Green Gets the Call and Sparks Lakers : Pro basketball: Forward scores 30 points in 124-112 victory over Clippers. Brown ejected.

To get some peace before Sunday’s game against the Clippers, Laker forward A.C. Green took his phone off the hook.

“I’ve been getting threatening phone calls from my friends,” he said. “They say, ‘Don’t lose to the Clippers tonight,’ or my friendship or relationship with a lot of different friends might be on the fringe of going south.”

His friendships were probably strengthened by his season-high 30 points in the Lakers’ 124-112 victory, before a crowd of 16,895 at the Forum.

“I think I’m going to be alive for a little while longer,” Green said. “We were talking before the game that this had to be a war, and we sort of lost some skirmishes along the way, but we didn’t want to lose the war. I’m just happy we came out on top.”

James Worthy, who had 22 points, and Benoit Benjamin, who contributed eight points and four rebounds in his Laker debut, helped lift the Lakers (28-24) a game ahead of the Clippers (28-26) as they jockey for playoff spots.

“I love Laker fans,” Benjamin said, referring to his now-infamous curse of Clipper fans during his stint with the Clippers.

The Clippers started the game without Danny Manning, who was suspended for one game for fighting with Golden State’s Chris Gatling Friday, and they finished it without Coach Larry Brown.

Brown was ejected with 7:55 left in the second quarter after marching onto the court and being charged with his second technical foul. It was his first encounter with official Ken Mauer since Jan. 30 at Salt Lake City, when Brown tried to get at Mauer after the official gave Brown a technical and the two argued heatedly. Brown was cleared following a league investigation, and it’s believed Mauer was disciplined, although the nature of that discipline was never specified.

Brown declined to comment after the game. “I really don’t want to get into any more trouble,” he said.

Lax defense got the Clippers into trouble in the late stages Sunday. Worthy romped through the fourth quarter, scoring eight consecutive points to propel the Lakers to a 106-103 lead. Byron Scott made a layup, then Worthy resumed his pace with an uncontested layup that put the Lakers ahead, 110-103, with 5:44 to play.

“This game was a real statement game. I thought the Lakers came out and played hard and ran hard. They really took it to us,” said Clipper assistant R.C. Buford, who took over for Brown. “Too many times we had to come down and get a stop (on defense) that we didn’t get, or they got an offensive rebound or we bailed them out with a foul.”

Losing Manning for a game against the Lakers was especially costly, because he led the Clippers with an average of 21.7 points in the teams’ three previous meetings.

“You don’t replace a guy like that,” Brown said, “but Loy (Vaught) has been playing well and John (Williams) can get some minutes.”

Vaught, in only his second start, had 12 points and six rebounds in the first half and Williams collected 10 points and four rebounds. Vaught, Norman and Harper tied for the team scoring lead as the Clippers took a 66-65 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Benjamin made his Laker debut in the first quarter after Vlade Divac drew his second foul with 1:55 left. Since being acquired from Seattle last Monday, Benjamin had sat on the bench for two games. Benjamin last played Feb. 11, when he scored 10 points in 17 minutes for the SuperSonics against Utah. “I figured they’d throw him in there against us,” Brown said, smiling.

Benjamin missed two free throws, but then scored six consecutive points.

“I’m not much for words. I just want to play the game,” said Benjamin, whose first two points as a Laker came on a jumper with 14.3 seconds left in the first quarter. “Just because I wasn’t good enough to play in George’s (Karl, Seattle’s coach) system doesn’t mean I’m not capable of playing in this league.”

Laker-Clipper Notes

A.C. Green’s career high is 33 points against Seattle on April 4, 1989. . . . Danny Manning’s suspension ended his consecutive games played streak at 205. He last missed a game on Nov. 25, 1990. . . . Byron Scott was 0 for eight with one point in the first half but finished with 11 points. . . . Laker Coach Randy Pfund was satisfied with what he saw of Doug Christie in Christie’s admittedly limited practice time since signing with the Lakers Friday. “Doug looks very smooth. He’s very easy handling the ball,” said Pfund, who projects Christie to play mainly small forward. “We’ll get him out there working hard every day.”