Clippers’ Harper to Play Tonight : Pro basketball: For now, the team plans to limit him to 15 minutes a game.

Ron Harper returns to the lineup tonight at the Sports Arena, at once confronted by his basketball mortality and the notion that he is supposed to be the parachute in the Clippers’ free fall back to the lottery.

The Clippers, if not Harper, have practice at this.

A season ago, Danny Manning came back from reconstructive knee surgery against Milwaukee at the Sports Arena, on a night that seemed more like a celebration than a game. There were towels for fans to wave and posters around the building, and Manning culminated the evening with seven-of-10 shooting and 21 points.

The Bucks are in town again tonight, but no festivities are planned. There will simply be the emotion and impact of the moment.

“(Harper) brought a great deal to this team when he came here a year ago,” said Coach Mike Schuler, who has considered putting Harper, 27, in the starting lineup but had not decided as of Friday night. “I was not here, but everyone told me that. The players said that. They respect him. He sets the tone.”

Harper was activated Friday, when the Clippers also placed Tom Garrick on the injured list with inflammation of his right knee. Harper will be limited to 15 minutes per game for an undetermined time as his doctors, Tony Daly and John Bergfeld, and trainer Keith Jones monitor flexibility and watch for swelling in his rehabilitated right knee. When that test is passed, he will return to full-time play.

The injury to the ligament that stabilizes the knee and helps control movement cuts to the heart of Harper’s slashing, driving, open-court game. If the knee doesn’t work right, his effectiveness is reduced. Allowing him the weeks needed to regain timing and full strength, a true reading might not be known until a couple of weeks before the end of the season.

“I haven’t really thought about what I’ve done in the past,” said Harper, who averaged a team-leading 23 points and 39.5 minutes in 28 games with the Clippers last season, during which time they were 14-14 during an eventual 30-52 season. “What I’m concerned with is what goes on out on the court now and hearing the crowd cheer. I know there will be some things I won’t be able to do right off the bat, but it will come back.

“I don’t have any doubts. If I had doubts, I wouldn’t be playing now. I feel pretty comfortable and have a lot of confidence in the leg.”

Having Manning around has helped. The two shared experiences in the rehabilitation process, with a couple of differences. They react in their own individual ways, and Harper’s injury was more severe. Manning, who also relies largely on quickness and open-court play, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and made it back in a little less than 11 months, while Harper had the same ligament rebuilt but also suffered torn cartilage around the knee. His injury occurred Jan. 16, 1990, against Charlotte at the Sports Arena; the operation was in Cleveland the next week.

“At this point in his rehab, I don’t think he’ll have any hesitations,” Manning said. “He’s too close to making it back. If there were something to worry about, it wouldn’t be at this position. I know it’s going to be a great feeling for him to step back on the the court with the crowd helping him.

“If anything, (the injury) made me a smarter player. Now, maybe because of the time I put in to get back, I try to prepare a little more for every game and try to get every advantage I can.”

Manning has not missed any games because of the knee injury since coming back. He said he has not lost any speed or movement, a notion that Larry Brown, his coach during his all-everything senior season at Kansas, seconds.

But not everyone sees it the same way. Said one general manager: “(Manning) is not the same player. His game is built on quickness and mobility, and I think he has lost that burst of speed.”

A similar subtraction from Harper’s game would be critical. But as was the case with Manning, there have been no hitches in the rehabilitation. That’s the indicator Harper is going by.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I feel a lot more enthusiasm as the days go by. I know by Saturday, it will be a lot more. There will be some butterflies in my stomach. But those will all start to be relieved come Saturday.”

Clipper Notes

The Clippers, perhaps hoping for some leniency from league officials who have clamped down on teams trying to stash players with phony aches and pains on the injured list, said Tom Garrick has had soreness in his knees for about two weeks. The reserve guard, close to being waived when Ron Harper returned, hasn’t missed any games because of the injury this season, though he missed several because of tendinitis in the left knee during the 1989-90 season.

The Clippers said they were given an extension by the league office and now have until Tuesday to evaluate Jay Edwards and decide whether to keep him. A decision was originally due Sunday.