Lakers Make Sure Time Is on Their Side : NBA playoffs: After putting Rockets to sleep early, they get some rest.

Wednesday the Lakers slept late.

Mike Dunleavy gave them the day off, the first tangible benefit of their 3-0 sweep of the Houston Rockets and one they accepted gratefully.

Can they use the rest? James Worthy played 39 minutes a game in the regular season and Magic Johnson 37. Worthy, Johnson and Vlade Divac averaged 42 each against the Rockets.

Meanwhile, Portland Trail Blazer Coach Rick Adelman, blessed with a better bench, didn’t have a player going 35 and only Clyde Drexler more than 32. This would have been an advantage in postseason . . . except that the Trail Blazers are still enmeshed in the first round, leading 2-1 after Tuesday night’s defeat at Seattle.

“We played our guys big minutes,” Dunleavy said. “To be off the next few days means we can practice light and stay sharp. It’s going to be a good time well spent.”

The Rockets, winners of a franchise-high 52 games, went kicking, screaming and whining, but they went just the same. They expired exactly as a skeptic would have predicted, dying by the jump shot.

Guards Kenny Smith (47%), Vernon Maxwell (41%) and Sleepy Floyd (33%) hit an aggregate 41%.

Mad Max took 11 more shots than Hakeem Olajuwon.

Olajuwon and Otis Thorpe each shot 58% but got 48 fewer shots than the Wild Bunch at guard.

The Lakers made it tough to get the ball into the middle, difficult to do anything when the ball did get into the middle and invited the guards to hoist away. The effort was spearheaded by Vlade Divac, whose 31 rebounds and nine personal fouls represent his high-water mark in the NBA.

“I told Vlade, when I judge how he played in the series, I won’t go on the basis of points scored,” Dunleavy said. “I’ll go on the basis of hustle, rebounding, blocking out.

“That’s all I wanted from him, and he gave me every bit of what I wanted.”

This is the Lakers’ “good cop” talking. The “bad cop” is Johnson, who cracks the whip over the amiable Divac, noting that Vlade’s play most decides whether they will be the defensive aces of January and February or the team that leveled off after the All-Star break.

“We’re going to go as far as he takes us,” Johnson said. “If he can stay consistent, we can go a long way. He kept Hakeem from dominating the offensive boards. Hakeem would get four, five a game. When we played them before, they’d get 20, 25.”

Laker intensity was up a notch over the regular season, too.

Take the dives for loose balls.

Dunleavy called Magic’s sprawl on the floor to tip the ball away from Thorpe for what became a fast-break basket “the biggest play of the night.”

Dunleavy was less than thrilled in the Portland showdown March 29 in the Forum, which effectively decided the Pacific Division championship, when several Trail Blazers dived for a loose ball while five Lakers stayed upright. That became a Trail Blazer fast-break basket, too.

Afterward Dunleavy praised the Trail Blazers for their pursuit of loose balls “as if it was the last play of their lives.”

Now the Lakers are up to speed. When Johnson dives, the rest of the roster flops in his wake.

As playoff openers go, the Lakers gave their rookie coach every bit of what he wanted. Now they can watch the Wild West on TV, briefly.

Laker Notes

The Rockets’ Don Chaney, sure to be named coach of the year, remains unsigned and anxious about it. “I’d like them (Rocket management) to start talks,” Chaney said. “I don’t want to leave. If they’re going to hold off, I can’t wait. I’d like them to step up to bat and let’s start talking.” . . . A Rocket official says it’s no certainty that Chaney will be retained. The club is for sale and the team might wait for a new owner’s pleasure. . . . The Rockets had the nerve to complain about referee Wally Rooney’s five-second call on Otis Thorpe’s inbound play, ignoring the question of why Thorpe didn’t count and didn’t call time out sooner. Said Hakeem Olajuwon: “I’ve never seen such a call in that situation. It was ridiculous. It was devastating. I can’t believe he would make it. He is a veteran referee. He must know better.” . . . Last word from Vernon Maxwell: “I’m upset. I’m not talking.”