here tonight when the Lakers play the Golden State Warriors, winners of five in a row.

“I think I’ll start A.C.,” Riley said. “Kurt will play his minutes, but we’re going to go the way we’ve been going and see how he fits in.”

Despite his cast, Green has fit like a glove with the other Laker starters. In the last four games, he is averaging 15.7 points and 9 rebounds a game, the kinds of numbers the Lakers were seeking when they drafted the 6-foot 9-inch Oregon State star in the first round a year ago.

“A.C. is probably more effective as a starter,” Riley said. “He gets into it early, gets into a rhythm, and seems to get stronger while everyone else gets tired. When he plays seven- or eight-minute stretches, he doesn’t seem to get into it.

“I can also slide A.C. into the center position.”

On the other hand, this would appear to be about more than thumbs and fingers. What about Rambis’ ego, for instance?

What about it, is Rambis’ response.

“It was A.C.’s spot until he got hurt, anyway,” said Rambis, who ranked as the team’s leading rebounder until his injury.

“Every time somebody new came up when I was starting, people would ask me, how important is starting? It’s never been a big criterion for me. I just like to play basketball.

“Given the choice between playing 20 minutes in a starting job or getting 25 minutes coming off the bench, I’ll come off the bench, hands down.”

With both available to play, the Lakers presumably will rebound better than they have lately. In the last five games, opponents have grabbed 101 offensive rebounds to the Lakers’ 59.

Riley said: “If I’m the coach of one of our opponents, I’d tell my team: ‘Look at that number. . . . Teams are going to be making a run at us.”

Granted, the last three Laker games have been blowouts--two against the Clippers, and one against Chicago in which the Bulls made a belated comeback.

But to Rambis, there’s no mystery to the rebounding disparity.

“This team has a tendency to play on a roller coaster,” he said. “We play great, then so-so.

“I think that’s fine and dandy against .500 clubs, but we won’t get anywhere with that against better clubs.

“With us, rebounding is a Catch-22. We want to run, but we need rebounds to run. We get caught in a limbo, of getting out (on the break) rather then getting the ball, then getting out.

“When we’re playing our best basketball, we’re doing both. Everybody’s in position to get the ball, and everybody’s getting out. That’s when we’re cooking.”

Laker Notes The Warriors have won five in a row for the first time in five seasons, and their 10-6 start is their best since the 1975-76 season. They’re 5-1 since Purvis Short, their leading scorer with a 25.3-points-a-game average, went down with a ligament injury in his left knee. . . . Forward Ben McDonald, a former UC Irvine star, has started the last five games at forward for Golden State, pairing with Larry Smith, who leads the team in rebounding with 9.9 a game. . . . Eric (Sleepy) Floyd suffered bruised ribs in Tuesday night’s game against Houston but is expected to start. . . . The Lakers have won four straight on the road since losing their opener in Houston. They’re just 8-7 against the Warriors here in the last five years. . . . The Lakers’ three-point percentage is 47.6%, which is better than the overall field goal percentage of 14 other NBA teams. . . . Byron Scott’s wife, Anita, gave birth to a daughter, Londen Brenae, the couple’s second child.