Erratic Campbell Up, but Lakers Down : Pro basketball: Forward scores career-high 29 points and grabs 13 rebounds in 99-88 loss at Houston.

If you think Thursday was a strange night for the Lakers, and it was in a 99-88 loss to the Houston Rockets, try living Elden Campbell’s last couple of weeks.

Campbell’s playing time had been cut to the mid-20-minute range starting about mid-January. On Jan. 21, when the injury-riddled Lakers were down to eight players at Portland, he played 40 minutes and finished with a career-high 27 points. The next two games, he didn’t get off the bench in the fourth quarter while going 18 and 10 minutes. Two games after that, before 12,092 at the Summit and while often matching up against Hakeem Olajuwon, he hit the Rockets for 29 points to set a personal best, along with 13 rebounds.

The Lakers’ next game is tonight at Dallas. Campbell? Wait and see.

“I’m a professional and I’ve got to do the best I can when I get the minutes,” he said. “And still try my best when I don’t.

“The minutes have been there lately. He (Coach Randy Pfund) has given back a little more. It’s not like it was before, when I was getting 34. But 30 is better than 18.”

After playing 31 the night before at San Antonio before being ejected with 2:23 remaining for a minor scuffle, Campbell went 32 against the Rockets. He probably would have played more were it not for two fouls in the first quarter, but that was still long enough to lead Vlade Divac (16 points and 15 rebounds) and George Lynch (14 points, 12 rebounds and five steals) in a strong showing by the Laker front line.

The backcourt was another matter.

Actually, the backcourt was in another world. Nick Van Exel made three of 18 shots. Sedale Threatt was three of 15. Tony Smith went four of 11. At one time, Van Exel and Threatt were each one of 12.

“On a night when we get 25 offensive rebounds, outrebound our opponent by three, Elden gets 29 points and our frontline gets 13, 12 and 15 rebounds, you would think we’d be in the game right down to the wire,” Pfund said. “But the thing we forgot to do was shoot the ball.”

Despite that and a 17-point deficit with 7 1/2 minutes left, the Lakers turned what could have been an ugly night into a game. They got within seven points, the first time at 89-82 with 3:22 remaining and were poised to get closer as the Rockets went scoreless for 5:36, but Tony Smith and Lynch both missed inside shots.

That turned out to be the last gasp. Houston, led by Olajuwon’s 28 points and 15 rebounds got the lead back to nine with 31 seconds remaining en route to their fifth consecutive victory in the series.