Lakers Do Enough to Win One : NBA: Van Exel’s layup with 1.7 seconds left helps Magic Johnson get second coaching victory, a 91-89 triumph over Minnesota.

Watch your step jumping off the Laker bandwagon. No pushing and shoving, please.

The crowds disappeared from the Forum Tuesday night, apparently taking the emotional play with them. The Lakers almost went, too, only to be saved by Nick Van Exel’s driving layup with 1.7 seconds left to salvage an uninspiring 91-89 victory over the struggling Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Welcome to coaching,” Magic Johnson said.

The same Timberwolves who came in having lost 17 of their previous 21 had a chance to tie after calling timeout. But Isaiah Rider dropped Christian Laettner’s entry pass, picked it up and had to hurry his shot from the right to beat the buzzer. It was short, helping the Lakers win for the ninth time in 12 games and give Johnson a 2-0 record.

“It’s a victory,” said Elden Campbell, who had a game-high 27 points and four blocks. “Sure, the effort could have been better, but we’ve got more games ahead and we can put this one behind us and learn from it.

“I think we took them a little lightly and they jumped on our behinds. We found ourselves in a ballgame the rest of the night.”

The evening marked a return to normalcy for the Lakers and their coach. The crowd, which filled the Forum two nights earlier for another bad team, was down to 13,588 for the Timberwolves. Reporters interested in pregame comments--so intense Sunday that a news conference was needed--numbered six.

Johnson looked relieved.

The key for the Lakers was to sustain the emotional high that came with Johnson’s debut. That in itself made this an important outing.

“That’s what I was talking to them about--this emotionally is one of those games,” Johnson said. “Now we have a team coming in that people say we are supposed to beat. Those are always tough games. Plus, this team (Minnesota) is getting better--(Christian) Laettner is back and they are running more.”

Johnson countered with his first lineup change, Tony Smith back as the starting shooting guard in place of Sedale Threatt, reversing Randy Pfund’s move of 17 games earlier. The new coach--inserting a big guard to match Rider on Tuesday, Kendall Gill on Friday and Stacey Augmon on Sunday--considered going with Doug Christie instead, but felt Christie needed to improve on pressure defense.

Threatt averaged 18.4 points and shot 50.6% in the 17 starts, but still was sent to the bench as Johnson was true to his word of renewed emphasis on defense. It didn’t sound like a temporary move, either, although Christie could eventually take Smith’s place.

Laker Notes

Lost in the commotion of Magic Johnson’s coaching debut was that Michael Cooper also made his first appearance as an assistant. “It was a big event,” Cooper said. “I was kind of glad I was able to slip in like I did, unnoticed. If I had slipped and fell over there, no one would have noticed.” Cooper was in his third year in the front office, serving as special assistant to the general manager and longing to be more involved. Coaching continued to interest him, so when Johnson took over for Randy Pfund last week, he brought Cooper along to help improve the defense. That the Lakers had an impressive defensive showing, especially when the Milwaukee Bucks scored only 35 points in the first half, made the opener that much sweeter. “It was a big event in the sense that I’m finally where I want to be, making the kind of contribution I want to make,” Cooper said. . . . Milwaukee Coach Mike Dunleavy, on the Lakers’ showing Sunday: “I thought they played better in the first half than any team we’ve played all year long. I mean, nobody’s done that to us.”