Lakers Show There’s Life After Clippers : Pro basketball: One night after a miserable defeat, they beat Jazz, 120-113, behind Threatt’s 38 points.

The Lakers put the upstarts, and the embarrassment, in their rearview mirror Saturday and set out on the road to recovery, picking on someone their own size this time.

That was the Utah Jazz waiting for them at the Delta Center, not the Clippers, so the coast was clear. The Lakers re-attached the heads that had been handed to them 24 hours earlier and made like a good team again, building a 17-point lead in the third quarter and winning, 120-113, before 19,911.

Sedale Threatt replaced the injured Nick Van Exel and scored 38 points. No Laker has scored more since Threatt had 42 on March 10, 1992, at New York.

Working largely against John Stockton, considered one of the league’s best defensive guards, Threatt made 13 of 19 shots--including three of seven three-pointers--and nine of 10 free throws. Playing a season-high 40 minutes, about 15 more than his average, he also had eight assists.

“I’m just filling in,” Threatt said. “This is definitely Van’s spot.”

The temp may have to stay on a bit longer, depending how long it takes Van Exel to recover from the sprained left ankle that kept him in street clothes against the Jazz. He is already making progress, but trainer Gary Vitti, while officially listing the second-year point guard as day to day, said Van Exel might sit out the final three games of the trip that continues to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

It got worse for the Lakers. With one starting guard on the bench, the other, Eddie Jones, picked up his second foul only 5:43 into the game. He played only 13 minutes in the first half and 24 for the night.

Facing what could have been dire straits against a team that came in having won nine of its previous 12 games, Coach Del Harris looked down the bench for help. From a distance, he spotted Anthony Peeler.

Averaging only 8.4 minutes, the second-lowest on the team, and shooting a team-low 31.3%, the former starter came in to save the day, but quickly missed badly on a jump shot from the right side. The next possession, he bricked a layup.

And then he recovered. Peeler made the first of two three-point shots, bringing the Lakers within one point of the Jazz. When Harris went with three guards during the second half--all shooting guards, with Tony Smith the point guard pro tem --Peeler was one of them.

Peeler finished with 11 points in 26 minutes, 10 more than his previous season high.

“It was wonderful to have him back,” Harris said.

Peeler had never really left.

“I’ve been sitting down there,” Peeler said, laughing. “Maybe he just couldn’t see me.”

There was no missing him Saturday, with Harris saying the Lakers don’t win without him. Peeler couldn’t blend in any more than Cedric Ceballos (27 points) or Vlade Divac (18 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots).

Now bring on the Clippers.

“This was a big-time victory,” Harris said. “These guys (the Jazz) are very difficult to beat here. They’re a good team. Coming off last night, it took a lot out of us physically as well as emotionally. It would have been very easy for our team to just crawl into a hole, and I feared that would happen.”

Said Threatt: “It is a statement. You can beat us one time, but we’ll be back. That game is forgotten. We’re back.”

Laker Notes

Nick Van Exel and the Lakers get a break in that he has two full days to recover before the next game, Tuesday at Dallas. Van Exel suffered the ankle injury in the fourth quarter against the Clippers and went to the hospital for X-rays that confirmed it was nothing more serious than a sprain. . . . Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan was ejected with 2:58 to play in the third quarter after getting his second technical.