NBA PLAYOFFS / UPDATE : LAKERS : Ainge Looks Around for Nicholson

Phoenix guard Danny Ainge enjoyed the enthusiasm generated by Tuesday’s sellout crowd at the Forum as much as the Lakers did, but Ainge couldn’t resist adding a little dig.

“The crowd was great. They are probably the best front-running fans in basketball,” Ainge said. “Where were those fans when we were beating the Lakers during the regular season?”

Told that actor Jack Nicholson had rearranged his schedule to be part of tonight’s sellout crowd, Ainge laughed. “Where was Jack in Game 3?” he said. “If this was the old days, Jack would have been here in Game 3.”

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Cedric Ceballos, the former Cal State Fullerton standout, said he enjoyed the trash talk aimed at him Tuesday by James Worthy, one of Ceballos’ boyhood favorites.

“He was saying, ‘I have this many (championship) rings,’ and I was saying, ‘Hey, that’s in the past,’ ” said Ceballos, who started Game 1 at small forward but will be a reserve tonight for the third consecutive game.

But Ceballos said he didn’t see Worthy point to the championship banners hanging from the Forum wall after a Laker basket. “I was too busy filling his ears,” Ceballos said.

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Laker Coach Randy Pfund on Phoenix Coach Paul Westphal’s declaration that the Suns would overcome their 2-0 deficit and win the series: “I’m not sure I believe he thinks it’s true. When he said it, I wanted more conviction. It’s like (President) Clinton saying he wasn’t going to raise taxes. I didn’t believe him and I was right with Clinton.” . . . Only once in NBA playoff history has the visiting team won every game of a best-of-five or best-of-seven series. The 1984 New Jersey Nets eliminated the 76ers by winning three games in Philadelphia and the 76ers won two games at New Jersey. . . . The Lakers are 17-1 in first-round playoff games at the Forum under the current playoff format. . . . The only time the Lakers have lost a series they led, 2-0, was in the 1969 finals against the Boston Celtics.