Games Begin and Divac Comes to Play : Lakers: Yugoslav rookie is surprised by all the fuss. ‘That was a typical game for me,’ he said through an interpreter.

In his National Basketball Assn. exhibition debut Wednesday night, Vlade Divac of Yugoslavia showed that he has almost no conception of how a Laker center has traditionally played.

One does not run across the court just to steal a pass. One does not get flattened by a bulky forward to draw a charging foul. One does not outrun the guards and fill the lanes on fastbreaks. And one does not, as an unspoken rule, dive headlong out of bounds for a loose ball.

But Divac did all that and more in the Lakers’ 115-94 pounding of the Sacramento Kings, much to the pleasure of Laker coaches and the surprise of the crowd of 4,896 at Blaisdell Arena.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Laker center emeritus, may have done some of those things at some point in his career, but certainly not in the exhibition season.

“Hey, Kareem dove for loose balls, too,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “Kareem made it out on the break. Maybe not when he was 42. But when he was 21, he did. Sure, he did.”

Although the quality of the competition may have had something to do with Divac’s success--the woeful Kings used journeymen Greg Stokes and Ben Gillery at center for most of the game--the 21-year-old former Olympian scored 12 points and had eight rebounds in 23 minutes. He made five of eight shots, had three steals and blocked one blocked shot.

It was not as if the Lakers thought Divac incapable of such a performance. It was just that he did not show signs of such advanced development during the five days of practice preceding the first of the Lakers’ eight exhibition games.

“(General Manager) Jerry West made a great statement afterward,” Riley said. “I said to him, ‘God, where was he in practice?’ And Jerry said, ‘There’s no daylight in practice.’ And he was right. Vlade got out there on the open court in a game, and he had room to move.”

Divac did not just move, he stalked, dived and sprinted.

After being accustomed to the rather sedentary movements of Abdul-Jabbar in recent seasons, the Lakers took a while getting used to Divac’s play. But Riley and his players definitely liked it, and the crowd roared its approval.

“He adds a lot to our team, a new dimension,” said Magic Johnson, who had 16 points and six assists in 23 minutes. “We’re gonna run up and down, wild and crazy this year, and Vlade can do that. He can run the floor, score from the outside, be aggressive rebounding-wise, and he’s a big body.”

Since this was only the first exhibition game--the Lakers played the Kings again Thursday night at 9:30, PDT, before returning to Los Angeles--Riley did not want to overstate Divac’s play. He clearly was impressed, though.

“I still don’t know where his strengths really are,” Riley said. “I think the work he did with Kareem (in training camp) really helped him. In post defense, he’s making a conscious effort to get in front of his man. He’s doing things we like to see.”

But seeing a 7-foot-1 player diving wildly on the floor left many aghast.

Divac, speaking through translator Alex Omalev, did not know what all the fuss was about.

“In Europe, I would dive for all loose balls,” Divac said. “That’s Yugoslavian basketball. That was a typical game for me. I have to use my assets, (such as) running speed. That’s the advantage I have over slower centers.”

Unofficially, Riley has Divac third on the Lakers’ depth chart at center behind Mychal Thompson (eight points, five rebounds Wednesday night) and Mark McNamara (one point, five rebounds). But he could find little fault in any of his centers’ play.

“They all give us something different,” Riley said.

Divac’s only faux pas came in the fourth quarter. After a King knocked the ball out of bounds under Sacramento’s basket, Divac picked it up and sprinted to the far sideline to inbound it, apparently forgetting that he was not playing under international rules.

The referee asked for the ball back.

Laker Notes

Injury updates: Guard Byron Scott, who has been trying to shake the lingering effects of his torn left hamstring suffered before the NBA finals last June, scored 14 points in 24 minutes and reported no discomfort. “It felt good after I got it warm,” Scott said. “At the start, I could feel it a little. But six minutes into the game, I got going.” . . . Forward Orlando Woolridge was expected to test his sore and swollen right knee in Thursday night’s game. If the swelling in Woolridge’s knee returns today, when the Lakers fly home briefly before going to Knoxville, Tenn., for an exhibition game, Woolridge would probably skip the trip and undergo exploratory arthroscopic surgery. . . . Free-agent forward Mel McCants, who had four points and six rebounds Wednesday night, was poked in the left eye midway through the fourth quarter and did not return. . . . A 6-foot-8, 250-pound rookie free agent who has impressed Coach Pat Riley, McCants wore a patch over the eye Thursday and was to be examined before determining his availability for the second exhibition game.

Point guard Larry Drew, the former Clipper recently signed by the Lakers, missed all five of his shots but impressed Coach Pat Riley with his ballhandling and passing. Drew led the Lakers with seven assists in 27 minutes. “Larry ran the offense well,” Riley said. “He’s still trying to learn a new system.” . . . Forwards James Worthy and A.C. Green, both of whom reported to camp in excellent shape, according to Riley, led the Lakers with 19 and 16 points. . . . Michael Cooper, who played small forward as well as at both guard positions, scored nine points. He made both three-point shots he attempted. . . . As planned, the Kings’ Ralph Sampson played only 14 minutes because of sore knees. Sampson made one of six shots, had five rebounds and blocked four shots. The Kings shot 38.7%, compared to the Lakers’ 43.8%. Forward Rodney McCray led the Kings with 17 points. Guard Danny Ainge made just three of 10 shots and had seven points and five turnovers.