Van Exel Makes His Point in Laker Victory : Pro basketball: With Threatt out, he plays all 48 minutes against Pistons.

That was no sneak peek at what lies ahead for Nick Van Exel and the Lakers during the next week. It was a long stare.

In his first game as the one and only true point guard on the team, now that Sedale Threatt has officially been ruled out for at least three weeks and maybe as long as a month and a half because of a stress fracture of the right foot, Van Exel played all 48 minutes Tuesday and did more than survive.

He made four three-point shots and had 21 points and nine assists to join Vlade Divac and Eddie Jones in bringing the Lakers back from a 12-point third-quarter deficit to a 105-96 victory over the Detroit Pistons before 13,228 at the Forum.

Divac had 23 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks and Jones added 22 points, six rebounds and six assists, but even those contributions to the team’s eighth victory in the last 10 outings couldn’t shift the spotlight from Van Exel and the first look at what could be his role as marathon man. He hit the wall only once, and Coach Del Harris called a timeout early in the fourth quarter rather than substitute, keeping projected backup Tony Smith waiting for at least one more game.

Not that Smith was idle. It’s just that his significant contribution of 13 points on four-of-seven shooting in 26 minutes came when the Lakers went with a three-guard alignment for quickness. He played with Van Exel, not instead of Van Exel.

“Here we thought Tony would be the key man backing up Nick Van Exel at point guard,” Harris said. “Turned out Nick didn’t need a backup.”

At least this time.

Threatt’s injury, diagnosed after last Friday’s victory at Phoenix and confirmed after further tests, could present a severe problem as the Lakers try to build on their 18-9 record against Milwaukee, Miami and Portland before reinforcements might arrive.

That’s why Smith’s play at point guard--if Van Exel ever comes out--will be crucial.

The timing of Threatt’s injury left the Lakers with a predicament: Sign someone for the rest of the season at about $99,000 and risk eating that contract almost immediately if he doesn’t work out, or wait until next Tuesday when teams are allowed to start signing players to 10-day contracts. They are leaning toward the latter, even if it means a heavy load for Van Exel in the next three games.

“I think that’s probably our best option,” Harris said. “There’s no urgency to it. Tony Smith is a good player. We had five good guards before and now we have four good guards.”

It’s just that none are experienced at point guard.

The result is that Van Exel, who came in playing 36 minutes a game, just behind Cedric Ceballos for the team lead, can expect about eight more an outing. The other time that used to go to Threatt, averaging 24.7 a night, will be distributed throughout the backcourt, but mainly to Smith as the new backup ballhandler, a role he filled on Dec. 10 at Utah when Van Exel sat out the game because of a sprained ankle.

“Of course, I’ll say I’m going to play every minute of every game if that’s what is needed,” Van Exel said. “But that’s not being realistic. Right now, my body feels fine to play 40 minutes a night, but you never know.”

The Pistons could sympathize with the problem.

Just when they thought it couldn’t get much worse, with key players Lindsey Hunter, Oliver Miller and Mark West already on the injured list and Mark Macon hurt but not on the list only because the limit is three players at a time, it got worse Tuesday.

Hunter had his cast removed, but X-rays to check his progress showed the broken right foot was not healing properly, so doctors scheduled surgery to insert a pin today.

The starting point guard will be out at least until the All-Star break.

Laker Notes

Cedric Ceballos was named the NBA player of the month, the first Laker to win the award since Magic Johnson in February 1990. Ceballos averaged 27.8 points and nine rebounds and shot 53.2% in December, leading the Lakers to a 9-3 record. . . . Terry Mills led the Pistons with a game-high 24 points, highlighted by making five of eight three-point shots.