O’Bannon Goes Full Speed Ahead : UCLA: His game is halfcourt for now, but it is a powerful halfcourt and he is well on the road to recovery from knee injury.

Less than a minute into a pickup basketball game Friday at the Hawaiian Gardens Community Center, Ed O’Bannon rose above the rim, took a pass from a teammate, threw down a dunk and landed without incident.

“Whew,” said his father, Ed Sr., lowering his head and running a hand through his hair. “Maybe I shouldn’t be watching this.”

A few minutes later, O’Bannon jumped over another player, grabbed a rebound a foot above the rim and attempted to dunk the ball on his way down.

The shot rattled off the rim, but the explosiveness of O’Bannon’s leap left an impression.

“He’s fearless,” said O’Bannon’s high school coach, Wayne Merino, wincing as he watched.

Playing competitively for only the second time since last Oct. 9, when he tore up his left knee in a pickup game at UCLA, O’Bannon showed no inhibitions and no apprehension.

More than 12 weeks before the official start of practice on Oct. 15, the UCLA forward has been cleared to play in halfcourt games by Dr. Michael Shapiro, who repaired the knee during five hours of surgery on Oct. 18.

O’Bannon’s spirited play during about 20 minutes clearly indicated that he relished this break from his daily routine, which this summer has included therapy, weightlifting and an on-court workout supervised by Merino.

“This is a big step,” he said. “I’d been getting into a rut, just coming out here and shooting 1,000 shots and then leaving. Now, I can shoot 1,000 and then play. It makes it a lot more fun. Now, I’ll look forward to the workouts.”

O’Bannon led Artesia High of Lakewood to the State Division II championship in the spring of 1990. He was honored by Basketball Times as its national high school player of the year.

A 6-foot-8 left-hander who averaged almost 25 points and 10 rebounds a game as a high school senior, O’Bannon was expected to move into the starting lineup as a freshman at UCLA, where he went after it was announced that his first choice, Nevada Las Vegas, faced NCAA sanctions.

But during a pickup game six days before the official start of practice, he landed awkwardly after dunking and severely damaged his left knee, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament, among four separate injuries to the knee.

After his operation, O’Bannon spent six weeks on crutches and the season on the Bruin bench, watching, waiting and wondering.

Confident that he could return as good as new, O’Bannon became discouraged last spring, when a second procedure allowed Shapiro to remove staples and screws from the knee.

Usually positive and upbeat--Merino predicted that O’Bannon’s presence will have a “calming effect” on the Bruins next season--O’Bannon wondered at that time if he might be fooling himself.

Was it realistic to believe that he would play again?

“My knee blew up again, and I thought, ‘Man, is this ever going to end?’ ” he said. “I had started to shoot and jump a little bit, but then, ‘Boom,’ I was back on crutches again and my knee was (swollen). I thought there was no way. But now I’m starting to see the light.”

Ever eager to proceed, O’Bannon has had to be held back this summer as he views almost daily progress in his rehabilitation.

“He got mad Thursday (less than 24 hours after he had been cleared to participate in game-like conditions) because the other guys were going to be playing fullcourt and he could only play halfcourt,” Merino said. “It’s never enough.”

Friday, as he guarded Mike Hopkins of Syracuse, a junior guard from Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, O’Bannon urged Hopkins to challenge him.

“He’s telling me, ‘Hop, you can try to go around me,’ ” Hopkins said. “I said, ‘I am. I’m trying.’ ”

Early next month, or maybe sooner, O’Bannon will be cleared to play in fullcourt games.

“He’s not 100% fully recovered, but he’s far enough along where I thought he could play competitively,” Shapiro said.

Does O’Bannon have any doubt that he will be ready by Oct. 15?

“Not at all,” he said, smiling again. “Not the way I’m going.”