Makeshift Team Helps Suns Win : Pro basketball: Injuries to both clubs turn this into a replacement game at Forum.

No Charles Barkley, no Danny Manning on the day after he underwent season-ending knee surgery, Kevin Johnson back for only his seventh game after missing most of January and February because of a strained leg muscle, and still a victory at the Forum. The Phoenix Suns out-Lakered the Lakers on Wednesday.

The impersonation came because the Suns gutted out a 101-93 victory before 17,505, got a big contribution from an unlikely source and, while unable to recover on the medical front, recovered from a bad showing in the basketball arena. As in the Sports Arena, where Phoenix lost the night before.

The Lakers were once known for such resiliency, like about a week ago. Now, well, now they have their second three-game losing streak of the season and, even more critically, are being reduced to talking about the one that got away.

“We lost a game we should have won,” Coach Del Harris said after watching one of his former Milwaukee Bucks, Danny Schayes, make an unexpected impact with 16 rebounds and 12 points. “We didn’t play well and we let it slip away.

“It just wasn’t one of our top efforts. We really should have dominated inside and didn’t. You really have to give Danny Schayes credit. He took on our big guys and won.”

Barkley was on the court in practice gear about 30 minutes before tipoff, apparently testing the left knee while taking some medium-range shots and a dunk. Then, just as the Suns were coming out in uniform, he walked off and changed into street clothes, ultimately destined for the bench for a second consecutive night because of a sprain and giving the start to Wayman Tisdale.

Maybe the Suns just wanted to fit in at the Forum, a.k.a Injury Central, where there are more suits on the bench these days than in the boardroom of a Fortune 500 company. This time, it was Sedale Threatt’s turn to sit out.

Clearly still hobbled about a month after returning from a 13-game stint on the injured list because of a stress fracture of the right foot, he is day to day because of bursitis of the right foot. Threatt has reported some numbness, but the medical staff says the two ailments are unrelated.

Either way, with Tony Smith managing only a combined six minutes in the previous two games while nursing a strained calf, the Lakers, already trying to get by with 10-day signees Lloyd Daniels and Randolph Keys at small forward, had Anthony Peeler as their only true shooting guard at 100%. Smith then responded by playing 15 minutes in the first half alone and 21 in the game.

Meanwhile, the Lakers’ struggling offense--95.1-point average the previous seven games--had only 75 in the first three quarters.

Laker Notes

Kurt Rambis dislocated his left pinky in the first half, a minor injury. Unless precautionary X-rays today show something worse, he won’t even miss a game. In fact, he played 13 minutes in the second half against the Suns. . . . When Vlade Divac recorded 20-point, 20-rebound games against the Hornets last Friday and the Clippers on Saturday, he became the first Laker to accomplish the feat in back-to-back outings in nearly 20 years, since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Dec. 27-28, 1975. Divac is also the NBA’s first player to do it since Shaquille O’Neal in February of 1994. At the same time, he had at least eight assists in four of the previous five games before Wednesday, reaffirming his spot as one of the game’s best passing centers. “I like that,” Divac said of his assist streak. “It is something that’s unusual for a big man, so when something like that happens you have to be proud.” He had seven against the Suns, along with 17 points and 15 rebounds. . . . Trainer Gary Vitti, on the string of injuries: “It’s not like Del (Harris) overworks the team. Compared to how things used to be (read: Pat Riley), our guys get a lot of rest, a lot of days off, practice short and don’t do a lot of pounding in practice. He really protects those guys, and we’re still falling apart.”