KING CASE AFTERMATH: A CITY IN CRISIS : Violence Puts a Halt to Events : Postponements: Clipper playoff game, Dodgers-Phillies, Hollywood Park and Los Alamitos affected.

Sport assumed an appropriate role in Los Angeles Thursday when the civil disorder sweeping the city forced teams and organizations throughout the county to either cancel or postpone events until some semblance of safety is in place for employees, players and fans. Violence erupted after four police officers were acquitted Wednesday in the beating of Rodney G. King.

In most cases, the decisions to forgo events Thursday were made before Mayor Tom Bradley imposed a citywide dusk-to-dawn curfew that would have prohibited night events anyway. Curfews also have been set in a few surrounding cities, including Torrance, Compton, Carson and Inglewood, where the Forum and Hollywood Park are located.

The Clippers postponed Thursday night’s Game 4 of their first-round NBA playoff series against the Utah Jazz until Saturday afternoon. The game was scheduled to be played at the Sports Arena, which is south of downtown Los Angeles next to USC and is in an area that has seen heavy violence. Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. and will be nationally televised by NBC.

The Dodgers postponed Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies to a date to be set later. However, officials say tonight’s game against the Montreal Expos is still on. Those holding tickets to Thursday night’s game can obtain either a refund or exchange. Tickets are not automatically good for the rescheduled game. Season ticket-holders’ accounts will be credited, or they can obtain a refund upon request.

The Lakers, who are scheduled to play Game 4 of the NBA playoffs tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Forum in Inglewood, will announce the status of that game this morning.

The Forum is located within a few miles of South-Central Los Angeles where the violence is centered. The city of Inglewood has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and requested help from the National Guard. The Forum had moved a sold-out Van Halen concert to Saturday to play tonight’s game.

The Phillies, who were at a downtown hotel Thursday, scrambled to leave town after Dodger officials postponed the final game of the series. Dodger Stadium is just north of downtown Los Angeles, next to the Police Academy. The California National Guard and the Los Angeles Fire Department used the stadium parking lot Thursday as an emergency staging area.

“It would be politically and morally incorrect to hold a baseball game within minutes of where there are shooting, and stabbings, and burned-out buildings and looting,” Dodger pitcher Bob Ojeda said. “It is the right decision at a time of great embarrassment for this city.”

Ojeda, who will be a free agent after this season but has wanted to remain with the Dodgers, said this could influence players’ decisions to stay here.

“Two or three days ago, I was saying how much I love it here and want to play two or three more years here,” Ojeda said. “Now I’m thinking, I want to get a couple of acres somewhere, put up a fence, and hide. I’ve got family in New York and even they’re saying, ‘Geez.’ ”

At Hollywood Park, which is adjacent to the Forum, several jockeys called in Thursday morning to inform stewards they would not race, and officials shut down racing until Saturday, canceling Thursday’s races and the opening of their Friday night racing schedule. Nine races plus the simulcast of the Kentucky Derby are scheduled for Saturday, and there is a chance that some of Thursday’s races may run this weekend.

Entries for Saturday and Sunday’s cards will be taken this morning. The races in the condition book will be used for Saturday and Sunday cards, and the races that were scheduled for Friday night will be used as extras.

Opening night of the quarter-horse racing season at Los Alamitos was canceled after the curfew was imposed, and course officials say that tonight’s races are tentative. Los Alamitos is in Cypress in North Orange County, but course officials say many of their customers come from cities under curfew.

In college sports, UCLA postponed its basketball awards banquet Thursday night at a restaurant in Encino and will reschedule it. UCLA also canceled today’s men’s tennis match against UC Irvine at UCLA and will announce today whether it will hold its men’s and women’s track meet Saturday against USC and Brigham Young.

Harbor College postponed a home baseball game Thursday against East Los Angeles, and Harbor officials were unsure if today’s scheduled game at East Los Angeles would be played.

Many high schools were closed Thursday, and the Los Angeles Unified School District has canceled school and any related activities through the weekend. In the South Bay area, Banning canceled a girls’ softball game against Carson and a tennis match against San Pedro on Thursday. Today’s scheduled Southern Pacific Conference track preliminaries at Jackie Robinson Stadium, near Dorsey, were also canceled. Dorsey was among several schools in South-Central Los Angeles that were closed.

Inglewood schools also were closed, forcing Inglewood and Morningside to cancel or postpone all of its events Thursday and today. The closures caused Inglewood to forfeit a Bay League track meet Thursday against Hawthorne and postpone a league baseball game today against Peninsula.

Beverly Hills reported that its scheduled baseball game today against Morningside probably would not be played. Peninsula co-Athletic Director John Barr said his school would not play any events away from home until the violence is under control. Among the canceled events was a freshman baseball game between Peninsula and Bishop Montgomery on Thursday night at Torrance Park.

“Any activity (away from Peninsula High) will be postponed,” Barr said. “Quite possibly, we just won’t play them.”

CLIPPERS

* Alternate sites are being investigated for Game 4 of their playoff series with the Utah Jazz. The game is tentatively rescheduled for Saturday at the Sports Arena. C4

Times staff writers Bill Plaschke, Rob Fernas, Mark Heisler, Scott Howard-Cooper, Bob Mieszerski and free-lance writer Steve Andersen contributed to this story.