A Big Loss, a Tight Win for Lakers : Pro basketball: After learning that Ceballos will be sidelined 6-8 weeks, L.A. beats Denver, 85-83.

The issue that once was merely whether Cedric Ceballos would be healthy enough to play in the All-Star game took a sudden and harsh turn for the Lakers on Tuesday, when they learned of a new timeline for the return of their No. 1 scorer and No. 2 rebounder. Try sometime just before the end of the regular season.

The dramatic news came after tests revealed that Ceballos had suffered a ruptured ligament of the right hand, not a sprained thumb as they had hoped, and that he will undergo surgery Thursday and be sidelined six to eight weeks. If that schedule holds up and he is back in two months, that would leave 2 1/2 weeks before the playoffs.

A standing eight count, known to the rest of the NBA as the All-Star break, is only one more game away for the Lakers, if they can hold on that long. Elden Campbell and Sam Bowie are already out until at least next week, Vlade Divac is hobbled, and now out goes one of the major factors in their resurgence, for the longest stretch at that.

Later Tuesday, hours after getting the Ceballos news, the Lakers took a break from flagging down the Red Cross to swing through McNichols Arena. Not only that, they squeezed out an 85-83 victory over the Denver Nuggets with the few bodies that remain, thanks largely to 17 points and 13 rebounds from Divac, 20 points from Eddie Jones and 13 points and six rebounds from George Lynch off the bench.

Congratulations. Now go home and play the San Antonio Spurs, one of the hottest teams in the league. If the Lakers think these back-to-back games are tough, imagine what awaits them the rest of the season.

“I’m sure we’re going to have our doubters,” point guard Nick Van Exel said. “A lot of people are going to be waiting for us to fall. Our leading scorer is out. Two of our top big men are out. A lot of people think we’re going to fold. The players, ourselves, we’re going to have to stay together and do like we did tonight. Play team ball.

“Other players have got to step up. Lynch stepped up tonight. That’s how it’s got to be.”

Said Divac, who overcame back spasms and a bruised thigh that limited him to 17 minutes in the last outing to play 44 against the Nuggets: “We have no choice. If we want to be one of the top teams in the NBA, we have to step up.”

Ceballos suffered the injury in the fourth quarter last Friday against the Nuggets at the Forum, when Denver center Dikembe Mutombo, after blocking a shot by Divac, inadvertently hit the Laker small forward on the follow-through. Ceballos immediately winced in pain, left the game with 7:14 remaining and went to the locker room less than a minute later.

Ceballos, clearly thrilled at being picked by Western Conference coaches to be an All-Star reserve, sat out the Clipper game the next night, but insisted he would play in the midseason showcase in Phoenix, his former home as a Sun, even if it meant wearing a cast.

Monday, he saw team physician Steve Lombardo. Tuesday, he underwent more extensive tests and got the news.

At 28-16, the Lakers are tied for the fifth-best record in the West, but now face the decision of whether to try to hold the line with the current team or make a bold move to keep a good thing going.

Coach Del Harris said the Lakers will explore their options, but for the immediate future, namely tonight, will again move Jones from shooting guard to small forward and add Tony Smith to the starting backcourt.

“We don’t have any long-range plan,” Harris said. “We’ll just have to take it one game at a time.”

This game was a good place to start, for their confidence and their spot in the standings.

Four days after scoring a Los Angeles-era record low of 74 points against Denver, the Lakers had 71 at the end of the third quarter in the rematch, good for a seven-point lead. Early in the fourth, they pushed that to nine on Divac’s 21-footer.

Then the effort started to go bad. The Nuggets used a 13-3 charge to pull ahead, 77-76, with 5:59 remaining. When Dale Ellis hit from the outside, their lead was 82-79 with 2:40 to go.

If the walls were closing in on the Lakers, they didn’t act like it. Van Exel answered with a driving layup. Lynch made two free throws and Van Exel made one. Just like that, L.A. was back up, 84-82, with 39 seconds left.

Brian Williams cut the two-point cushion in half with a free throw with 27 seconds to play.

Sedale Threatt made one free throw with 12.4 seconds remaining for the 85-83 margin, and Denver’s final gasp ended when Jalen Rose missed a 12-footer.

The Lakers had survived, which was only fitting. It’s a feeling they may have to get used to.