Magic Proves a Cool Drink : Lakers: He scores 33 points in 113-96 victory over SuperSonics after being sidelined because of sore knees.

This looked like a job for Earvin Johnson Jr.

With local fans wondering what could go wrong next--Vlade Divac signing a soccer contract to become the Bo Jackson of Yugoslavia? Byron Scott going back to Arizona State for his senior year of eligibility? Magic returned and the Lakers became the Lakers again.

Drawing the curtain on the week of disaster that followed their 24 hours in first place, Johnson scored 33 points Sunday night and had 11 assists as the Lakers routed the Seattle SuperSonics, 113-96, to stay one game behind Portland.

“Is it good to have him back?” said an incredulous Mychal Thompson.

“It’s like giving a man dying of thirst a drink of water.

“Earvin just makes things simpler out there. We don’t have to think as much. That’s a definite advantage for a group like ours.”

Since Tuesday, when the Lakers grabbed the top spot in the Pacific Division, Johnson had missed one quarter at Seattle and one game against the Bucks at the Forum--both losses--because of tendinitis in his knees. Portland had gained 1 1/2 games on the Lakers.

In addition, the leading Laker scorer, James Worthy, had gone public with his distress about negotiations, which didn’t do a lot to cheer everyone up.

Sunday Johnson returned, as he knew he would, with all eyes on him, as he knew they would be.

“First of all, everybody (the media) comes in here and asks me the same question before the game,” Johnson said. “Then the fans want to make sure, the fans, the team, everybody.

“How did I feel? Like a young colt again.”

Indeed. He had been in a 19-for-47 shooting slump for his last three games, but Sunday night he went 11 for 14.

He had 27 points by the end of the third period as the Lakers took a 19-point lead. When Seattle gnawed into it, Coach Mike Dunleavy put his security blanket back in to protect the victory.

Johnson returned after an absence that dated from Wednesday’s fourth quarter at Seattle. Let’s just say the Lakers missed him.

“It’s better,” he said of his tendinitis before the game. “But nobody knows if it’s going to come back.”

As usual, given a rest and working in the sure knowledge that all eyes were on him, he came back strong. He missed the first shot he took, then made six of seven.

He had 10 points in the first period as the Lakers opened a 20-10 lead. However, the new, determined Laker defense was having the same problem with Benoit Benjamin that the old, soft Laker defense had.

Benjamin, booed when he took the floor for pregame introductions, made his first four shots. Dunleavy tired rapidly of watching Divac defend against him, and put Sam Perkins on the case. Benjamin finished the first quarter with eight points and four rebounds and the Sonics trailed, 28-21.

Dunleavy tried an unusual unit to start the second period--Tony Smith with Terry Teagle, Elden Campbell, Sam Perkins and James Worthy.

It had the same problem the other non-Magic units had been having at that point of the game. Within 5:22, the seven-point lead was down to 33-31 and Johnson was back at the scorer’s table.

The Lakers took off like a shot again. Johnson scored six more points as the Lakers opened a 54-46 halftime lead.

Divac picked up his third and fourth fouls trying to budge Benjamin out of the low post in the first 3:31 of the second half and retired to the bench.

By that time, however, Johnson had taken control. He scored on successive trips on a layup and a three-pointer as the Lakers opened up.

“I was really hoping to limit him more,” Dunleavy said of Johnson’s playing time.

“But they started to make a run, and with the shooters they have--Ricky Pierce and Eddie Johnson--they can heat up from three-point range.”

It didn’t happen.

The Lakers quenched their thirst and flew to Sacramento, the last obstacle before three scheduled days off, another oasis in the desert.

Laker Notes

Seattle Coach K.C. Jones: “Magic (Johnson) just took care of business tonight. He was leading the break, passing and rebounding, all of those things. When he’s playing like that, the Lakers are hard to stop. He rested a couple of days, came in and did just what he always does--took over the game.” . . . Benoit Benjamin, who had 28 points against the Lakers in Seattle, scored eight in the first period but finished with only 11.