Manning: A Starting Reserve : Clippers: He’s still classified as a substitute, but injury to Norman has brought more playing time, better production.

He made the layup.

Danny Manning. Here at the Bradley Center, last Jan. 4. Late in the first quarter, he made the layup that cut the Milwaukee Bucks’ lead to 25-17 against the Clippers.

Then he limped upcourt and, a few seconds later, to the bench. Finally, the locker room. The Bucks’ physician announced at game’s end that Manning had hyper-extended his right knee.

The Clippers lost the game, lost Manning for the final three games of the trip as he returned to Los Angeles for further examinations and then lost him for the season after it was determined that the injury was actually a severely torn ligament. Manning underwent surgery, and the Clippers underwent a tailspin.

Manning returns to the Bradley Center tonight in the Clippers’ next-to-last stop of an eight-game trip, insisting that stepping back onto the court where he was injured so badly will have no special significance. That’s the past.

The present? He will start in the Clipper front court, just as when last here, but only because Ken Norman is injured. Manning has been frustrated with his sometimes limited role in the offense, often feeling frozen out as Ron Harper and Benoit Benjamin are given more attention. He has struggled to reclaim his shooting touch.

“But everything with Danny is a plus,” Coach Don Casey said. “People still have to remember he’s really only a rookie in terms of games played with no training camp and playing under a guideline of minutes. I think he has done well. He’s had some days when his timing has been off, but that could be expected. And he has worked hard to correct it.”

The physical aspect of the comeback has been a textbook success--no swelling, no pain, no apparent loss of speed or mobility, even with a brace. But the things that used to come naturally have taken the most time to return.

Manning, who underwent a 2 1/2-hour operation at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood a year ago Sunday, started shooting baskets about two weeks after his his release from the hospital. Without doctors knowing, he went to a park near his Hermosa Beach home, put pressure on the good leg and fired away in solitude, limped after the ball and shot some more.

He always got the ball then. Now, there are teammates.

“When I get into the game and we run a lot of isolation plays (clearing an area of defenders to give a player a clean shot), it gets frustrating for me,” Manning said. “I don’t think it’s griping to say you want the ball. It’s hard because I’m only in there 15 or 20 or 30 minutes, and so much of that is getting out of the way of other people.”

It has improved recently. Maybe because his time limit is at a comfortable 35 minutes, maybe because more of the plays are coming his way. Whatever, it’s getting better.

“Yeah,” he said. “As long as we come out and move the ball around, it’s cool.”

The concerns over his shooting have dissipated with recent showings, starting with a 12-for-17 effort last Friday at Boston. Manning was more concerned with his performance at the free-throw line than from the field, but he made a self-examination of both, recalling the simple mechanics that had helped make him the 1988 college player of the year, No. 1 draft pick and a 16.7-point scorer in 26 games of 1988-89.

The results have been obvious. In the last four games, all starts in place of Norman, he is averaging 22.8 points and shooting 59.1%. The recent run has boosted Manning’s season numbers to 13.4 and 52.9%, respectively.

“I don’t think it was his shooting touch,” Casey said. “It was timing--him getting the ball at the right time, us getting him into the right flow with our offense. He’s a movement player, a guy who plays with a lot of cutting and penetration.”

He’s also, basically, a reserve. Manning has started in eight of his 21 appearances this season, and seven were when Norman was injured. The other start, Dec. 13 against Detroit at the Sports Arena, was Norman’s first game back from tendinitis in a knee and a sore wrist.

Manning has no problem with coming off the bench at this stage and has told Casey as much. Getting minutes is the main thing.

“I have no problem with that,” he said. “My thing is, ‘Just tell me what you want from me.’ I don’t want to be uncertain about my role. Winning is the bottom line. That’s all I want to do.”